Planning Manager in Birmingham

Location: Snow Hill, Birmingham

Hybrid working: minimum 3 days per week office-based

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential. In practice, this means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

Shape the schedule of Britain's future railway. Lead planning on one of the UK's most complex client-side infrastructure programmes. As a Planning Manager at HS2, you'll hold a senior client-side role, providing authoritative leadership across schedule development, project controls, and delivery partner performance. You will be responsible for the evaluation of project time across a major programme of works, integrating cost and risk assessments to provide a clear and robust view of programme certainty. You'll play a central role in ensuring the application of HS2's planning systems, policies and standards, driving consistency and compliance across all planning activities to support the successful delivery of the HS2 project.

As a planning professional with extensive experience on complex, multi-disciplinary major projects—particularly in rail, stations or large-scale infrastructure—you'll bring deep capability across the core project controls disciplines. With experience spanning the full project lifecycle, you'll be confident navigating client-side governance processes such as re-baselining, funding approvals and major contract implementation, ensuring decisions are controlled, transparent and aligned with programme needs. You'll lead and develop a high-performing planning team, building capability, improving planning maturity and fostering a collaborative, supportive environment.

Strong proficiency with key Project Controls systems (e.g. Primavera P6, Prism, CEMAR) and leading contract progress and schedule change reviews is crucial for this role.

If you're ready to influence a nationally significant programme, set the pace for delivery, and shape the railway of the future, then HS2 wants to hear from you.

About the role:

• Lead the overall integrated P6 programme meeting the internal / external reporting timelines for the area of work.
• Work closely with Project Managers to maintain programme schedules, and manage the interface between schedules.
• Provide hierarchical performance reporting such as Earned Value Management (EVM) process.
• Correlate Schedule, Cost and Risk assessment through integrated solutions to influence critical path analysis thus providing robust/quality plans for decision making.
• Lead in What-if scenario planning providing integrated solutions to programme/project conflicts and recoveries.
• Lead and monitor processes to integrate scheduling from across all projects within the area of work.
• Support the Head of Planning and Integration in Baseline management and ad-hoc business requirements.
• Lead on Contractor Requirements working with Delivery and Procurement teams.
• Collaborate with project delivery teams, specialist HS2 Directorates, and external stakeholders (including suppliers, regulatory bodies, and the Department for Transport) where necessary to integrate all time, cost and quality information to support the monitoring of project progress.
• Support the Head of Planning and Integration and the Project Controls function in leading the planners in relation to setting objectives, reviewing performance and anticipating in selection and promotion decisions to ensure that planners have the necessary skills and understanding to deliver the team's objectives.
• Capture, implement and share best practice Project Planning policy, processes and procedures across the business to drive continuous improvement, and provide specialist advice where required.
• Actively promoting and embedding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and supporting and complying with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

About you:

• Clear Direction – Defining and prioritising objectives, analysing inputs, assessing data, defining strategies and supporting rationales.
• Complex problem solving – identifying complex problems; reviewing, analysing and interpreting a wide range of data to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Prioritisation – able to manage and plan multiple workstreams and the competing demands of stakeholders.
• Decision Quality – Gathering and synthesising information, identifying options and applying judgement based on logic and reason, making use of a variety of analytical approaches to provide relevant information to suppliers, stakeholders and decision makers using key facts and data.
• Communication and influencing skills, with the ability to engage and influence colleagues and external stakeholders at all levels, including the Board and Senior Executives.
• Ability to lead and influence decision making within a delivery team environment.
• Ability to effectively manage project controls process and systems.

• Knowledge of planning systems, processes and procedures that are capable of delivering large complex programmes.
• Knowledge of the core Project Controls disciplines, including; Schedule Management, Cost Management, Change Management and Risk Management and an understanding of how they interrelate.
• Understanding of NEC contracts, amendments, early warning notices and the work flows of communications between contractor and client.
• Knowledge of the all stages of the project life cycle.

• Experience of delivering a senior planning role within complex delivery projects on the client side.
• Experience in the core project controls functions, including baseline maintenance, schedule management, cost performance, change management, risk management and performance reporting.
• Experience of working on projects during all stages within the project lifecycle.
• Experience of governance procedures such as re-baselining, funding approval or major contract implementation.
• Experience of leading teams, developing their skills and improving the team working environment.
• Experienced in the management and control of key Project Controls systems (e.g. Primavera P6, Prism, CEMAR, etc.).
• Experience of leading contract progress and schedule change reviews.

About Us:

High Speed 2 (HS2 Ltd) will be the UK's new high speed rail network. As well as improving capacity, the new scheme will shorten journey times between a number of Britain's major population centres, boost the economy and create thousands of jobs. HS2 Ltd will create a skills legacy and develop a diverse range of talent. We aim to be a leader in EDI practice by creating a safe & inclusive working environment for all our staff – living our values of Safety, Respect, Integrity and Leadership.

HS2 Ltd is also a safety-critical organisation. Employees are required to ensure reasonable care of their own and others' health and safety by taking personal responsibility for working to our 'Safe at Heart' programme principles and following safe working procedures at all times.