Associate Director - Planning

We are seeking an enthusiastic, ambitious, and highly motivated Project Director with excellent knowledge of Scheduling Best practice and associated software. We are looking for innovative thinkers who are keen to engage and "Make Complex look Simple", and as such, get involved in the AI revolution of Project Controls.

As Project Director you will play a crucial role in managing and overseeing various operational aspects within AECOM, contributing to strategic planning, and ensuring the successful implementation of high-level strategies. The role will support programme leads in the delivery of programme/projects by providing high level planning service for the preparation of project plans, producing baseline scheduled tasks, resource profiles and financial models.

The successful person will be involved in improving the consistency, predictability and efficiency of the programmes project delivery capability and will be able to provide leadership in best practices and Continuous Improvement. The role will ensure that the operational issues of the project controls and PMO are managed, focusing on the project interface with project leaders, project managers, project teams, and interface issues.

Furthermore you will work as part of our Integrated Program Controls Team (IPC), which is composed of Schedule, Risk, Project Controls and Analytics, and as such will lead and drive Team Integration and Collaboration.

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Promote and ensure overall team integration
• Establish partnerships with external employers to develop recruitment strategies and enhance internal and external relationships.
• Implement and lead collaborative planning workshops to ensure buy-in from overall project team
• Perform impact analysis and monitor schedule variance
• Lead application of specific planning/scheduling methods, techniques and tools.
• Good working knowledge of planning/scheduling, EVM, project controls methodologies
• Ability to advise on complex requirements and communicate analysis and corrective measures effectively.
• Able to manage planning/scheduling delivery of medium/high complexity projects/programmes
• Ability to play key role in multidisciplinary teams and take lead role in creating plans or analysing trends using numerical and statistical techniques.
• Leads and manages a team of professionals delivering planning/schedule management services and responsible for staff development.
• Mastery in setting up effective planning/schedule management systems & procedures
• Expert knowledge of schedule management tools & software
• Managing resourcing, growing & developing the team
• Able to manage activities with significant uncertainty of solution or outcomes
• Support to senior management in deal negotiations, contract development, due diligence & other business development or alliance development projects
• Excellent attention to detail & able to validate & check schedule management inputs, recording & reports produced, providing basic commentary & analysis
• Looking to future to create a vision and set strategy
• Persuading and influencing colleagues
• Identifying and analysing business risks
• Building and leading a high performing team
• Very high political and cultural acuity
• Creating and delivering persuasive and engaging presentations to wide range of audiences in our industry
• Spotting, developing and coaching talented individuals
• Selling and promoting the business and winning work

Qualifications:

The AECOM Planning Associate Director role is a mid-level management position responsible for overseeing and managing various aspects of an organisation's operations, such as finances, HR, and marketing. The successful candidate will have already gained experience in:

• Managing daily team operations, including developing team policies and procedures, conducting team assessment and evaluation, and participating in strategic team planning.
• Overseeing specific programme areas, such as recruiting, experiential learning, and employer relations.
• Establishing partnerships with external employers to develop recruitment strategies and enhance internal and external relationships.
• Devising strategies for growth in profit and customer satisfaction, implementing policies and standards, evaluating the workforce, and setting goals in terms of budget and billable work.
• Conducting Peer Reviews and Quality Audits supported by concise report writing.

Applicants will ideally be degree educated, with previous industry & sector experience being essential. Demonstratable experience in the following tools (or one of) is also required: Oracle Primavera, MS Project, Asta Power Project, PowerBI, Excel, Acumen Fuse.

You will be client focused and will understand the benefits of different communication methods and will effectively communicate with the client to ensure their needs are understood. You will implement collaboration techniques and lead workshops to develop meaningful project plans. You will be able to make autonomous decisions guided by policies, procedures and business objectives. You will capture lessons learned and communicate them to the team as well as develop case studies to ensure knowledge transfer.

Clients:

You will apply CAM (Client Account Management) approach to manage all project stakeholders. You will seek best practice, continuous improvement and added value, and understand the client's needs/requirements by proactively engaging with the client to grow and expand relationships. You will seek to promote the sharing of any innovation or best practice.

You will have a strong desire to keep up to date with Industry best practice and technology innovations and have the willingness and motivation to participate in Working Groups. You will seek to bring new ideas and thinking to client work and internal processes and operations.

Benefits:

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed. AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. Join us, and you’ll get all the benefits of being a part of a global, publicly traded firm – access to industry-leading technology and thinking and transformational work with big impact and work flexibility.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person’s potential, and we’ll help you reach yours. We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long-term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.