The one thing that kept me from purchasing Kingmaker was the inclusion of timed quests. I don't think it's bad design per say but it's not something I personally enjoy. Will this be a thing in this game or not?

same, it's the thing i hated most about the first gime. some people like it but personally i don't like being put on a timer in games, i like taking my time, enjoying it at my own pace

I think there are no direct timers as "if you do not do this quest in 3 month time you will fail and your game will end".
But I think there are kind of soft timers like "if you do not do sidequests and go for next chapter you can not return back and do them later" (what will be told in the game)

Also naturally there are things like "if you do not protect building / person from attack you can not use it after" what is kind of obious (if someone is let's say dead you have hard time buing things from that person, or if shop is burned down same thing before it is maybe build up later)

Some things happen when they happen, so it is not 100% open sandbox like let's say Skyrim. But you will get information what to do and you open new areas while you go forward in the game.