Project Planning Manager Jobs
Project Planning Manager jobs are open across construction, defense, technology, and healthcare, from mid-level coordinator to senior and director, with specializations in infrastructure scheduling, program controls, and integrated master scheduling. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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The Senior Manager, Franchise Performance plays a critical role in shaping the long-term health, profitability, and growth potential of the KFC U.S. franchise system. This role leads the development of strategies to optimize the franchisee network, strengthen franchisee performance, and position the system for sustainable growth, partnering with cross-functional teams to translate strategic priorities into action. The role also provides strategic oversight of market planning, ensuring development opportunities align with broader franchise portfolio objectives.
Franchise Portfolio Strategy & Optimization
- Lead the development of KFC U.S.’s long-term franchise portfolio strategy, defining the optimal franchisee network structure to support system health, profitability, and sustainable growth.
- Assess the existing franchisee landscape, including portfolio composition, geographic concentration, operator capabilities, financial health, and growth potential, to identify opportunities to strengthen the system.
- Develop a long-term portfolio optimization roadmap, identifying priority markets, franchisee portfolios, and opportunities for consolidation, ownership transitions, and introduction of new capital.
- Establish strategic frameworks and criteria to evaluate franchisee portfolio opportunities, balancing operator capabilities, financial performance, market potential, and development objectives.
- Develop recommendations for distressed or underperforming portfolios and hand off prioritized opportunities to Franchise & Development Finance for transaction assessment, structuring, and execution.
- Collaborate with Finance and Development to inform incentive structures and investment strategies that encourage franchisee growth, portfolio transformation, and new restaurant development.
- Monitor the impact of portfolio initiatives on restaurant performance, franchisee profitability, royalty generation, and long-term growth capacity to refine the strategy.
Franchisee Performance & Profitability
- Lead strategies to improve franchisee profitability, financial health, and overall system performance.
- Establish a franchisee performance management framework, including KPIs, scorecards, and analytical tools to assess operator performance and identify improvement opportunities.
- Analyze financial and operational results to identify systemic challenges, performance gaps, and opportunities to strengthen restaurant-level economics.
- Partner with Franchise Operations, Finance, and other teams to develop targeted improvement strategies for underperforming franchisees.
- Support franchisee quarterly business reviews and senior leadership engagement forums with actionable performance insights.
- Develop reporting capabilities that give leadership a clear view of franchise system health, emerging risks, and performance opportunities.
Market Planning & Growth Strategy
- Provide strategic oversight of KFC U.S. market planning, ensuring market plans align with franchise portfolio objectives and system growth priorities.
- Guide market-level identification and prioritization of white-space opportunities, trade area optimization, and existing restaurant coverage improvements.
- Partner with Development and Franchise Operations to translate market planning insights into actionable franchisee growth strategies.
- Oversee market planning tools, analytical frameworks, and external vendor relationships to ensure high-quality, data-driven recommendations.
- Support key development decisions by evaluating growth opportunities in the context of franchisee portfolio health and market potential.
Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Lead, coach, and develop team members supporting franchise portfolio strategy, performance analysis, and market planning.
- Build cross-functional alignment with Finance, Development, Franchise Operations, Legal, and other stakeholders on strategic priorities.
- Translate complex financial, operational, and market analyses into clear recommendations for senior leadership.
- Lead high-priority strategic projects from problem definition through recommendation and implementation planning.
Education/Certifications
- University degree in Business, Finance, Economics, or a related discipline required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
Experience
- 7+ years of relevant experience in corporate strategy, franchise strategy, business development, management consulting, finance, or related fields.
- Experience in the multi-unit restaurant, retail, or franchise industry strongly preferred.
- Strong strategic and analytical capabilities, with experience solving complex business problems and translating insights into actionable recommendations.
- Strong financial acumen, including unit-level economics, profitability drivers, capital investment decisions, and business performance metrics.
- Experience developing and executing strategic initiatives involving multiple cross-functional stakeholders.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and influencing skills, including the ability to engage and influence senior leadership.
- Ability to independently lead complex projects, manage competing priorities, and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience leading, coaching, and developing high-performing teams.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; experience with business intelligence and analytical tools preferred.
The Senior Manager, Franchise Performance plays a critical role in shaping the long-term health, profitability, and growth potential of the KFC U.S. franchise system. This role leads the development of strategies to optimize the franchisee network, strengthen franchisee performance, and position the system for sustainable growth, partnering with cross-functional teams to translate strategic priorities into action. The role also provides strategic oversight of market planning, ensuring development opportunities align with broader franchise portfolio objectives.
Franchise Portfolio Strategy & Optimization
- Lead the development of KFC U.S.’s long-term franchise portfolio strategy, defining the optimal franchisee network structure to support system health, profitability, and sustainable growth.
- Assess the existing franchisee landscape, including portfolio composition, geographic concentration, operator capabilities, financial health, and growth potential, to identify opportunities to strengthen the system.
- Develop a long-term portfolio optimization roadmap, identifying priority markets, franchisee portfolios, and opportunities for consolidation, ownership transitions, and introduction of new capital.
- Establish strategic frameworks and criteria to evaluate franchisee portfolio opportunities, balancing operator capabilities, financial performance, market potential, and development objectives.
- Develop recommendations for distressed or underperforming portfolios and hand off prioritized opportunities to Franchise & Development Finance for transaction assessment, structuring, and execution.
- Collaborate with Finance and Development to inform incentive structures and investment strategies that encourage franchisee growth, portfolio transformation, and new restaurant development.
- Monitor the impact of portfolio initiatives on restaurant performance, franchisee profitability, royalty generation, and long-term growth capacity to refine the strategy.
Franchisee Performance & Profitability
- Lead strategies to improve franchisee profitability, financial health, and overall system performance.
- Establish a franchisee performance management framework, including KPIs, scorecards, and analytical tools to assess operator performance and identify improvement opportunities.
- Analyze financial and operational results to identify systemic challenges, performance gaps, and opportunities to strengthen restaurant-level economics.
- Partner with Franchise Operations, Finance, and other teams to develop targeted improvement strategies for underperforming franchisees.
- Support franchisee quarterly business reviews and senior leadership engagement forums with actionable performance insights.
- Develop reporting capabilities that give leadership a clear view of franchise system health, emerging risks, and performance opportunities.
Market Planning & Growth Strategy
- Provide strategic oversight of KFC U.S. market planning, ensuring market plans align with franchise portfolio objectives and system growth priorities.
- Guide market-level identification and prioritization of white-space opportunities, trade area optimization, and existing restaurant coverage improvements.
- Partner with Development and Franchise Operations to translate market planning insights into actionable franchisee growth strategies.
- Oversee market planning tools, analytical frameworks, and external vendor relationships to ensure high-quality, data-driven recommendations.
- Support key development decisions by evaluating growth opportunities in the context of franchisee portfolio health and market potential.
Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Lead, coach, and develop team members supporting franchise portfolio strategy, performance analysis, and market planning.
- Build cross-functional alignment with Finance, Development, Franchise Operations, Legal, and other stakeholders on strategic priorities.
- Translate complex financial, operational, and market analyses into clear recommendations for senior leadership.
- Lead high-priority strategic projects from problem definition through recommendation and implementation planning.
Education/Certifications
- University degree in Business, Finance, Economics, or a related discipline required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
Experience
- 7+ years of relevant experience in corporate strategy, franchise strategy, business development, management consulting, finance, or related fields.
- Experience in the multi-unit restaurant, retail, or franchise industry strongly preferred.
- Strong strategic and analytical capabilities, with experience solving complex business problems and translating insights into actionable recommendations.
- Strong financial acumen, including unit-level economics, profitability drivers, capital investment decisions, and business performance metrics.
- Experience developing and executing strategic initiatives involving multiple cross-functional stakeholders.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and influencing skills, including the ability to engage and influence senior leadership.
- Ability to independently lead complex projects, manage competing priorities, and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience leading, coaching, and developing high-performing teams.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; experience with business intelligence and analytical tools preferred.
Project Planning Manager Jobs by Experience Level
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Find Project Planning Manager JobsProject Planning Manager Job Market
Who's Hiring
- Lockheed Martin93
- Burns & McDonnell39
- HDR8
- Cushman & Wakefield6
- Amazon5
Top Industries Hiring
- Consulting & Professional Services15
- Construction & Real Estate6
- Healthcare & Medical Services5
- Artificial Intelligence2
- Transportation & Logistics2
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in project planning manager jobs.
- 5 or more years of experience in project scheduling or program planning roles
- Proficiency in Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project for schedule development and maintenance
- Experience with earned value management and schedule performance index reporting
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, project management, construction management, or a related field
- Project Management Professional certification or equivalent credentials preferred
- Familiarity with integrated master schedules and work breakdown structure development
Tips for Your Project Planning Manager Job Search
Tailor your resume to scheduling tools
Hiring managers for project planning manager roles scan for specific tools like Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, or SAP. Name the tools you've used and pair each with a concrete deliverable, such as a baseline schedule you built or a critical path you managed.
Highlight variance analysis on your resume
Project planning manager listings almost always ask for earned value management or schedule performance reporting. If you've produced variance reports or recovery plans, describe the scope and outcome clearly so reviewers can connect your experience to their workflow.
Filter openings by contract type
Many project planning manager roles in defense and infrastructure are tied to government contracts with specific clearance or compliance requirements. Reading contract type details before applying saves you from pursuing roles where you don't meet security or regulatory prerequisites.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists project planning manager openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Prepare a schedule recovery scenario for interviews
Interviewers for project planning manager roles routinely ask how you've handled a schedule slip. Walk through one specific recovery scenario, naming the root cause, the corrective action you led, and the outcome, so your answer is concrete rather than hypothetical.
Negotiate scope alongside compensation
When evaluating an offer, clarify what tools, data access, and cross-functional authority come with the role. Project planning managers who lack scheduling system access or stakeholder buy-in are set up to fail, so confirming these before accepting protects your ability to do the job.
Project Planning Manager Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most project planning managers?
The most active employers for project planning managers right now are Lockheed Martin, Burns & McDonnell, and HDR, and the most openings are in Texas, California, and Florida, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Defense contractors, construction firms, and large technology companies tend to maintain steady demand for this role throughout the year.
How many project planning manager jobs are remote?
About 63% of project planning manager openings are fully remote or hybrid as of November 2026, though availability varies by industry. Roles focused on program controls, reporting, and schedule analysis for technology or professional services firms are more likely to be remote, while positions tied to active construction sites or classified defense programs typically require on-site presence.
How do you become a project planning manager?
Start by building hands-on experience in project scheduling, either as a scheduler, project coordinator, or planning analyst. Develop proficiency in scheduling software such as Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project, and learn earned value management fundamentals. Earning a Project Management Professional certification strengthens your candidacy. Progressively taking on schedule ownership, leading integrated master schedule development, and managing schedule risk positions you to move into a manager role.
Can you get hired as a project planning manager without direct experience?
Moving into a project planning manager role without direct experience is possible if you demonstrate strong adjacent skills. Candidates from construction supervision, systems engineering, or operations management who can show they've built or maintained schedules, tracked milestones, or led planning meetings are competitive. Earning a scheduling certification and contributing to a complex project schedule in a junior capacity first makes the transition more credible to employers.
What does the project planning manager interview process look like?
The process typically starts with a recruiter screen focused on tool experience and industry background, followed by a technical interview where you may be asked to walk through a schedule you built or explain how you handle critical path changes. A panel interview with project managers or program leads often follows, covering stakeholder communication and risk scenarios. Some employers include a practical exercise asking you to analyze a sample schedule.
Where can I find and apply to project planning manager jobs?
You can find and apply to project planning manager jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Search the listings to find roles that match your experience, tools, and industry background, then apply directly to each opening that fits.
See All 323+ Project Planning Manager Jobs
Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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