Lead Senior Planner

Mercury GmbH; Ferrybridge; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercury GmbH in the United Kingdom is seeking a Senior Planner to lead planning across large-scale data centre projects. You will develop and control integrated master schedules, coordinate with clients, designers and contractors, and drive milestones and reporting.

The role requires 7+ years in planning and project controls, strong Primavera P6 expertise, EVMS, and proven leadership. You will mentor planners and support bid planning as needed.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7+ years planning and project controls experience in large-scale construction or mission-critical environments.
• Proven experience leading planning activities on complex Data Centre projects.
• Strong understanding of the full Data Centre lifecycle from design to handover.

Responsibilities

• Lead schedule development, control and reporting across the programme and projects.
• Supervise planners, ensuring SOPs and standards are applied consistently.
• Produce progress reports, dashboards and KPI outputs with narrative commentary.
• Lead schedule analysis, critical path, delays and recovery planning.
• Provide Earned Value Management and ensure data quality across the portfolio.
• Coordinate inputs from clients, designers, subcontractors and internal stakeholders.
• Mentor and line-manage planning staff and provide cover for senior roles as needed.

Skills

Primavera P6

Earned Value Management

Schedule coordination

Stakeholder management

Team leadership

Communication skills

Job description

Mercury is the European leader in construction solutions.

We build and manage complex engineering & construction projects for the world’s leading corporations. Our solutions help deliver technologies and life changing advancements that connect people, communities, and businesses, giving them the power to achieve incredible things. Our people have the courage to be innovative. Their determination and sharp focus enable us to deliver with certainty, time and time again.

We deliver our clients’ visions through leading edge construction solutions across multiple sectors, including Enterprise Data Centres, Advanced Technology & Life Sciences, Hyperscale Data Centres, Fire Protection.

At Mercury, it is our duty to encourage and back our people to realise their vision of themselves. We place them at the heart of what we do, providing challenging opportunities to develop within a great team in a supportive environment that allows them to reach their full potential.

Key Responsibilities of the Role:

• Primary reporting line to the Divisional Planning Manager, acting as the senior planning lead within the assigned scope
• Supervise, coordinate and provide technical direction to Senior Planners and Planning team members across the programme / projects, ensuring consistent application of Planning SOPs and standards
• Develop, maintain and control the integrated master schedule(s) covering design, procurement, enabling works, construction, commissioning and handover, including cross-project interfaces and phased handovers
• Establish and govern progress measurement systems and integrated reporting structures (coding, WBS, calendars), ensuring consistency across the programme / projects and integrity of portfolio reporting
• Produce and assure timely progress reports and dashboards (internal and client), including KPI outputs, narrative commentary, milestone projections, lookaheads and recovery status; escalate delays / issues for immediate action
• Lead schedule analysis across the programme, including critical path / float path review, interface and constraint analysis, change impact assessment and delay analysis (as required)
• Support and govern Earned Value Management (EVM) / performance measurement systems where required, ensuring consistent data quality and reporting across the programme
• Monitor schedule performance and productivity across the programme, identifying variances, risks and emerging issues; lead mitigation and recovery planning with Project / Package teams
• Direct and/or undertake schedule and progress audits to validate reported progress and ensure alignment between schedule status, quantities, productivity and site reality across the programme
• Plan, lead and chair programme / project schedule meetings and workshops; coordinate inputs from clients, designers, subcontractors and internal stakeholders to drive alignment, interface management and timely decision-making
• Oversee short-interval / weekly workface planning systems, ensuring lookaheads, constraints and interface dependencies are managed effectively across the programme
• Support bid / tender and change-related planning as required, including development and review of schedules, narratives, assumptions and resourcing / histogram outputs for large campus or multi-project scopes
• Coordinate resource and/or cash loading where required and support forecasting outputs in collaboration with Commercial / Project Controls, ensuring consistency across the programme / projects
• Provide planning data to support consolidated payment applications, progress assessments, contract review reporting and portfolio governance requirements
• Maintain accountability for the quality, accuracy and traceability of programme / project schedules, progress updates and reporting outputs produced by the planning team
• Communicate programme schedule issues, risks and recovery requirements promptly to Project and Divisional stakeholders, providing clear, practical recommendations and escalation where required
• Maintain contemporaneous records of delay and disruption and support programme change control processes, ensuring change impacts are assessed, documented and communicated
• Support the preparation of claims and provide / review planning data and analysis to support contractual correspondence and dispute resolution
• Mentor, coach and line-manage (as assigned) Senior Planners and other planning staff; allocate workload, review outputs and support capability development across the programme / projects
• Provide cover for Associate Divisional Planning Manager responsibilities when required and as delegated
• Provide cover for Senior Planner / Project Planner responsibilities when required to maintain continuity across the programme / projects
• Travel to projects as required to carry out the above duties
• Carry out all other duties associated with the role

Essential Criteria for the Role:

• Minimum 7+ years’ planning and project controls experience within large-scale construction, engineering, or mission-critical environments, with proven experience leading planning activities on complex Data Centre projects
• Strong understanding of the full Data Centre project lifecycle, from design development, procurement, and construction through to commissioning, energisation, integrated systems testing, handover and close-out.
• Advanced proficiency in Primavera P6, with the ability to develop, manage, challenge, and maintain complex integrated master programmes, project control schedules, lookahead plans and reporting baselines.
• Proven ability to lead planning coordination across construction
• Excellent knowledge of Earned Value Management, schedule variance analysis, productivity trends, milestone performance, delay identification, and recovery planning.
• Commercial and contractual awareness
• Ability to lead, support and mentor Senior Planners, Project Planners and Graduate Planners.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• High level of ownership, professional judgement, and resilience

Mercury is an equal opportunities employer.