Disclosed is a method that includes periodically observing packets in a user plane according to at least one key performance indicator in a configuration file to yield an observation, wherein the observation represents a closed-loop demand of resources within the user plane. The method includes adjusting, via a scheduler in the user plane and based on the observation, a binding of cores to work items. The binding between cores and work items is dynamic and changeable to improve performance. The at least one key performance indicator can include one or more of a CPU utilization, latency and packet drops. The workload allocations can include work items that are individually scheduleable functions that operate on a queue of packets within the user plane.