Senior Associate (Planner)

Department: Project Controls

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: G&T London

Description

We are currently looking for a Senior Associate Planner to support with the growth of the business and the continued delivery of world class service to our diverse client base.

This role will provide the planning function with strategic direction across complex project and programmes, ensuring schedule integrity, effective planning governance and alignment to the project or programmes objectives.

You will provide an adept level of planning and scheduling support, mentor junior planners and work closely with leadership to drive quality and performance. This role will require an advanced level of technical ability coupled with the ability to provide clear communication and leadership.

There are also opportunities to be involved in market leading initiatives, utilising emerging scheduling cloud technology, play a role in our sector communities, specialist forums and business development.

What You Will Do

As a Senior Associate Planner you will develop, implement and deliver effective planning services across a variety of projects, ensuring expert guidance and leadership. Key tasks will include:

Strategic Schedule Leadership:

Lead the development and management of detailed project and programme schedules using Primavera P6 or equivalent tools
Establish and maintain planning and scheduling process and procedures
Lead the development of an integrated Work breakdown Structure that aligns to project or programme scope and its governance lifecycle

Planning Governance and Assurance:

Implement and enforce the planning standards for the Portfolio/Programme/Project that aligns to client governance
Conduct schedule assurance reviews to ensure functional compliance, and provide input (LoD2, and support in preparation for LoD3 project audits
Champion planning excellence and continuous improvement within the controls function

Schedule Performance Monitoring & Forecasting:

Lead schedule progress assessments, performance trending and variance analysis to senior leadership
Identify schedule risks, develop mitigation strategies and conduct impact assessments
Ensure there is integrated controls between Schedule, Cost and Risk functions through collaborative project leadership

Stakeholder and Interface Management:

Engage with senior stakeholders, clients and contractors to ensure schedule accuracy
Facilitate planning and coordination workshops
Ability to translate schedule data into actionable insights for decision-making by senior leadership

Team Leadership and Development:

Lead, mentor and develop a functioning team of planners, ensuring high standards of delivery
Act as an SME and advocate for Planning and Scheduling and wider project controls

Change & Risk Management:

Contribute to Risk management strategies and support the development of change control
Support the management of the project risk and opportunity register to identify, quantify, and deliver efficiency improvements
Lead the planning input for claims and delay analysis when required

Reporting:

Lead schedule reporting, ensuring schedule data, tender timescales, and actual out-turn durations are captured, classified, and fed back into the cost estimating database to continuously improve planning and estimating accuracy
Support the preparation and delivery of monthly cost forecasts to within ±5% accuracy, integrating the cost plan with the activity schedule
Support the implementation and delivery of schedule reporting

Coordination and Communication:

Strong communicator at all levels, being able to lead workshops, extract information from the project team and present to senior management.
Has experience of working with multiple senior stakeholders with competing interests.
Has the ability to translate and distil complex data and information into clear and engaging messages and reports.
Able to plan and structure reports and presentations to convey information concisely.

About You

Experience in providing planning services on major capital projects or programmes of £100m+ including within a live operational environment. Experience in nuclear, energy, rail, aviation, utilities, highways, defence or other major infrastructure sectors would be particularly relevant.
Demonstrable experience in leading and managing a controls function
Proven track record of building and maintaining integrated programmes
Previous experience in monitoring and maintaining forecast schedules against a baseline
Demonstrated success in working within a structured PMO or project controls environment
Experience of delivering or supporting delivery of dashboard style reports using Excel and/or Power BI
A competent user of scheduling software (Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project) and the Microsoft Office suite.
Familiar with standard forms of construction contracts (e.g. NEC)
Strong communication skills, able to liaise with stakeholders on all levels, lead workshops and present to senior management, able to build strong relationships with clients and network effectively
Experience of working with multiple senior stakeholders with competing interests
Able to translate and distil data and information into clear and engaging messages and reports.
Able to plan and structure reports and presentations to convey information in a clear and concise manner.
Able to deliver high quality work in challenging timeframes within a consultancy environment
Has excellent organisational, planning and proactive time management skills.
Self-motivated, self-starter- able to achieve deliverables and objectives with minimal supervision.
Motivated and ambitious

About Us

Collaboration, innovation, and support are at the core of everything we do. At G&T you will be joining a diverse team led by one of G&T’s equity partners and a board member. Our partner-led model allows us to adopt bespoke approaches both in the service we offer to clients and in the development opportunities we offer our people. Within your team you will be given clear direction and positive encouragement at every turn, whilst our commitment to your career development and lifelong learning programmes ensures you have the support, as well as the tools to thrive.

Forward thinking and future focused, we champion social mobility, ethical governance, equality and diversity, creating an inclusive environment where everyone’s unique talents and experiences are valued. Our ESG goals are at the forefront of our business plan, and we are proud to have created social value worth over £24.15m+ since 2021. Our initiatives include the G&T ESG Committee, dedicated to increasing opportunities and removing barriers for social mobility and equality within the firm, as well as our Next Gen programme which focuses on nurturing the next generation in the industry. Our commitment to realising a more sustainable future is witnessed not only through helping our clients meet their own next zero carbon aspirations but also by reaching our own, with an aim for our firm to be net zero by 2030.

What You Will Do

About You

About Us

About Gardiner and Theobald LLP