How to hire a senior scheduler

How to hire a senior scheduler, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior scheduler hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a senior scheduler job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior scheduler
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior scheduler do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The senior scheduler hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect senior scheduler also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list shows salaries for various types of senior schedulers.

   Type of Senior Scheduler	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Scheduler	Material recording clerks track product information in order to keep businesses and supply chains on schedule. They ensure proper scheduling, recordkeeping, and inventory control.	$23-56
   Materials Planner	Usually working in a manufacturing setting, a materials planner's role is to manage the supply flow and inventory of materials. Their responsibilities revolve around liaising with vendors and other external agencies, processing purchase orders, monitoring the quality of supplies to ensure it is according to the standards, and coordinating with various teams to learn their needs... Show more	$21-35
   Planning Supervisor	Planning supervisors are professionals who are responsible for coordinating the health and safety aspects of project design and the initial planning. These supervisors are required to ensure that designers cooperate and comply with their duties, especially in avoiding and reducing risks... Show more	$30-51

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Project Management
   • Construction Management
   • Primavera P6
   • Scheduling Software
   • Project Controls
   • Patients
   • Master Schedule
   • Microsoft Project
   • Cpm
   • PowerPoint
   • Work Breakdown Structure
   • Impact Analysis
   • Schedule Analysis
   • Schedule Development

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Coordinate and manage high visibility and important customer BOM changes.
   • Perform major WBS restructuring and logic correction to the construction schedule for the project s critical path building.
   • Assist MRI patients onto MRI table, assuring that they are position properly onto MRI coils.
   • Put together, work orders assemble into planned work packages and used the planned tasks to build the LP6 turnaround schedule.
   • Perform twice-daily updates of turnaround status.
   • Crate universal WBS coding structure and streamline scheduling architecture among various stakeholders.

   More senior scheduler duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your senior scheduler job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A senior scheduler salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a senior scheduler in Mississippi may be lower than in California, and an entry-level senior scheduler usually earns less than a senior-level senior scheduler. Additionally, a senior scheduler with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average senior scheduler salary

   $75,395yearly

   $36.25 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior scheduler salary

   $48,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 18, 2025

   Average senior scheduler salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$112,083	$54
   2	New York	$86,781	$42
   3	Washington	$85,725	$41
   4	Massachusetts	$84,671	$41
   5	Texas	$84,042	$40
   6	Michigan	$79,499	$38
   7	Illinois	$78,465	$38
   8	Oregon	$76,872	$37
   9	Arizona	$76,312	$37
   10	Virginia	$75,501	$36
   11	Minnesota	$75,038	$36
   12	District of Columbia	$74,024	$36
   13	Nevada	$72,086	$35
   14	Pennsylvania	$72,007	$35
   15	New Jersey	$71,208	$34
   16	Colorado	$70,357	$34
   17	Maryland	$70,338	$34
   18	Utah	$66,448	$32
   19	Oklahoma	$66,240	$32
   20	Nebraska	$63,501	$31

   Average senior scheduler salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	PBF Energy	$147,748	$71.03	2
   2	Intel	$104,241	$50.12	1
   3	HDR	$98,417	$47.32	1
   4	Health Alliance	$97,461	$46.86	14
   5	Vantage Data Centers	$94,387	$45.38	3
   6	Calpine	$92,931	$44.68
   7	Lochner	$91,788	$44.13	1
   8	HonorHealth	$89,943	$43.24
   9	Bechtel Corporation	$89,678	$43.11	8
   10	McKissack McKissack	$89,270	$42.92	1
   11	Pro2Serve	$88,256	$42.43	1
   12	Jacobs Engineering Group	$87,627	$42.13
   13	APSI Construction Management	$86,691	$41.68
   14	Arup	$86,009	$41.35
   15	Stryker	$85,786	$41.24
   16	O'Connor Construction Management	$85,240	$40.98
   17	Arcadis	$84,997	$40.86	6
   18	Gaea	$84,922	$40.83
   19	Lendlease	$84,911	$40.82
   20	Wsp USA Buildings Inc.	$83,879	$40.33	9

4. Writing a senior scheduler job description

   A senior scheduler job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a senior scheduler job description:

   Senior scheduler job description example

   The Senior Scheduler will be responsible for effectively managing staffing requests by scheduling and coordinating the assignment of staff to sites in order to ensure appropriately staffing ratios and staff workloads are balanced. They will also be responsible for monitoring the utilization of resources, ensuring alignment of resources with the staffing plans plan, analyzing operational results and promoting the appropriate use of staff within residential programs.
   Operationalizing Schedules
   
   Make decisions on staffing issues by working with all levels within the program management team to find solutions for meeting staffing ratios and ensuring appropriate coverage Act as a resource and point of contact for all program managers to mediate conflicts and resolve resource needs that develop within the sites Monitor schedules daily to ensure staff are effectively utilized to support the goal of ensuring ratios. This will entail reviewing available resources and facilitating necessary adjustments to staff deployment to ensure the alignment of resources based on experience, actual staffing needs, supervision needs and geography when appropriate Managing Call-offs and secure replacements Ensure compliance with funder priorities around capacity, staffing ratios, and staff needs Collaborate with program leaders to understand their staffing needs Assist in the development and implementation of scheduling process, improvements and provide information for short-term and longer term strategic decisions for scheduling Communicate with management regarding future needs versus availability, potential staffing issues, and other information to allow the effective deployment of resources Facilitate scheduling meetings as needed, including asking questions to ensure clarity when making recommendations and follow-up on unresolved issues in a timely manner that may require rescheduling of projects and/or staff
   Analysis & Reporting
   
   Generate scheduling, utilization and forecasting reports and provide analysis of the data that assists senior leadership in making staffing decisions Identify trends to proactively balance staff assignments while ensuring the programs ability to meet ratio and balance supervision needs Provides various forms of analysis including usage and ratios (as it relates to staffing) Monitor productivity, conflicts, usage, compliance, patterns and levels of need Work directly with program management and training department Career Advisors and staff regarding productivity, training, staffing issues and other concerns Develop, administer and/or participate in scheduling system & process orientation programs for incoming hires Proof, edit and check work for completeness, accuracy and formatting. Verify that scheduling, reporting and other related information is current and accurate Utilize, share and develop best practices
   Management Responsibilities
   
   Manages indirectly the resources needed to ensure proper coverage. Will direct resources on where to report. Manages Resource Pool May manage directly a future resource
   Qualifications and Essential Job Function: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
   
   Education and/or Experience: Bachelors' Degree plus three years of relevant experience; or High School Diploma and seven years of related experience; Experience in program scheduling and implementation. Language Skills: Excellent oral and written communication skills. Strong interpersonal skills required. Demonstrated writing skills and competency in quantitative analysis may be required. Analytical Skills: Ability to produce analytics around scheduling and ability to present to leadership Process Improvement: Continuously looking for ways to improve the scheduling process as well as ways for improved productivity. Computer Skills: Proficiency in Microsoft Office especially Word, Excel and Outlook, is required; experience with data entry and reporting functions of database systems; and other software routinely used by Heartland Alliance. General knowledge of Scheduling software is a plus. Other Qualifications: Valid driver's license and use of personal vehicle required.
   Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
   
   While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel. This position demands that the employee be able to talk, hear and maintain close/distance vision. The employee is frequently required to reach with hands and arms.
   
   The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk and sit. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
   Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
   
   The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. The employee may be exposed to outside weather conditions.
   Heartland Alliance makes all hiring and employment decisions, and operates all programs, services, and functions without regard to race, receipt of an order of protection, creed, color, age, gender, gender identity, marital or parental status, religion, ancestry, national origin, amnesty, physical or mental disability, protected veterans status, genetic information, sexual orientation, immigrant status, political affiliation or belief, use of FMLA, VESSA, military, and family military rights, ex-offender status (depending on the offense and position to be filled), unfavorable military discharge, membership in an organization whose primary purpose is the protection of civil rights or improvement of living conditions and human relations, height, weight, or HIV infection, in accord with the organization's AIDS Policy Statement of September 1987.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right senior scheduler for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with senior schedulers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit senior schedulers who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior scheduler job on Zippia to find and recruit senior scheduler candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with senior scheduler candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior scheduler

   Once you have selected a candidate for the senior scheduler position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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