Senior Planner

Job Introduction

Job Description for Senior Planner: 

NNL is where your project management helps deliver our purpose. As part of our Project Management Authority, you’ll play a critical role in managing projects that deliver nuclear science to benefit society. Your project management skills and attention to detail will enable industry-leading scientists, engineers and analysts to work together to deliver unique projects using cutting edge technology. It’s a challenging role but it’s an opportunity to grow, adapt and develop new skills in a fast-moving area.

Supervision of local Planning resources, ensuring quality Planning support services including the development; management and ownership of project schedule data to deliver successful project outcomes within time, cost and quality requirements, including reporting; utilisation monitoring, and production of periodic progress reports. 

Role Responsibility

Main Responsibilities for Senior Planner: 

• Supervision of Planning resources to ensure the effective discharge of Planning services
• Actively contribute to the continuous improvement of the functional quality and performance of the Project Management Office and the Planning team
• Provision of mentoring and coaching to Assistant Planner resources in the local team
• Ensure compliance with all legislative, regulatory and Company procedures and standards e.g. safety, quality, risk and security etc. in the development of project plans
• Identify Customer & internal NNL deliverables and develop detailed project plans during all project phases on behalf of the Project Manager (detailing resources & costs) 
• Establish appropriate work breakdown structures against data provided by the Project Manager, ensuring that deliverables, activities, and quantity tracking mechanisms are in place
• Liaise with sub‐contractors and Technical Leads, collate progress information and maintain and update the project plan. Challenge updates where necessary to ensure robustness of information / feedback and therefore forecast plan 
• Provide progress updates as required by the Project Manager in accordance with work instructions, advising on missed forecasted milestones and deliverables, and attend project progress meetings (as required)
• Issue standardised performance reports highlighting any risks and opportunities, and key variances as appropriate, and advise on recovery options if project delivery performance is not hitting targets (Schedule/Deliverables/Cost) 
• Ensure forecasting of resources and costs in schedules are profiled accurately, supporting the delivery of solid, robust EAC’s
• Identify and track all changes or potential changes to the project baseline and subsequent underpinning of change control mechanisms
• Monitor critical path activities, and provide trend data (forecasts up to 3, 6 and 12 months look ahead); support to detailed cost and schedule reviews, and prompt and accurate information to the Project Manager
• Monitor works progress for variations / changes in project scope; understand any impacts on BCWS & project deliverables and make any necessary updates (follow approval by the Project Manager) to project schedules as required
• Provide project outturns against baseline for LFE and knowledge management
• Provide PMO input into Risk review processes and monthly support in the maintenance of risk registers and contingency and risk withdrawal
• Commercial and Contract awareness at customer interface, insurance of accuracy of information for external reporting  
• Provide where appropriate solutions or scenarios relating to project challenges 
• Responsible for the development and maintenance of category 4 classification projects

The Ideal Candidate

Essential Criteria for Senior Planner: 

• Demonstrable experience of successfully discharging Planning related services on medium – large scale / complex projects planning in engineering environments 
• Demonstrable experience in a Planning role, with experience of team / man-management
• Commercial and Contract awareness  
• Risk Analysis awareness
• Demonstrable experience of successful delivery 
• Good working knowledge and proficient in the use of Microsoft Project EPM, Primavera P6, Agresso and Microsoft Office Suite (or other professional project scheduling software packages) 
• Experience of utilising project collaboration software, e.g. Sharepoint, Project Webspace, etc.
• Ability to achieve SC level clearance 

Desirable Criteria for Senior Planner: 

• Graduate (minimum 2:2) in relevant discipline 
• Professional qualification in APM or equivalent
• Demonstrable experience of managing Planning discipline staff / teams, including performance management.

About the Company

Grounded in robust science and decades of experience, National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) is the authoritative voice in the UK and beyond for technological development within the nuclear power sector.

Our unparalleled understanding of the science, challenges and opportunities makes us an unrivalled authority and partner in the field, providing experts, technologies, and access to cutting-edge facilities to organisations around the world.

Harnessing potential technologies and translating them into to industry-ready solutions means our pioneering approach spearheads international improvement and technological progress.

We work on projects as small as drilling a hole to analyse underground wastes with our integrated micro drilling technology, or as large as developing state-of-the-art power systems for spacecraft, based on radioactive materials

NNL has a vision for Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (ED&I) where NNL aims to be an inclusive workplace that attracts diverse talent through transparent and equal policies and procedures. We want you and the diverse mix of people that we employ, customers that we service and stakeholders that we influence to feel valued. We encourage a workplace culture where everyone can thrive with a sense of belonging.

Recruitment Agency Notice

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List (PSL) for the provision of recruitment services. Only agencies on our PSL may provide CVs and only when the role is released to them by our recruitment team. We will not accept unsolicited CVs from suppliers not currently on our PSL. We explicitly reserve the right to add candidate details from unsolicited CVs from non-PSL agencies into our own candidate database and to pursue/hire such candidate(s) without any obligation, financial or otherwise, to the agency concerned.

National Nuclear Laboratory