Planning Manager in Inverness

Base Location: For this role, we require successful applicants to be based from one of our Scottish locations and you'll be expected to spend 50% of your working week in the office – Glasgow, Perth, Inverness or Aberdeen.

Salary: £58,100 - £87,100 + car/car allowance + performance‑related bonus + a range of benefits to support your finances, wellbeing and family.

Working Pattern: Permanent | Full Time | Flexible First options available.

The role: As Planning Manager, you will play a vital role in the provision of scheduling management, leadership, and subject matter expertise for the Onshore or Offshore Transmission Project Team. This is a key project in the “Pathway to 2030” delivering electricity transmission infrastructure to deliver the UK and Scottish Governments 2030 targets. You will bring a strategic and forward‑thinking approach to a high performing project environment, ensuring that planning and scheduling activity is aligned, insight driven and capable of supporting complex, large‑scale delivery. Your contribution will help steer project teams, strengthen decision making, and maintain the clarity, confidence and momentum needed to deliver this nationally significant work.

You will:

• Serve as a thought leader and innovator in full project lifecycle planning and scheduling, and provide leadership in integrating and communicating current and emerging industry methodologies and technologies.
• Proactively lead the management of top‑down planning and scheduling on projects and supervise the baselining and issuance of network‑logic‑drive schedules, schedule analysis narratives and status reports that motivate and meet the time, and quality needs of the project team to define status, risks, opportunities and corrective actions for implementation and work management.
• Apply practical field experience with planning and scheduling knowledge to identify challenges to the project schedule and suggest mitigation plans.
• Manage and prepare schedule risk analysis to forecast contingencies, to implement contingency management and be familiar with current simulation techniques.
• Establish and maintain technical standards to support quality planning and scheduling and ongoing capability advancement and professional development of departments, teams and individuals.

You have:

• A degree in construction management, engineering, project management, or related technical field or National Level NVQ5 or equivalent working knowledge.
• An active membership in at least one professional body or association demonstrating continual professional development is desirable.
• Experience of leading a planning team, developing a positive working atmosphere and actively motivating peers and junior staff.
• Experience of planning on large scale, complex projects throughout the project lifecycle and ideally trained in NEC3 contract management with focus on planning requirements highly desirable.
• A discernible understanding of SSE’s business areas, the energy industry, gained from experience as well as through social and professional networking.
• Prior demonstrable implementation and effective use of company standard planning and scheduling systems and project or program specific planning and scheduling systems (e.g. Primavera P6).

About SSE: SSE’s purpose is to provide energy needed today while building a better world of energy for tomorrow. We do this by developing, building, operating and investing in electricity infrastructure and businesses needed in the energy transition. Our Transforming for Growth investment plan sees us investing £33bn in critical electricity infrastructure across the five years to 2030. SSEN Transmission owns and operates the electricity transmission network across the north of Scotland. We transport energy from where it is generated to where it is needed, ensuring a safe and reliable electricity supply for the communities we serve. But that’s not all – we’re upgrading the grid to deliver cleaner, homegrown energy for the future and building a network for net zero to create secure power for generations to come.

Flexible Benefits To Fit Your Life: Enjoy discounts on private healthcare and gym memberships. Wellbeing benefits like a free online GP and 24/7 counselling service. Interest‑free loans on tech and transport season tickets, or a new bike with our Cycle to Work scheme. As well as generous family entitlements such as maternity and adoption pay, and paternity leave.

Equal Opportunity Employer: SSE will make any reasonable adjustments you need to ensure that your application and experience with us is positive. We are committed to fostering an open and inclusive workplace where people from all backgrounds can thrive and create equal opportunities for everyone to succeed.