Planning Engineer

Morson are recruiting a P6 Planning Engineer/Project Controller for an initial 6 month contract with our Crawley based defence client. Candidates must be ok to work 2 - 3 days/week in Crawley and must have P6 planning experience, the primary purpose of the role is to provide project planning and monitoring and control expertise to the Project.

Working directly with the Project Manager (PM) and Project Management Office (PMO) Manager this role supports the definition of the project goals and objectives, creates and maintains cost and schedule baselines, monitors and analyses progress against the baselines, and advises and challenges the Project Manager on their decision-making through the presentation and interpretation of relevant project data.
Key to the role is to integrate into the project management team, in order to assist the PM in key decision making and provide guidance and coaching to the project team. The Project Controller should understand the project status to a level where they can make informed analysis of any changes to schedule, cost, scope and Integrated Business Planning (IBP).

Key Responsibilities and Tasks:

Update Project schedules, in liaison with work package & control account managers, to reflect progressed/completed work, with estimates to complete (ETC) established via allocation of required resources to outstanding scheduled activities.
Identify slippages within the project schedules & mitigate these, where possible, through agreed re-planning actions.
Provide performance data to support decision making and inform / improve the planning and execution of outstanding work packages and control accounts. Identify focus areas for management, with recommended actions to address any identified variances or improve performance.
Maintain the Project WBS and OBS for publication and issue.
Organise and facilitate internal weekly, monthly and quarterly progress meetings in conjunction with PM.
Ensure consistent monthly Dashboard Pack Reporting across the Project. Attend the Project Management Reviews and be prepared to present the cost/schedule aspects as required.
Drive an effective and efficient process for managing Cost and Schedule Change Control.
Take responsibility for the update and analysis of project IBP data, ensuring that all IBP data published is correct and accurate and has been fully signed off by the Project Manager and Work Package Managers (WPMs).
Support Risk Management process, risk reviews and modelling. Including maintenance of the overall Risk Register.
Co-ordinate the Development and Maintenance of Visual Display Boards, with the emphasis on displaying progress against schedule and key milestones.
Outline the planning policies and guidelines and ensure they are implemented and followed correctly by all Project Managers and Work Package Managers. Establish and put in place governance to ensure the project is well controlled, including identifying where governance is lacking and influencing a change in ways of working to ensure control.
Adhere to the specification and implementation of best practise for project control standards & procedures for reporting in line with corporate policies.

Skills   Essential

Demonstrated ability to work to specified timescales and expected deliveries, whilst displaying the drive to achieve work-related goals.
Detailed understanding of the planning process & the role / importance of milestones, dependencies, project networks, float & critical path.
Has an understanding of the project management & control process that includes change control, risk management & information management.

Has an understanding of the project life cycle for complex programmes with an understanding of Development, Production and Long Term Support activities.

Working knowledge / application of scheduling tools such as Oracle Primavera and Microsoft Project.
Working knowledge / application of Microsoft Office suite particularly the application of data analysis & summarisation techniques such as pivot tables & charting using Microsoft Excel.
Able to analyse and interpret underlying causes, themes & trends, whilst also being able to think through the consequences of different options and solutions and communicate these to the project team. Be able to influence where attention is required and drive action.
Able to identify areas where a change in ways of working is required to ensure control of the project and be able to influence the project team to implement these changes
Literacy level and report writing skills should meet requirements to produce short presentations, flow-charts or mini-reports suitable for distribution to senior management.
Numeracy level should be aligned with the need to carry out detailed investigation of cost variance(s) and publishing of financial information directly into Company financial reports.
Detailed understanding of the principles of Earned Value Management, the demands that EVM reporting places on the schedule & the ability to implement EVM on Projects.
Demonstrate an excellent understanding of the Bid or Project, as well as have the passion & drive to go the extra mile, in order to operate at the level of an ‘Assistant Project Manager’.

Experience:

Proven successful “hands-on” experience in planning, scheduling, data analysis & cost control within a complex engineering/manufacturing environment covering high level & detailed schedule compilation, programme reporting, budgeting & risk management.

A relevant Defence, Civil Aviation or Rail background would be advantageous.

Qualifications:

HNC/HND level education in an Engineering or Business Management discipline desirable (and / or proven successful work experienced in planning a complex and sizeable project environment).