Planner

United Infrastructure; Warrington; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading infrastructure company in Warrington seeks a Planner to oversee the coordination and scheduling of projects. The ideal candidate will have experience in planning within infrastructure or construction, strong communication skills, and proficiency with planning tools. Responsibilities include developing schedules, managing resources, and ensuring compliance with safety requirements. This role requires a proactive and organised individual keen on driving efficiency and effective project delivery.

Qualifications

• Experience in planning or scheduling roles within infrastructure, utilities, or construction.
• Strong analytical and organisational skills to manage conflicting priorities.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and schedule all works across programmes ensuring efficient deployment of teams.
• Track progress of active jobs and ensure work orders are issued accurately.
• Optimise workforce utilisation through efficient planning and workload balancing.

Skills

Planning tools

Analytical skills

Organisational skills

Communication skills

Microsoft Office

Education

GCSEs or equivalent

Further education in business administration or project control

Job description

The Planner is responsible for coordinating and scheduling all works across United Infrastructure's programmes, ensuring efficient deployment of field teams, compliance with customer requirements, and delivery within agreed timescales. The role ensures operational visibility, accurate forecasting, and optimised resource utilisation across planned, reactive, and project‑based activities.

Work Planning & Scheduling

• Develop and maintain daily, weekly, and long‑term work schedules for field engineers and subcontract partners.
• Prioritise workloads based on SLAs, risk, operational impact, and customer requirements.
• Ensure that all jobs are fully prepared for delivery, including access arrangements, RAMS, materials, and resource allocation.
• Adjust schedules proactively to account for changes, delays, emergencies, and resource constraints.

Operational Coordination

• Work closely with Supervisors, Project Managers, Service Desk, and Field Teams to coordinate activities and ensure alignment with programme needs.
• Track the progress of active jobs, ensuring updates are logged and barriers to delivery are escalated promptly.
• Ensure work orders are issued accurately with full site and job information.

Resource Management

• Optimise utilisation of United Infrastructure's workforce through efficient planning, skill‑matching, and workload balancing.
• Track and manage engineer availability, holidays, training, and certification status.
• Liaise with subcontractors to supplement resource capacity when required.

Access & Compliance Preparation

• Confirm all site access arrangements including permits, inductions, customer approvals, lock codes, and third‑party coordination.
• Ensure all planned work is compliant with safety requirements, customer rules, and permit‑to‑work processes.
• Pre‑check engineer compliance (training, PPE, certifications) ahead of deployment.

Data Administration & Reporting

• Maintain the planning schedule within operational systems (e.g., CRM, ERP, scheduling tools).
• Produce forecasts for workload, resource capacity, and potential bottlenecks.
• Support reporting for SLA performance, productivity, job turnaround times, and resource utilisation metrics.
• Identify trends, recurring issues, or inefficiencies and propose improvements.

Customer & Stakeholder Engagement

• Be a point of contact for customers regarding planning queries, delivery timelines, and schedule updates.
• Support customer programme calls by providing accurate, up‑to‑date planning data.
• Communicate schedule changes or risks to internal and external stakeholders promptly.

Essential

• Experience in a planning, coordination, or scheduling role within infrastructure, utilities, construction, engineering, or telecoms.
• Strong analytical and organisational skills with the ability to manage conflicting priorities.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Proficient with planning tools and Microsoft Office (Excel, Outlook, etc.).
• High attention to detail and accuracy in data handling and reporting.

Desirable

• Understanding of field engineering workflows (e.g., maintenance, installation, civils, rigging).
• Knowledge of H&S requirements including RAMS, permits, and work‑at‑height considerations.
• Experience in SLA‑driven environments or working with major infrastructure clients.
• GCSEs or equivalent required; further education in business administration, project control, engineering, or similar is advantageous.
• Planning or project control certification (e.g., APM, Prince2, or equivalent) beneficial but not essential.

Personal Attributes

• Proactive, organised, and calm under pressure.
• Able to work collaboratively with multiple teams and stakeholders.
• Confident decision‑maker with a problem‑solving mindset.
• Customer‑focused, reliable, and committed to continuous improvement.