Senior Planning Engneer

Penspen; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 350,000 - 550,000; Full time

Job summary

Penspen is seeking a Senior Planning Engineer in Abu Dhabi to lead planning, scheduling, and cost control across the project lifecycle. You will monitor progress, forecast variances, and drive corrective actions with engineering, procurement, construction and operations teams.

The role requires 15+ years in project controls within oil & gas, strong Primavera P6 skills, and experience with EPC/EPCM/DBO environments. Upstream exposure and advanced reporting capabilities are essential.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of project controls experience in oil & gas/energy.
• Proven involvement in EPC/EPCM/DBO and construction execution environments.
• Experience with pipelines, processing facilities, brownfield tie-ins and infrastructure.
• Exposure to Upstream Oil & Gas projects.
• Advanced proficiency in Primavera P6 (baseline, CPM, float, resource loading, optimization).
• Strong knowledge of PMS, WBS, CBS, progress measurement, EVM principles.

Responsibilities

• Plan, schedule, and control costs across project lifecycle.
• Forecast, monitor schedule/cost performance and identify variances.
• Provide timely recommendations to ensure on-time, on-budget delivery.
• Coordinate with engineering, procurement, construction, operations, and vendors.
• Develop dashboards and KPI reports for executive visibility.
• Challenge contractor schedules and forecasted completion dates.

Skills

Primavera P6

CPM scheduling

Earned Value Management

Power BI

MS Excel

Risk management

Look-ahead planning

Resource loading

Schedule optimization

Upstream oil & gas

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering

PMP / PMI-SP / AACE/PSP/CCP (advantageous)

Tools

Primavera P6

Power BI

MS Excel

Job description

Position:

Senior Planning Engineer

Location:

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Job Purpose

The Senior Planning Engineer is 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.