M&A Programme Planner - MS Project & PMO Specialist

Sword Group; Aberdeen City; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 92,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Flexible working

Pension scheme

Private health

Job summary

Sword is seeking an experienced Project Planner to support a major M&A programme on a 3-month contract in Aberdeen. You will baseline schedules, validate critical paths, assess risks, and align plans with resources.

The role requires strong MS Project expertise, a solid background in complex project schedules, and the ability to work with cross‑functional stakeholders across the PMO. PRINCE2/Agile knowledge is desirable.

Qualifications

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities.

Responsibilities

• Create, manage, and update detailed project schedules using Microsoft Project (Desktop or Online).
• Define tasks, durations, dependencies, milestones, and critical paths.
• Ensure schedules reflect accurate progress, forecasts, and baselines.
• Integrate multiple project schedules into programme-level or portfolio-level plans.
• Ensure all schedules adhere to PMO standards, frameworks, and reporting cycles.
• Support project managers with planning best practices and schedule structure.
• Contribute to PMO reviews, stage-gate processes, and quality assurance checks.
• Generate schedule reports, dashboards, and timeline views for stakeholders.
• Identify schedule variances, slippage, and potential delivery risks.
• Support preparation of highlight reports, RAID logs, and PMO reporting packs.
• Present scheduling insights to Project Managers, Programme Managers, and senior stakeholders.
• Maintain resource plans within Microsoft Project and/or supporting tools.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Attention to detail

Organisational skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Schedule communication

Tools

Microsoft Project

Job description

Sword is seeking an experienced Project Planner to support a major M&A programme on a 3-month contract in Aberdeen. You will baseline schedules, validate critical paths, assess risks, and align plans with resources.

The role requires strong MS Project expertise, a solid background in complex project schedules, and the ability to work with cross‑functional stakeholders across the PMO. PRINCE2/Agile knowledge is desirable.