Project Planner - MS Project

This job is with CGI, an inclusive employer and a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community. Please do not contact the recruiter directly.

Join CGI as a Project Planner - MS Project and play a pivotal role in shaping the successful delivery of a high-profile programme in Aberdeen. You'll take ownership of developing a robust, credible programme schedule that gives senior stakeholders the insight and confidence to make critical delivery decisions. Using your expertise in Microsoft Project, you'll challenge assumptions, validate the critical path and explore schedule and resource scenarios to strengthen programme commitments. This is an opportunity to bring fresh thinking to complex planning challenges while working closely with the Programme Manager, workstream leads and a supportive community of CGI professionals, where your expertise will directly influence programme outcomes and help establish a strong foundation for successful delivery.

Your future duties and responsibilities:

• Develop & Integrate: Build, consolidate and maintain the programme-level schedule using Microsoft Project.
• Baseline & Assure: Lead planning activity supporting the development of a robust and credible programme schedule baseline.
• Analyse & Validate: Review schedule logic, milestones, dependencies and assumptions to identify gaps and inconsistencies.
• Assess & Challenge: Perform critical-path analysis to identify activities and constraints that could affect key milestones.
• Stress Test & Forecast: Model schedule risks and potential delivery scenarios to understand their impact on programme commitments.
• Plan & Optimise: Assess resource availability and capacity against the schedule, highlighting bottlenecks and potential delivery impacts.
• Collaborate & Coordinate: Work with programme stakeholders to capture, challenge and validate planning information.
• Inform & Influence: Translate complex scheduling information into clear insights that support senior-level decisions and commitments.

Required qualifications to be successful in this role:

• Planning expertise: Strong experience in project or programme planning, scheduling or PMO environments.
• Microsoft Project: Strong hands-on proficiency in MS Project, including developing and maintaining complex schedules this is a must have.
• Schedule baselining: Proven experience establishing, validating and maintaining credible schedule baselines.
• Critical-path analysis: Strong understanding of schedule logic, dependencies, milestones, constraints and critical-path analysis.
• Risk & scenario analysis: Ability to stress test schedules and assess the potential impact of delivery risks and alternative scenarios.
• Resource planning: Experience assessing schedules against resource capacity and identifying potential constraints or bottlenecks.
• Stakeholder management: Proven ability to work effectively with Programme Managers, project managers, workstream leads and senior stakeholders.
• Analytical judgement: Ability to challenge assumptions, identify planning issues and communicate risks, impacts and recommendations clearly.
• Delivery focus: A reliable, structured approach with the ability to take ownership of critical planning outputs within demanding programme timescales.

Life at CGI is rooted in ownership, teamwork, respect and belonging. Here, you'll reach your full potential because you are invited to be an owner from day 1 as we work together to bring our Dream to life. That's why we call ourselves CGI Partners rather than employees. We benefit from our collective success and actively shape our company's strategy and direction.