Senior Planner - #2194463

SENIOR PROJECT PLANNER – RAIL

Birmingham or London / Mostly remote working with travel when required

£60,000–£65,000 + Excellent Benefits

Ready to take your rail planning experience into a major project environment?

I'm currently working with a client looking to appoint an experienced Senior Project Planner to support the delivery of design works across a major rail project.

This is an opportunity for a Planner with strong rail and NEC contract experience to take ownership of programme development, schedule management and reporting, ensuring project teams have the visibility and information needed to manage delivery and cost forecasts effectively.

Working closely with project managers, commercial teams and design stakeholders, you'll play an important role in maintaining programme integrity, monitoring progress and identifying potential issues before they impact delivery.

The position offers mostly remote working, with candidates ideally based in London or Birmingham and willing to travel to site when required.

The opportunity

• Develop, maintain and update detailed project programmes covering design activities.
• Manage and monitor programme performance against key milestones and delivery objectives.
• Produce and maintain rolling three-week lookahead programmes to support short-term planning and coordination.
• Develop cost-loaded schedules to provide greater visibility of programme expenditure.
• Provide regular schedule updates to support cost forecasting and commercial reporting.
• Work closely with commercial and project teams to ensure programme information aligns with cost forecasts.
• Monitor design progress, dependencies and interfaces across project workstreams.
• Identify potential delays, programme risks and critical path impacts.
• Support the development of mitigation strategies and recovery plans where required.
• Ensure programmes are developed and maintained in accordance with NEC contract requirements.
• Provide clear and accurate progress reporting to support project-level decision-making.

What we're looking for

• Minimum 5 years' experience in project planning.
• Strong background within the rail sector.
• Experience working on design-led projects and managing design programmes.
• Good understanding and practical experience of NEC contracts.
• Strong Primavera P6 experience.
• Experience developing cost-loaded programmes and supporting cost forecasting.
• Understanding of three-week lookahead planning and short-term programme management.
• Ability to interpret programme data, identify potential issues and communicate progress effectively.
• Confident working with project managers, commercial teams, designers and wider stakeholders.
• Strong analytical, organisational and communication skills.

What's on offer?

• £60,000–£65,000 basic salary, depending on experience.
• Mostly remote working - Site travel when required.
• Opportunity to work on a major rail project.
• Involvement in design programme management and project controls.
• Exposure to NEC contract delivery and commercial forecasting.
• A key role within a project delivery team, with genuine responsibility for programme performance.

Interested in finding out more?

If you're an experienced Planner with strong NEC contract knowledge and a background in design works, I'd welcome a confidential conversation.

Whether you're actively considering a move or simply open to hearing about the right opportunity, get in touch directly for further details.

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