Planning manager

About The Role Job Title : Planning Manager

Location: Leeds

Company: Balfour Beatty

About The Role Balfour Beatty is looking for an experienced Planning Manager to lead and coordinate planning activities across a portfolio of construction and civil engineering projects. This is an excellent opportunity for a highly skilled planning professional to drive project success through robust programme management, strategic planning, and effective leadership of planning teams.

As a Planning Manager, you will be responsible for overseeing project planning activities from tender through to delivery, ensuring programmes are robust, achievable, and aligned with project and business objectives. You will work closely with project teams, stakeholders, and senior leaders to optimise project performance, manage risk, and deliver successful outcomes.

What you'll be doing

• Lead the development, maintenance, and management of project programmes across multiple construction projects.
• Identify planning scope, key constraints, risks, opportunities, and contractual requirements.
• Lead collaborative planning workshops to develop logical construction sequences and delivery methodologies.
• Drive the development of tender, feasibility, pre-construction, and contract programmes.
• Ensure the adoption of efficient design, procurement, and construction strategies.
• Monitor project progress against programme baselines and implement change control processes where required.
• Analyse and communicate critical path activities, advising project teams on risks and corrective actions.
• Lead and develop planning teams, providing mentoring, coaching, and technical guidance.
• Manage resource planning to ensure effective utilisation of labour, plant, equipment, and materials.
• Oversee programme reporting, project controls, performance metrics, and key performance indicators.
• Support contract management activities, including engagement with subcontractors, suppliers, and clients.
• Promote continuous improvement and the adoption of planning best practice across projects and teams.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders to support successful project delivery.

Who we're looking for

Essential

• Significant experience planning and managing construction or civil engineering projects.
• Strong leadership experience managing planning teams and resources.
• Expert knowledge of project planning and scheduling methodologies.
• Advanced proficiency in planning software such as Primavera P6, Asta Powerproject, Microsoft Project, and Excel.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and relationship-building abilities.
• Proven experience managing project schedules, critical path analysis, and programme controls.
• Understanding of budgeting, cost management, earned value analysis, and project performance measurement.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Full understanding of construction project lifecycles and project delivery processes.

Desirable

• Experience working on major infrastructure or regional civils projects.
• Experience facilitating tender and pre-construction planning activities.
• Knowledge of risk analysis techniques including programme risk assessments and quantitative schedule risk analysis.
• Previous experience leading planning functions across multiple projects.
• Professional qualification or membership relevant to project controls, planning, or construction management.

Why work for us

Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UK’s most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.

Benefits As if contributing to and supporting work that makes life better for millions wasn’t rewarding enough, we offer a full range of benefits too. You’ll have the freedom to shape the package that’s right for you and your life. Here are some of our key benefits:

• Smart working, giving you more flexibility such as staggered start and finish times, with up to 40% remote working, where roles allow.
• 25 days paid annual leave (pro rata)
• Family friendly policies which include 28 weeks full pay for maternity/adoption leave and four weeks full pay for paternity/partners leave
• Pension, share incentive plan, volunteering leave, recognition schemes and much more…

Professional and personal development The size and scale of Balfour Beatty coupled with our strong pipeline of work provides incredible opportunities, regardless of what stage you are at in your career.

We encourage and empower our employees to take control of their career and explore which part of the business they want to work in and what role is right for them. We actively encourage our managers and employees to have open communication throughout the year about wellbeing, development and career opportunities.

We're proud of the Balfour Beatty Academy. Whether it’s sharpening your technical expertise, improving your personal skills or seeking support to become professionally qualified, our 70:20:10* approach to development means we have a learning approach that suits everyone.

• 70% learning on the job, 20% learning from those around you, and 10% formal training courses and learning events.

For further information about Balfour Beatty Jobs please go to www.balfourbeatty.com/careers - You can also check out further job opportunities in the careers section About Us At Balfour Beatty we are committed to creating a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential, not only because this is the right thing to do, but because it makes us a better business. To ensure we deliver on this commitment, we have a UK Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan which sets out the wide range of targeted, proactive, measurable steps we are taking to make this a reality. You can read our UK Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan in full at www.balfourbeatty.com/value\_everyone

To help and support us with our desired commitment to create an inclusive culture we are members of WISE, enei, Business Disability Forum and the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE). In 2020, we signed the Audeliss and Involve Open Letter to demonstrate our commitment to taking key long term and sustainable actions on Black Inclusion. Balfour Beatty is also a Gold Award holder in the Ministry of Defence 'Employer Recognition Scheme' and actively encourage applications from Armed Forces personnel, veterans and reservists.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are committed to working with people who have disabilities and long-term health conditions to remove barriers for them in obtaining employment. We are also committed to offering applicants with a disability an interview if they meet the minimum requirements for the role.

Further information on Disability Confident can be found at: https://disabilityconfident.campaign.gov.uk/