Planning & Project Controls Lead

London, Bristol or Cardiff Perm Competitive salary, with Travel Allowance + Flexible Benefits The role We are looking for a Planning & Project Controls Lead to join our regional Senior Leadership Team and take ownership of a high-performing planning and project controls function.

This is a pivotal leadership role where you will drive data-led decision making, enhance project delivery performance, and ensure robust planning, risk management, and governance across a diverse portfolio of complex engineering projects.

If you’re a strategic thinker with deep technical expertise and a passion for delivering excellence in project controls, we want to hear from you.

Key deliverables in this role are:

• Lead and develop the Planning & Project Controls function across the full project lifecycle (Win → Plan → Do → Handover)
• Act as a key member of the Regional Senior Leadership Team, influencing business strategy and performance
• Align stakeholders across Delivery, Commercial, SHEQ, Procurement, and Technical teams
• Own and assure contract baseline programmes using Primavera P6 or Asta Powerproject
• Lead regional resource planning, ensuring capability aligns with future demand
• Drive consistency and excellence in planning standards and processes
• Embed and monitor key KPIs (SPI, CPI, Earned Value, productivity)
• Deliver clear, data-driven reporting and dashboards for senior stakeholders
• Conduct forecasting and trend analysis to support proactive decision-making
• Lead advanced schedule risk analysis (Monte Carlo, TIA, SRA)
• Ensure effective change control across all programmes
• Maintain robust, auditable risk registers and mitigation strategies
• Support bids with robust planning, sequencing, and risk assessments
• Collaborate with Business Development to strengthen win strategies
• Ensure all activities align with contractual obligations (e.g. NEC), internal processes, and legislation
• Maintain accurate and auditable project data and records
• Champion a Safety First culture across all projects
• Drive compliance with HSEQ standards and continuous improvement

To be successful in this role you will have:

• Proven leadership experience within Planning / Project Controls
• Strong expertise in Primavera P6 and/or Asta Powerproject
• Experience working under NEC contracts
• Background in major infrastructure or energy sectors (Rail, Nuclear, Power, Water)
• Advanced knowledge of earned value management (EVM) and performance analytics
• Expertise in risk modelling and forecasting techniques
• Experience managing planning at a portfolio or regional level
• Project Management qualification (APM, PMI or equivalent)
• Relevant engineering / construction qualification or apprenticeship
• Leadership/management qualification (Level 5 or equivalent desirable)

Who You Are

• A strategic and influential leader who can inspire teams and stakeholders
• Data-driven, comfortable translating complex data into actionable insights
• Resilient and solutions-focused, able to navigate complex challenges
• A collaborator, fostering a high-performance, team-first culture

Benefits

• 25 days holiday per annum, plus bank holidays
• Pension with leading provider and up to 8% employer contribution
• Private healthcare
• Free 24/7 365 Employee assistance program to support mental health and wellbeing (including counselling sessions and legal advice)
• Discounts
• Personal development programme
• Flexible Benefits
• Travel allowance

Next Steps: As a business, we’re on a journey to build on our culture where everyone is included, treated fairly and with respect. This starts with recruitment and how we bring people into the organisation.

We’ll do our best to outline the recruitment process to you ahead of time with plenty of notice. If you require any accommodations to participate in the application or interview process, please let us know and we will work with you to ensure your needs are met.

About Us: We are one of the leading independent engineering and services businesses in the UK. Founded in 1921, with a turnover of £500m and 3000 employees, we are proud of our history of developing great people through our investment in training.

Working across a variety of sectors within the building and infrastructure industry, our innovative, responsible and forward-thinking approach allows us to work on fantastic ground-breaking projects, providing solutions using the latest tools and technologies.

Progression is something we value, and we will make sure that when you join us you have a clearly defined development path, supported by regular reviews, training and ongoing support to enable you to be the best you can be.