Lead Planning Engineer

We are seeking an experienced Lead Planning Engineer to join our delivery team on a major UK agricultural manufacturing capital programme. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in project planning and scheduling, with proven expertise in Primavera P6 and a track record of delivering complex schedules across construction, turnaround, and commissioning environments.

In this role, you will be embedded full-time within the client's project team, providing dedicated planning and scheduling support across a growing portfolio of capital projects. You will work alongside a co-located PMO Hive team comprising cost engineering, document control, commercial, and strategic advisory functions.

• Develop and maintain integrated project schedules using Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project across the capital programme.
• Perform critical path analysis, float management, and schedule risk assessment.
• Produce S-curves, resource histograms, and earned value metrics to track project performance against baseline.
• Deliver weekly and monthly schedule progress reports, variance analysis, and rolling look-ahead programmes.
• Provide specialist planning support for turnaround and planned outage scheduling, including resource loading and execution monitoring.
• Ensure alignment between project schedules, cost forecasts, and resource plans across the portfolio.
• Attend site regularly to validate progress, verify scope, and update schedules based on field conditions.
• Collaborate with project managers, engineers, and contractors to develop achievable execution strategies.

• 10+ years' experience as a Lead Planning Engineer or Senior Planner on complex capital or industrial programmes.
• Advanced proficiency in Primavera P6 (essential) and Microsoft Project.
• Demonstrated experience in turnaround, shutdown, and outage planning within process, industrial, or energy environments.
• Strong understanding of critical path methodology, resource levelling, and schedule risk analysis.
• Experience producing multi-level progress reporting (Level 1–5), including graphical and tabular outputs and executive narratives.
• Track record of working in embedded client-side or PMC roles within multi-discipline project teams.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Self-motivated and comfortable working autonomously within a site-based environment.
• Experience on pharmaceutical, chemical, FMCG, or agricultural manufacturing capital programmes.
• Familiarity with NEC contract scheduling requirements.
• Experience with Acumen Fuse or equivalent schedule quality assessment tools.
• Knowledge of EPC project lifecycle from FEED through construction and commissioning.