Senior Project Planner
Westhill, Aberdeen or Glasgow
Permanent position
The Role:
The Senior Project Planner role is key to shaping the future of the project planning function through standardisation and collaboration. The position will build upon what has been established and look to improve and move forward in line with the business strategy, in addition, it will also support in the development of Planner and Junior Planner roles.
This role will improve business results by driving initiatives to meet the requirements of our customers and our strategy.
You will support strategic growth by developing competitive, realistic bid schedules and then transitioning those into detailed delivery plans upon award. This role is ideal for someone who is well established in the planner role, thrives in a fast-paced environment and can deliver high-quality planning support under pressure. You will support in the mentoring of other planner and junior planner roles, aligning their growth with company procedures and guidelines.
Key Duties and responsibilities:
- Develop and maintain detailed project schedules using Primavera P6 across the full EPC lifecycle, from initiation to closeout.
- Create and manage bid-phase schedules, supporting estimating and commercial teams with planning input for competitive tenders.
- Lead baseline and re-baseline processes, ensuring schedule alignment with scope changes and project control procedures.
- Monitor and report progress through earned value analysis, S-curves, KPIs, and critical path tracking to support performance management.
- Identify schedule risks and opportunities, integrating mitigations into project plans and advising project teams on schedule impact.
- Coordinate closely with multi-discipline teams (engineering, procurement, production) to validate planning assumptions and logic.
- Mentor junior planners and support continuous improvement, driving planning standards and best practice across the business.
- Ensure compliance with client requirements and internal governance, including support for audits, reporting, and security standards.
Project Delivery:
- Take ownership of the planning lifecycle from initiation to project closeout.
- Develop and manage detailed schedules in Primavera P6, incorporating engineering, procurement, production, commissioning, and client interface activities.
- Lead critical path analysis and ensure timely identification of schedule risks and mitigation actions.
- Maintain and report progress using S-curves, earned value (EVM), and forecasting tools.
- Manage the baseline and re-baseline process, ensuring all changes are controlled and auditable.
- Collaborate with Project Managers and functional leads to validate assumptions and schedule logic.
- Prepare and present project planning reports and dashboards to internal and client stakeholders.
- Integrate planning with risk management activities and incorporate mitigation plans into the schedule.
- Support planning process improvements and continuous development across the project planning function.
- Provide mentorship to junior planners and contribute to team development.
- Support integration with ERP systems for resource and cost tracking.
Bid & Tender Support:
- Work closely with the bidding and estimating teams to develop realistic, resource-loaded bid schedules aligned with project execution strategies.
- Analyse tender documents and client requirements to ensure alignment of bid plans with project scope and constraints.
- Conduct scenario planning and schedule optimisation to support commercial strategy during the bidding phase.
- Support handover from bid to project execution teams, ensuring smooth transition and continuity of planning information.
What we’re looking for:
Excellent communication and reporting skills, verbal, written, and graphical.
Comfortable working independently and quickly integrating into new teams or projects.
Confident in chairing meetings with various levels of leadership.
Key skills, knowledge and experience:
- Oracle accredited Primavera P6 foundation & advanced certification.
- Proven experience as a Senior Project Planner on complex EPC projects.
- Advanced user of Primavera P6.
- Strong command of critical path methodology (CPM) and schedule risk identification.
- Experience with S-curves, earned value, productivity tracking, and forecasting.
- Proficient in baseline creation, maintenance, and re-baselining in dynamic project environments.
- Ability to produce high-quality planning outputs under tight deadlines.
- Experience working with or integrating data from ERP systems (Glovia, SAP, etc.).
- Management of project plans from bid phase to close out.
- Experience mentoring junior team members and developing planning tools or templates.
- You will need to be able to demonstrate where initiative and forward thinking has supported previous planning functions.
A flexible approach to working is needed as there will be a need for regional travel, based on project or business needs.
This is a key role in a growing, agile, and delivery-focused business and offers genuine career development opportunities across project and portfolio planning along with involvement in strategic bids and high-profile UK projects.
- In addition, you will need to be eligible for UK security clearance.
Why join us?
Competitive benefits tailored to the division.
Opportunities for career growth and visibility across the organisation.
A supportive, inclusive culture that values your ideas and contributions.
Work that truly makes a difference in safety, innovation, and global capability.
About Us:
James Fisher is a global engineering services company with over 50 years of experience delivering complex offshore energy projects in some of the world’s most challenging environments. We operate across Energy, Defence, and Maritime Transport, leveraging cutting-edge technology and deep expertise to support the full lifecycle of our customers’ assets.
Visit our website at: www.james-fisher.com
JFD is the world leading underwater capability provider, serving the commercial and defence markets with innovative diving, submarine and hyperbaric rescue, technical solutions and services.
Operating worldwide, the company is the world’s leading provider of submarine rescue capability and an established provider of submarine escape training. The company is at the forefront of Hyperbaric Rescue, along with being the leading supplier of commercial and defence diving equipment and saturation diving systems to the commercial industry.
www.jfdglobal.com
If this sounds like the ideal next step in your career, then click ‘apply’ now!
Due to the volume of applications, we receive for our vacancies, on occasion applications may close before the deadline, so please apply early to avoid disappointment.
James Fisher and Sons are committed to taking positive action on diversity and strongly encourage applications for candidates from all backgrounds. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and recognise that our success depends on our talented and diverse workforce.
