Senior Planning Engneer

Penspen Ltd; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 420,000 - 700,000; Full time

Job summary

Penspen Ltd in Abu Dhabi is seeking a Senior Planning Engineer to lead planning, scheduling, cost control, and performance reporting across project lifecycles. You will support delivery by monitoring schedule and cost performance, identifying risks, and advising on actions with engineering, procurement, construction, and operations teams.

The role requires 15+ years in oil & gas, advanced Primavera P6 skills, and strong EVM/reporting expertise.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or equivalent required.
• 15+ years of project controls experience in oil & gas/energy projects.
• Advanced proficiency in Primavera P6 (baseline, CPM, float, resource loading).
• Strong knowledge of PMS, WBS, CBS, EVM, S-curves, progress tracking.

Responsibilities

• Plan, schedule, cost control, and forecast throughout project lifecycle.
• Monitor schedule and cost performance; identify variances and risks.
• Advise on contractor progress, governance, and reporting processes.
• Coordinate planning activities across engineering, procurement, construction, and operations.

Skills

Project controls

Scheduling

Cost control

Oil & gas

Primavera P6

CPM

EVM

Risk management

Reporting

Power BI

Excel

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering

PMP

PMI-SP

AACE/PSP/CCP

Tools

Primavera P6

Microsoft Excel

Power BI

Job description

Position: Senior Planning Engineer
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

Job Purpose

The Senior Planning Engineeris responsible for planning, scheduling, cost control, progress measurement, forecasting, and performance reporting throughout the project lifecycle. The role supports successful project delivery by monitoring schedule and cost performance, identifying risks and variances, evaluating contractor progress, and providing timely recommendations to ensure projects are delivered safely, on schedule, and within budget. The position works closely with engineering, procurement, construction, operations, and contractors to maintain project controls, governance, reporting, and decision-making processes.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or equivalent.
• PMP, PMI-SP, AACE/PSP/CCP or equivalent certification is advantageous.

Minimum Requirements:

• 15+ years of project controls experience, with substantial exposure to oil & gas / energy projects.
• Strong experience in Concept, FEED, EPC/EPCM/DBO and construction execution environments.
• Demonstrated involvement in large multidisciplinary projects involving pipelines, processing facilities, brownfield tie-ins and infrastructure.
• Exposure in Upstream Oil & Gas projects
• Advanced proficiency in Primavera P6, including baseline development, Critical Path Method (CPM), float analysis, resource loading, and schedule optimization.
• Strong knowledge of Project Management Systems (PMS), Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS), weighted progress measurement, S-curves, discipline progress tracking, and Earned Value Management (EVM) principles.
• Expertise in critical and near-critical path identification, schedule variance analysis, delay analysis, recovery planning, acceleration strategies, and schedule risk mitigation.
• Experience in project cost control, including budget management, commitments, actual costs, accruals, forecasting, Estimate at Completion (EAC), and cost variance analysis.
• Sound understanding of engineering deliverables management, Master Document Register (MDR) tracking, interdisciplinary interfaces, dependencies, and design maturity assessment.
• Knowledge of Long Lead Item (LLI) management, purchase order milestone tracking, vendor document control, manufacturing progress, Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), and material delivery monitoring.
• Proficiency in quantity- and productivity-based progress measurement, look-ahead planning, workface planning, and construction sequencing.
• Experience in risk management, including maintenance of risk registers, schedule and cost risk analysis, trend monitoring, change control, and impact assessment.
• Advanced reporting capabilities using Power BI and Microsoft Excel, including development of dashboards, KPI reporting, S-curves, and executive-level project performance reports.
• Demonstrated ability to critically review and challenge contractor schedules, progress claims, productivity assumptions, and forecasted completion dates.
• Familiarity with stage-gate/GVAP project lifecycles, governance frameworks, baseline management, and change control processes.
• Proven ability to coordinate and integrate planning activities across engineering, procurement, construction, operations, vendors, and contractors within EPC/EPCM project environments.