Senior Rail Planning Engineer – UAE Multi-Contract Program

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 360,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

AECOM is seeking a Planning Engineer to join the project controls team in the UAE, supporting multi-contract rail programmes. You will review contractor schedules, monitor progress, and maintain the integrated master programme, aligning with CPM methods and EVM reporting.

Ideal candidates have a Civil Engineering or related degree, 7+ years of planning experience on major infra projects, and proficiency in Primavera P6; UAE/GCC rail exposure is preferred.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of planning and scheduling experience on major infrastructure projects.
• Experience on rail, metro or light rail projects.
• Strong proficiency in Primavera P6.
• Exposure to EOT claims, TIAs and delay analysis methods.
• Working knowledge of FIDIC contracts, particularly programme, progress and delay provisions.
• Good understanding of CPM scheduling, WBS, progress measurement and EVM.
• UAE or GCC rail experience on multi-contract programmes.

Responsibilities

• Review contractors' baseline programmes against contract requirements, including key dates, milestones, sectional completion, WBS structure, logic and constraints, and prepare draft review comments for the Senior Planning Engineer.
• Check EPC schedule logic, float use, critical path and durations, and flag issues affecting programme realism or suitability for progress monitoring and delay assessment.
• Review contractors' monthly updates, revised programmes and recovery programmes, identifying unjustified changes, logic alterations or signs of float manipulation.
• Update and maintain the integrated master programme, incorporating contractor programme updates, design, authority approvals, third-party works and client-side activities.
• Track interfaces and dependencies between contracts (civil, trackwork, rail systems, stations, depots) and report emerging cross-contract risks.
• Support analysis of how delays on one contract affect other contracts and the overall programme completion date.
• Verify contractor-reported progress through site visits, measurement records, design deliverable status and procurement tracking.
• Apply the agreed progress measurement methods and rules of credit when checking contractor progress claims.
• Collect and analyse Earned Value Management (EVM) data, including SPI, CPI, earned value and planned value, and prepare performance trend analysis.
• Prepare inputs for the weekly and monthly progress reports and presentations to the client, covering status, key issues, critical path movement and risks.
• Produce and maintain programme dashboards, S-curves, milestone trackers and look-ahead summaries across all contracts.
• Attend progress meetings, record schedule-related actions and follow up with contractors on slippage and recovery commitments.
• Identify schedule variances, investigate root causes and report findings with recommended recovery measures.
• Support the review of contractors' extension of time (EOT) claims and time impact analyses (TIAs), including checking submitted fragnets, logic and supporting records.
• Carry out initial assessments of the time effect of variations, instructions and change requests.
• Maintain accurate, independent schedule records, including as-built data, to support the client's position in claims and disputes.
• Make sure approved changes are reflected in contractor programmes and the integrated master programme.
• Use drawings, specifications and contract documents to check that contractor programmes reflect the full contracted scope.

Skills

CPM scheduling

Schedule risk analysis

Stakeholder reporting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Management or related

Tools

Primavera P6

Excel

Power BI

Job description

AECOM is seeking a Planning Engineer to join the project controls team in the UAE, supporting multi-contract rail programmes. You will review contractor schedules, monitor progress, and maintain the integrated master programme, aligning with CPM methods and EVM reporting.

Ideal candidates have a Civil Engineering or related degree, 7+ years of planning experience on major infra projects, and proficiency in Primavera P6; UAE/GCC rail exposure is preferred.