Balfour Beatty plc
Senior Planner
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About The Role
Job Title: Senior Planner
Location: Warrington/ North West
Company: Balfour Beatty
About The Role
Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering is seeking an experienced Senior Planner to take a leading role in the successful planning and delivery of complex civil engineering and infrastructure projects across the North West.
As one of the key planning leaders within the business, you will work across a diverse portfolio of projects, supporting schemes typically ranging from £20m to £150m in value. You will be involved from the earliest stages of project development, collaborating with bid, design, commercial and operational teams to develop robust delivery strategies, construction methodologies and programmes that set projects up for success.
This is an influential role where you will support project teams throughout the full project lifecycle, ensuring programmes are realistic, achievable and aligned with operational delivery. Through your expertise, you will help identify opportunities, manage risks, optimise resources and drive successful project outcomes.
What you'll be doing
Key Responsibilities
- Lead planning activities across multiple civil engineering and infrastructure projects.
- Develop, maintain and manage detailed tender, pre-construction and contract programmes.
- Ensure programme content complies with business procedures, client requirements and industry best practice.
- Establish and manage project baselines, programme updates and change control processes.
- Undertake critical path analysis and identify opportunities to improve project delivery and performance.
- Provide programme assurance and schedule risk management throughout project lifecycles.
- Support programme recovery initiatives and develop solutions to mitigate delays and project risks.
- Work closely with design, commercial and operational teams to develop practical and deliverable construction methodologies.
- Identify planning scope, constraints, key milestones and resource requirements.
- Support contract management activities and programme obligations under NEC contracts.
- Challenge assumptions and provide independent planning insight to improve project outcomes.
- Present programme information, analysis and recommendations to senior management, clients and key stakeholders.
- Monitor project progress using key performance indicators and planning metrics.
- Drive planning best practice and continuous improvement initiatives across the business.
- Mentor and support Assistant Planners, Trainee Planners and Planners in the development of their skills and careers.
- Build and maintain effective working relationships with clients, suppliers, subcontractors and project stakeholders.
Who we're looking for
Skills
- Excellent programme management and planning skills.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Strong leadership and influencing capabilities.
- Effective negotiation and conflict resolution skills.
- Ability to challenge constructively and drive performance improvements.
- Strong organisational and time management skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively across multidisciplinary project teams.
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Knowledge
- Advanced proficiency with Primavera P6, ASTA Powerproject, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel.
- Detailed understanding of construction planning principles and project controls.
- Strong working knowledge of NEC contracts and programme management requirements.
- Advanced understanding of critical path analysis and programme assurance techniques.
- Knowledge of schedule risk analysis and risk management methodologies.
- Understanding of construction sequencing, resource planning and project delivery strategies.
- Knowledge of tender development, project execution planning and construction methodologies.
- Understanding of performance measurement and reporting processes.
Experience
- Significant experience in a Senior Planner, Lead Planner or Planning Engineer role within the civil engineering or infrastructure sector.
- Proven experience developing and managing programmes throughout project lifecycles from bid stage through to project completion.
- Experience working on complex multidisciplinary infrastructure projects.
- Experience supporting both pre-construction and live project delivery environments.
- Demonstrable experience managing programmes under NEC forms of contract.
- Experience within sectors such as highways, bridges, structures, local authority infrastructure, public realm, environmental works, utilities or major infrastructure projects.
- Experience presenting programme information and recommendations to senior management and clients.
- Proven experience mentoring and developing junior planning professionals.
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.
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…
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Professional and personal development
The size and scale of Balfour Beatty coupled with our strong pipeline of work provides incredible opportunities, regardless of what stage you are at in your career.
We encourage and empower our employees to take control of their career and explore which part of the business they want to work in and what role is right for them. We actively encourage our managers and employees to have open communication throughout the year about wellbeing, development and career opportunities.
We're proud of the Balfour Beatty Academy. Whether it’s sharpening your technical expertise, improving your personal skills or seeking support to become professionally qualified, our 70:20:10* approach to development means we have a learning approach that suits everyone.
70% learning on the job, 20% learning from those around you, and 10% formal training courses and learning events.
For further information about Balfour Beatty Jobs please go to www.balfourbeatty.com/careers - You can also check out further job opportunities in the careers section
About Us
At Balfour Beatty we are committed to creating a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential, not only because this is the right thing to do, but because it makes us a better business. To ensure we deliver on this commitment, we have a UK Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan which sets out the wide range of targeted, proactive, measurable steps we are taking to make this a reality. You can read our UK Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan in full at www.balfourbeatty.com/value_everyone
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.
Further information on Disability Confident can be found at: https://disabilityconfident.campaign.gov.uk/
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