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Head of Planning
About The Role
As Head of Planning, you will lead the planning function across a portfolio of complex construction projects, ensuring alignment between project delivery and wider business objectives. Operating at a senior level, you will shape planning strategy, drive best practice, and provide leadership across planning and scheduling teams. This role is central to optimising project performance, influencing key decisions, and ensuring programmes are delivered efficiently, safely, and on time.
What you'll be doing
- Providing strategic leadership across planning and scheduling, setting direction and ensuring consistency across projects
- Leading, mentoring, and developing Planning Managers and wider planning teams
- Overseeing the creation and management of detailed project programmes, including critical path analysis and change control
- Managing planning input across tender and delivery stages to support successful project outcomes
- Collaborating with clients, project teams, and supply chain partners to ensure coordinated delivery
- Driving performance through data, KPIs, and continuous improvement of planning processes
- Ensuring compliance with contractual, regulatory, and governance requirements
- Supporting effective resource planning across labour, plant, and materials
- Promoting a strong health and safety culture across all planning activities
Who we're looking for
- A proven leader with extensive experience in planning and managing large, complex construction projects
- Strong leadership capability, with a track record of developing and managing high-performing planning teams
- Expert knowledge of project planning tools and systems (e.g. Primavera P6, MS Project, Excel)
- Deep understanding of construction planning methodologies, scheduling, and project controls
- Experience in contract management, risk management, and performance reporting (including KPIs and earned value)
- Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage clients, supply chain, and senior leadership
- Analytical and data-driven, with the ability to solve complex problems and influence decision-making
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills
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Why work for us
Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UK’s most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.
Why join us?
Benefits
As if contributing to and supporting work that makes life better for millions wasn’t rewarding enough, we offer a full range of benefits too. You’ll have the freedom to shape the package that’s right for you and your life. Here are some of our key benefits:
- Smart working, giving you more flexibility such as staggered start and finish times, with up to 40% remote working, where roles allow.
- 25 days paid annual leave (pro rata)
- Family friendly policies which include 28 weeks full pay for maternity/adoption leave and four weeks full pay for paternity/partners leave
- Pension, share incentive plan, volunteering leave, recognition schemes and much more…
About Us
Balfour Beatty’s Power Transmission & Distribution teams work with regional, national and international electricity network owners and operators to provide technical engineering solutions across the full spectrum of the electricity grid, including overhead lines, cabling, substations and distribution networks.
From scoping and feasibility, to design, construction and on-going maintenance, our in-house experts, flexible resources and industry-leading innovations support customers in the development of some of the UK’s most ambitious power transmission and distribution projects.
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Diversity and inclusion
At Balfour Beatty we believe that diversity and inclusion are essential components of any successful, happy workplace. Through our Value Everyone Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan, we are growing our diverse workforce and developing our inclusive culture where everyone is able to thrive and reach their full potential, regardless of their identity or background. To find out how we are making this a reality, visit www.balfourbeatty.com/diversityandinclusion
To help and support us with our desired commitment to create an inclusive culture we are members of WISE, enei, Business Disability Forum and the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE). In 2020, we signed the Audeliss and Involve Open Letter to demonstrate our commitment to taking key long term and sustainable actions on Black Inclusion. Balfour Beatty is also a Gold Award holder in the Ministry of Defence 'Employer Recognition Scheme' and actively encourage applications from Armed Forces personnel, veterans and reservists.
As a Disability Confident Employer, we are committed to working with people who have disabilities and long-term health conditions to remove barriers for them in obtaining employment. We are also committed to offering applicants with a disability an interview if they meet the minimum requirements for the role. For more info, visit: https://disabilityconfident.campaign.gov.uk/
We are looking to continually improve our resourcing process and ensure that it is fair and inclusive for all. If you have any feedback on the process, please share this with us at: candidaterecruitmentqueries@balfourbeatty.com
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