Senior Planning Consultant/Senior Project Planner in Reading

Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management, and development consultancy with over 20,000 employees across more than 50 countries and 140+ offices. We work across incredible global industries, delivering exciting work that is defining our future and making an important societal impact in the communities we serve. Our people power our performance – we succeed when they do. With countless opportunities to collaborate, learn, and grow, the possibilities for excellence are as varied as every individual.

About The Business Unit

Mott MacDonald’s Advisory and Programme Delivery (APD) unit delivers both project, programme & commercial management (PPCM) services and advisory solutions across the built environment, defence, energy, water, environmental, transportation, health and care sectors. We deliver tailored solutions that directly address our clients’ key challenges, combining our world‑leading project expertise with unrivalled programme delivery capabilities and advisory services.

Senior Planning Consultant

This role requires deep expertise in planning and scheduling across diverse projects and industries. You will work closely with project leads to deliver exceptional value to our clients and play an active role in the continued growth and development of our business.

What You Will Contribute To The Team

• Establish and deliver professional and comprehensive planning and scheduling services across a variety of complex projects providing accurate and verified schedule management service either as a managed service or as part of an integrated team.
• Collaborate with delivery team, supply chain, end users, customers and stakeholders to develop, baseline, and maintain high‑quality project schedules.
• Support alignment by setting up and delivering collaborative / integrated planning workshops and capability to show and confirm alignment across multiple organisations and supply chains.
• Develop, underpin, assure, and set up credible baseline schedules for our customers or projects validating all information incorporated into the schedule through authoring detailed Basis of Schedule documents to demonstrate good planning practice and alignment to requirement, benefits, and key dates.
• Establish tool techniques and procedures to determine and confirm progress, determine performance to date and forecast accurately future progress.
• Support through identifying risks issues and opportunities to schedule and develop and deliver expert advice to internal and external customers supported by comprehensive documented analysis.
• Provide expert advice to our customer and project managers on planning tools, methodologies, and best practices and options to maintain schedule alignment to required benefits and outcomes.
• Work with project teams to develop, underpin, and assure baseline schedules.
• Mentor and guide junior planners, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and knowledge sharing.
• Contribute to business development efforts and the evolution of planning capabilities within the organization.

Essential

• Proven experience as a Senior Project Planner, with a strong record in planning, monitoring, and controlling project delivery across various industries and contract types.
• Expertise in integrated planning across engineering, procurement, and construction, including facilitation of planning workshops.
• Must have excellent attention to detail and be outcomes orientated with the ability to work independently or lead teams.
• Proficiency in developing detailed project schedules from technical data or scope statements, including resource and cost integration.
• Skilled in applying industry‑standard scheduling techniques (e.g., Critical Path, Critical Chain, Resource Levelling, Earned Value).
• Ability to estimate and document schedule assumptions and present schedules in assurance reviews.
• Experience in coordinating with stakeholders to assess progress at activity, WBS, and project levels.
• Strong analytical skills to interpret schedule variances and support corrective action planning.
• Confident in preparing and delivering progress reports and planning summaries to clients and senior management.
• Proficient in conducting schedule assurance reviews (e.g., DCMA), time impact analysis, and schedule risk assessments.
• Advanced user of Oracle Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project.
• Experience in complex, highly regulated industries.
• Solid understanding of estimating, risk management, and cost control, with experience collaborating across project controls disciplines.
• Flexible to travel to client site in Plymouth 2 - 3 days per week inclusive of overnight stays.

Desirable

• Degree or equivalent in a relevant field.
• Experienced working on Defence projects.
• Strong client‑facing and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex situations with professionalism and integrity.
• Experience supporting business development and contributing to proposal efforts.
• Familiarity with the full project lifecycle, from concept through to commissioning.
• Excellent communication and people skills.
• Proven leadership and team development capabilities.
• Expert‑level proficiency in Primavera and MS Project.
• Experience with risk and reporting tools such as Safran and Power BI.

Please be advised that offers for this role are conditional upon obtaining the appropriate level of Security Clearance.

Agile Working

At Mott MacDonald, we believe it makes business sense for you and your manager to choose how you can work most effectively to meet your client, team, and personal commitments. We offer a hybrid working policy that embraces your well‑being, flexibility, and trust.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We put equality, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of our business, seeking to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they can contribute.

Accessibility

We want you to perform your best at every stage in the recruitment process. If you are disabled or need any support to enable you to apply or attend an interview, please contact us at reasonable.adjustments@mottmac.com and we will talk to you about how we can support you.

We Offer Some Fantastic Benefits Including

• Private medical insurance for all UK colleagues.
• Health cash plan to support you with everyday health costs and treatments.
• Access to Peppy, providing free support from menopause experts for all UK colleagues.
• A variety of wellbeing support is available through our comprehensive wellbeing program, including access for you and your family.
• Ability to flex your salary to opt into a wide range of health benefits, many of which can be extended to your family too.

Financial Wellbeing

• We match employee pension contributions between 4.5% and 7%.
• Life assurance equal up to 4 × your basic salary, with an option to increase the level of cover to 6 × your salary.
• Our income protection scheme provides a financial benefit, as well as absence and return to work support due to long‑term illness or injury.
• Flexible benefits, including increased life assurance cover, critical illness insurance, payroll saving and will writing.
• As an independently owned business we share the financial success of the business with all our colleagues in various ways including annual bonus schemes.

Lifestyle

• A minimum of 33‑35 days holiday each year, inclusive of public holidays and dependent on level, with the ability to buy or sell leave through our flexible benefits programme.
• Holiday entitlement increased to a minimum of 35 days after 5 years’ service.
• Variety of employee saving schemes and discounts from high‑street retailers.

Enhanced Family and Carers Leave

• Enhanced family leave policies, including 26 weeks paid maternity and adoption leave, and two weeks paid paternity/partner leave.
• Our shared parental leave matches maternity leave meaning we pay up to 24 weeks at full pay.
• Up to five additional days leave are provided for those with significant caring responsibilities, two of which are paid.

Learning and Development

• Primary annual professional institution subscription.
• A broad range of opportunities to enhance both technical and soft skills through mentoring, formal training, and self‑development options.

Networks, Communities, and Social Outcomes

• Join a wide range of groups including our Advanced Employee Networks which support our LGBTQ+, gender, race and ethnicity, disability, and parents/carers communities.
• Make a difference within our communities through our social outcomes.