Planning Manager in London

Planning Manager - Major Infrastructure Project

Location: London - Hybrid (minimum 2 days per week on site)
Rate: £525 per day
Contract: Initial 12 month contract, with ASAP start

The Role

We are currently recruiting for an experienced Planning Manager to support a major infrastructure programme in London.

The successful candidate will provide planning leadership across a complex, multi-contractor environment, acting as a key point of contact for project teams and contractors. You will be responsible for maintaining and managing integrated programmes, identifying emerging risks and providing clear schedule intelligence to support successful project delivery.

This is an opportunity for a proactive planning professional who can act as a trusted advisor to Project and Programme Managers, rather than simply maintaining schedules.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain complex project and programme schedules across multiple contractors and suppliers.

• Integrate contractor programmes into a consolidated master programme.

• Monitor progress, critical paths, milestones and key project dependencies.

• Identify potential delays, risks and emerging issues and proactively advise project teams.

• Assess programme changes and compensation events and their impact on project delivery.

• Support Project and Programme Managers with schedule intelligence and project controls.

• Produce clear and accurate programme reports, analysis and progress updates for senior stakeholders.

• Provide direction, guidance and support to planning resources within the project team.

• Establish and maintain effective planning processes, methodologies and reporting arrangements.

• Work closely with contractors and stakeholders to agree progress reporting approaches.

• Analyse programme controls data and provide recommendations to support decision-making.

• Contribute to improving planning processes and overall project performance.

Essential Experience

• Significant planning experience on major infrastructure, engineering or capital projects.

• Strong working knowledge of Primavera P6 or similar project scheduling software.

• Proven experience managing master schedules and integrating multiple contractor programmes.

• Good understanding of NEC contracts, particularly NEC3 and/or NEC4.

• Experience assessing and managing compensation events and programme changes.

• Experience working within a complex, multi-contractor project environment.

• Strong understanding of critical path scheduling and programme management.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Ability to challenge, influence and communicate issues confidently.

• A proactive approach with the ability to identify risks and emerging problems early.

• Experience providing planning leadership and supporting Project Managers with project controls.

About You

The ideal candidate will be more than a scheduler. You will be a confident planning leader who can take ownership of the programme, challenge stakeholders where required and provide early warning of potential issues.

You will have the communication skills and commercial awareness to operate effectively across contractors, project teams and senior stakeholders, while maintaining a strong focus on time, cost, quality and delivery.

If you are an experienced Planning Manager with strong infrastructure planning, Primavera P6 and NEC experience, we would be keen to hear from you.

We can only consider applications from candidates who are eligible to work in the UK.