We are currently recruiting for a Head of Planning to join a major organisation which is responsible for delivering billion pound complex infrastructure projects and to lead and drive excellence in Project and Programme Planning.

The Head of Planning role is critical in developing an integrated and high performing Programme Management Office service, supporting the project at every stage of the lifecycle.

As Head of Planning you will be responsible for driving excellence in Project and Programme Planning through the development, delivery and maintenance of a governance framework for Planning and Schedule management together with relevant tools and systems and the enhancement of in-house capability. The focus will be to continuously improve capability, behaviours, culture, tools, processes and systems related to Planning & Schedule management.

Your Responsibilities:

*You will develop and maintain strong, collaborative, working relationships with Programme Senior Leadership Team, Programme Management Office (PMO), and Programme delivery teams where you will ensure a strong understanding of business needs are met and ensure that the requirements for high quality Planning management tools and systems are fully understood and addressed at both Project and Programme level
*Working with the PMO, Programme & Project teams to develop and deliver the Planning and Scheduling management strategy, you will provide consistency leading to industry best practices; that will ensure control and deliver effective processes, mechanisms and tools
*You will lead the development of Enterprise Planning management tools and systems at a Project, Programme and Portfolio level, to drive measurable results in terms of increasing the efficiency of the Programme and its constituent projects to deliver consistent high quality of project and programme reporting
*You will develop processes and procedures that ensure all project schedules provided by designers, delivery partners / contractors and any 3rd party suppliers are provided to a consistently high quality into a centralised location and support Directors, Project Managers/Sponsors and their teams through the provision of programme and project analysis and identify and report emerging issues and trends in performance and behaviours related to Planning & Schedule management.

Your Experience:

*Extensive operational experience of working in a complex, high value, programme environment, providing and driving strategic improvement plans and consistency of approach at programme and project levels
*Experienced in providing optimisation of individual (and combined) design and construction project plans at a project and programmatic level
*Experienced in driving change programmes specific to embedding Planning and Schedule management processes, tools, systems and people capability
*Significant experience of scheduling tools and systems, specifically Primavera P6, Deltek Acumen Suite of Tools
*Extensive operational experience of setting up and managing a P6 Enterprise Environment
*Demonstrable operational experience of leading and managing teams at a senior level in a project and programme environment preferably within major civil engineering/infrastructure sectors
*Demonstrable evidence of continuous operational Project, Programme & Portfolio Offices (P3O) management of personal professional development
*Track record of managing complex relationships with multiple stakeholders and evidence of skills to influence relationships for positive outcomes within an operational environment

This role can be based in London, Bedford, or Bristol and offers a great package and flexible working environment.