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. Responsibilities: 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. Requirements: 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. Desirable: 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.