Senior Planning Engineer

NES Fircroft are currently recruiting for a Senior Planning Engineer for our client, who are a global, industry leader in power technology.

Senior Planning Engineer
Location: Newcastle
Flexible hybrid working
Contract position

About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Senior Planning Engineer to lead the planning and scheduling activities across a portfolio of complex marine engineering projects.
Working within the Marine Projects team, you will be responsible for developing, maintaining and analysing integrated project schedules, ensuring accurate forecasting, identifying delivery risks and providing high-quality schedule intelligence to project teams and customers.
This is a key role supporting the successful delivery of critical marine programmes, working closely with Project Managers, Engineering, Procurement, Manufacturing and customers. Key Responsibilities
Project Planning

• Develop and maintain fully integrated Primavera P6 project schedules.
• Create Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), activity networks and logic-driven programmes.
• Develop resource-loaded schedules where required.
• Produce project baselines and manage change control.
• Ensure planning standards are consistently applied across all projects.

Schedule Management

• Monitor project progress against baseline.
• Analyse critical path and near-critical activities.
• Identify schedule risks and opportunities.
• Recommend mitigation and recovery plans.
• Support project teams in implementing corrective actions.

Performance Reporting

• Produce weekly and monthly planning reports.
• Analyse schedule performance using KPIs including:
  • Critical Path
  • Schedule Health
  • Float Consumption
  • Milestone Performance
  • Forecast Completion Dates
• Present planning information to internal and external stakeholders.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Work closely with:
  • Project Managers
  • Engineering
  • Procurement
  • Manufacturing
  • Service Centres
  • Field Operations
  • Customers
  • Senior Management
• Provide planning expertise to support project decision making.

Risk & Change Management

• Support quantitative and qualitative schedule risk assessments.
• Assess the impact of proposed changes.
• Maintain accurate schedule records and revisions.
• Support customer reporting and contractual planning requirements.

Continuous Improvement

• Promote planning best practice across Marine Projects.
• Support the development of planning standards and templates.
• Mentor junior planners where required.
• Identify opportunities to improve reporting and planning processes.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Extensive experience in project planning within engineering, manufacturing, defence, marine or energy sectors.
• Advanced Primavera P6 experience.
• Strong understanding of Critical Path Method (CPM).
• Experience developing integrated project schedules.
• Excellent schedule analysis skills.
• Experience with resource planning.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to challenge project teams constructively.
• Highly analytical with excellent attention to detail.

Desirable

• APM or PMI qualification.
• Planning & Scheduling Professional (PSP).
• Schedule Risk Analysis experience.
• Knowledge of NEC/FIDIC or major project contracts.
• Power BI or Tableau experience.
• Experience within defence or marine engineering environments.

Key Behaviours

• Commercially aware.
• Proactive problem solver.
• Strong communicator.
• Collaborative.
• Resilient under pressure.
• Driven by continuous improvement.
• Customer focused.

Typical Deliverables

• Integrated Primavera P6 schedules.
• Weekly project updates.
• Monthly portfolio reports.
• Critical path analysis.
• Recovery programmes.
• Look-ahead schedules.
• Schedule risk assessments.
• Resource forecasts.
• Baseline programmes.
• Executive dashboards.

Success Measures
The successful candidate will be measured against:

• Accuracy of project forecasts.
• Schedule quality and compliance.
• On-time milestone achievement.
• Quality of planning information provided.
• Stakeholder satisfaction.
• Timeliness of reporting.
• Effective management of schedule risks.
• Contribution to continuous improvement.

About the Team
The Senior Planning Engineer will report directly to the Business Planning Manager and will act as the planning lead for the Marine Projects portfolio. The role is responsible for the day-to-day ownership of project schedules, ensuring delivery teams have accurate, timely planning information to support successful execution.
The Business Planning Manager retains responsibility for portfolio governance, resource strategy, business reporting, workload planning, planning standards and senior stakeholder engagement, while the Senior Planning Engineer provides detailed project planning expertise and technical leadership across the marine programme.
This structure creates a clear separation between strategic business planning and project delivery planning, ensuring both functions receive the focus required to support a growing Marine Projects portfolio.

With over 90 years' combined experience, NES Fircroft (NES) is proud to be the world's leading engineering staffing provider spanning the Oil & Gas, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Construction & Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Mining and Manufacturing sectors worldwide. With more than 80 offices in 45 countries, we are able to provide our clients with the engineering and technical expertise they need, wherever and whenever it is needed. We offer contractors far more than a traditional recruitment service, supporting with everything from securing visas and work permits, to providing market-leading benefits packages and accommodation, ensuring they are safely and compliantly able to support our clients.