Job Description

Roles & Responsibilities

We are seeking an experienced Planning Lead with a strong background in project planning and schedule management to support the successful delivery of complex infrastructure and capital programmes. This role is critical to establishing and maintaining robust, integrated project schedules, monitoring progress against agreed baselines, and providing clear, insightful reporting that enables effective decision-making throughout the project lifecycle. The Planning Lead brings structure, transparency, and accountability to programme timelines, ensuring projects remain aligned, realistic, and delivery-focused.br> Working closely with project managers, contractors, and client stakeholders, the Planning Lead will lead schedule development and control at project level, drive planning governance, and support performance analysis and recovery planning. The role offers the opportunity to influence outcomes across major projects while building capability within delivery teams, with strong potential to progress into senior programme or portfolio-level planning leadership positions.

You will lead schedule management at project level and provide the structure needed to manage timelines in a disciplined and transparent way. In this role, you will develop and maintain integrated schedules, assess progress and deviations, and support project teams with schedule analysis, reporting, and planning governance.

You will work closely with contractors, project managers, and client stakeholders to ensure schedules are realistic, aligned, and consistently maintained. You will also support planning governance through reviews, steering meetings, and the application of planning standards and tools. This role offers strong growth potential into senior programmes planning or portfolio-level leadership roles.

Your responsibilities

Those in the Planning Lead roles are responsible for:

• Leading the development, maintenance, and control of project schedules, ensuring approved baselines are established and monitored across all delivery stages.

• Creating and maintaining Level 1 to Level 4 schedules, integrating contractor inputs, resources, milestones, and relevant cost interfaces.

• Monitoring schedule performance, identifying deviations, and producing clear progress reports and recovery insights for project leadership and clients.

• Validating schedules and supporting schedule risk assessments to improve planning reliability and delivery confidence.

• Facilitating planning reviews and steering meetings to support consistent decision-making and accountability across stakeholders.

• Providing guidance and training to project participants to ensure consistent application of scheduling tools, standards, and reporting practices.

• Supporting the overall delivery strategy by safeguarding timelines and strengthening coordination across the project lifecycle.

Skills and experiences required

• You will hold a degree in engineering, construction, project management, or a related discipline.

• You will bring at least seven years of experience in planning and scheduling for capital, construction, or infrastructure projects.

• You will have strong knowledge of baseline development, progress measurement, delay analysis, and schedule risk assessment methods.

• You will be proficient in Primavera P6, MS Project, and related project controls or scheduling software.

• You will possess strong leadership, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to work across complex project environments.

• You will be highly organised, analytical, and proactive, with the ability to translate schedule data into meaningful project insight.

Desired Candidate Profile

Do you have a strong background in project planning and schedule management, with the ability to create structure, drive accountability, and support timely delivery across complex infrastructure programmes? We're looking for a Planning Lead to oversee project planning and scheduling activities across major capital projects. The main focus of the role is to establish and maintain robust project schedules, monitors progress against baselines, and provide clear reporting and analysis that supports effective decision-making throughout the project lifecycle.