P6 Planning Lead Rail

Are you an experienced Planning or Project Controls leader with a track record of delivering major, complex infrastructure programmes? Can you lead a sizeable planning team while bringing multiple projects, contractors and stakeholders together around an integrated programme?

Location: London – near Euston/North Acton, 3 days in office/site per week, remainder from home.

An excellent opportunity has arisen for an Area Planning Lead to take responsibility for planning across the Old Oak Common area of one of the UK's largest and most complex infrastructure programmes. This is a senior planning leadership position, with responsibility for a team of approximately 6 to 7 planners. The role goes beyond the station itself, taking an area-wide view of the programme and ensuring the numerous projects, schedules, contractors and external organisations interfacing with Old Oak Common remain coordinated and aligned.

Rather than being a purely hands-on P6 position, the focus is on leading the people managing the schedules, understanding the critical interfaces between programmes and ensuring issues are identified and resolved before they impact wider delivery.

Essential requirements:

• Significant experience in senior Planning, Programme Controls or Project Controls roles on large and complex infrastructure or construction programmes.
• Experience working on major projects or programmes, ideally with values of at least £100m-£200m.
• Strong Primavera P6 knowledge and a detailed understanding of integrated programme scheduling.
• Demonstrable experience leading and developing teams of planners or Project Controls professionals.
• Strong experience managing complex interfaces and dependencies across multiple projects, contractors or delivery organisations.
• Experience managing programme changes and understanding the knock-on impact of schedule movements across cost, risk and wider delivery.
• Strong knowledge of core Project Controls disciplines including Schedule, Cost, Risk, Change and Performance Management.
• Experience of baseline management, re-baselining, schedule change and governance processes.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, including experience engaging senior leadership and external organisations.
• Ability to resolve competing priorities between stakeholders through structured decision-making and negotiation.
• Experience analysing complex programme information and communicating the key issues clearly to different audiences.
• Experience leading contract progress and schedule change reviews.

Nice to have:

• Rail project experience.
• Client-side experience within a major infrastructure programme.
• Experience within a major consultancy, contractor or joint venture environment.
• Understanding of NEC contracts, including early warnings, amendments and change processes.
• Experience with Project Controls systems such as Prism or CEMAR.
• Experience across multiple stages of the project lifecycle.

If you have led planning on major infrastructure programmes and enjoy bringing complex schedules, teams and stakeholders together, please get in touch to discuss the opportunity in more detail.