Project Planning Analyst in Swindon

Are you an organised and proactive Project Planner looking to make a real impact? Joining a fast‑paced and collaborative environment on a 6‑9 month fixed‑term contract, you’ll play a key role in supporting the planning and coordination of critical programmes that help deliver a reliable and sustainable water service to millions of customers.

What you’ll be doing as a Project Planner

Reporting to the Business Project Manager within the Debt Management System Replacement Programme, you will lead the development, maintenance, and assurance of integrated programme plans across multiple workstreams. You’ll track progress against agreed baselines, identify schedule and resource risks, and provide clear planning insights to support informed decision‑making. This role is key to ensuring successful delivery across the programme – driving accuracy, efficiency, timely execution, and budget control.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain integrated programme, project and workstream plans, covering scope, milestones, dependencies, critical path and key deliverables.
• Establish and control schedule baselines, ensuring changes are assessed, approved and reflected accurately.
• Maintain planning standards, templates and governance, including assumptions, reporting cadence and version control.
• Work closely with Project Managers, Product Owners, Business Analysts, technical leads and third parties to agree accurate estimates, sequencing and resourcing.
• Track progress against plan, analyse variances and trends, and provide clear forecasts on milestone confidence, slippage and recovery options.
• Identify and manage schedule, dependency and resource risks, supporting mitigation planning and tracking actions to closure.
• Produce high‑quality programme reporting, including weekly/monthly status packs, dashboards and RAID updates, ensuring data integrity and consistency.
• Facilitate planning workshops and schedule reviews, constructively challenging assumptions and driving clarity on next steps.
• Provide scenario planning and impact assessments to support decisions on scope, sequencing, resourcing and delivery approach.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of planning processes, tools and good practice.

Key Deliverables

• An integrated, baselined programme plan with aligned project and workstream schedules, clear milestones and a critical path.
• Regular planning insights and reports, including schedule health, milestone confidence, variance analysis and forward look.
• Robust schedule risk and dependency logs, with agreed mitigation actions tracked to completion.
• Clear impact assessments and scenario plans to support informed delivery decisions.

Qualifications

• Confidence using MS Project, Excel and standard reporting tools.
• Proven experience in project or programme planning, scheduling or PMO within complex change or technology environments.
• Strong planning and control skills, including building plans, managing baselines, dependencies, critical path and change.
• High attention to detail, with strong analytical skills to interpret progress, forecast outcomes and highlight risks.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder skills, with the confidence to challenge assumptions and elevate issues when needed.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, work under pressure and meet reporting deadlines.

Desirable

• Experience supporting large‑scale system or business transformation programmes, ideally in regulated or public‑sector environments.
• Understanding of change and implementation planning.
• Knowledge of RAID management or related delivery controls.

EEO / Disability Confident

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high‑volume, seasonal and high‑peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non‑disabled people.

Benefits and Salary

• Competitive salary starting from £52,000 per annum, dependent on skills and experience.
• 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays).
• Performance‑related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to health and wellbeing benefits such as annual health MOTs, physiotherapy and counselling, Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

Contract Details

6‑9 month fixed‑term contract.