Project Planner (Bids)

Aalto; Farnborough; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

Dental and optical cash back

Personal pension plan

Income protection

Life assurance

Employee assistance programme

Perkbox discounts

25 days holiday

Job summary

AALTO in Farnborough is seeking a proactive PMO professional to coordinate end-to-end bid activity and support governance, cost reporting, and risk management across the programme portfolio. You will liaise with Commercial, Finance, Engineering and Legal teams to ensure submission readiness and accurate tracking.

The role involves maintenance of plans, schedules, and dashboards, as well as preparing integrated reports for governance reviews.

Qualifications

• Degree, HNC/HND or equivalent experience in Engineering, Business, Project Management, Programme Management or a related discipline.
• Extensive aerospace, aviation or defence, preferably in PMO, programme controls, project controls, scheduling or project coordination.
• Strong analytical, organisational and communication skills, with the ability to manage priorities, present data clearly and follow up across cross-functional teams.
• High attention to detail, problem-solving capability and ability to maintain accurate records under pressure.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel and strong Microsoft Office skills, particularly PowerPoint.
• Additional experience supporting customer bids, proposals, governance reviews, project cost accounting or programme risk management.
• Experience using PMO, planning, reporting or ERP tools, such as Power BI, SharePoint, Planisware, Planview, Microsoft Project or equivalent systems.
• Project, programme, risk or PMO qualification, such as APM, PRINCE2, MSP, PMI or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate end-to-end bid activity in line with the Lead-to-Order process, including inputs from Commercial, Contracts, Engineering, Operations, Finance, Legal and Compliance teams.
• Maintain bid plans, schedules, compliance matrices, action trackers and submission readiness reviews.
• Support proposal, presentation and governance document preparation.
• Track bid actions, deadlines, assumptions, dependencies, approvals and decisions.
• Support governance reviews, proposal approvals and accepted-bid handover into Programme delivery planning.
• Act as the PMO interface with Finance for cost accounting, budgets, forecasts and financial reporting.
• Track actuals, commitments, variances, Estimate at Completion updates and cost dashboards.
• Support bid risk and opportunity management, including identification, assessment, owners, mitigation actions, exposure values, escalation and reporting.
• Prepare programme review packs, status reports, dashboards and governance records.

Skills

PMO

Bid management

Excel

PowerPoint

MS Office

Communication

Analytics

Education

Degree/HNC/HND

Tools

Power BI

SharePoint

Planisware

Planview

Microsoft Project

Job description

Welcome to AALTO, a global leader in Stratospace. Based in Farnborough, AALTO is an Airbus subsidiary that manufactures, operates, and delivers services with its solar-powered, stratospheric platform: Zephyr.

Zephyr’s persistence enables continuous flight for months at a time. Its current flight-time record of over 67 days in the stratosphere. From above 60,000+ft, or 20km above ground, AALTO can deliver several applications including direct-to-device connectivity and high-resolution Earth observation.

AALTO operates in a new operational layer between most of air traffic and low-Earth orbit, Stratospace. This is where high-altitude platforms led by Zephyr deliver services to commercial and government partners. We can help monitor environments, observe borders, track natural disasters and connect unconnected communities.

Join us as we create a new domain of aerospace: Stratospace. You’ll be part of a highly-skilled, innovative and passionate group of people – Team AALTO. Together, we can Unlock Stratospace.

Job Purpose:

Supporting the PMO Senior Manager in coordinating bid activity, including bid planning, proposal inputs, submission readiness and accepted-bid handover, alongside programme governance, project controls, cost reporting and risk management across AALTO’s programme portfolio.

The role coordinates inputs across Programme Management, Finance, Commercial, Engineering and other functions to enable accurate reporting, effective controls and informed decision-making.

Bid project estimates, compliance matrices, submission readiness trackers and bid status reports.

Bid assumptions, dependencies, exclusions, decisions and approval logs.

Programme review packs, KPI dashboards, governance packs and management reports.

Integrated bid/proposal schedules, milestone trackers and accepted-bid-to-delivery handover packs for Programme delivery planning documentation.

Cost reports, budget tracking, forecast updates and financial performance metrics.

Risk and opportunity registers, mitigation tracking and risk reporting.

Lessons learned and closure reports to support continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities:

Coordinate end-to-end bid activity in line with the Lead-to-Order process, including inputs from Commercial, Contracts, Engineering, Operations, Finance, Legal and Compliance teams.

Maintain bid plans, schedules, compliance matrices, action trackers and submission readiness reviews.

Support proposal, presentation and governance document preparation.

Track bid actions, deadlines, assumptions, dependencies, approvals and decisions.

Support governance reviews, proposal approvals and accepted-bid handover into Programme delivery planning.

Act as the PMO interface with Finance for cost accounting, budgets, forecasts and financial reporting.

Track actuals, commitments, variances, Estimate at Completion updates and cost dashboards.

Support bid risk and opportunity management, including identification, assessment, owners, mitigation actions, exposure values, escalation and reporting.

Prepare programme review packs, status reports, dashboards and governance records.

Experience and Qualifications

Degree, HNC/HND or equivalent experience in Engineering, Business, Project Management, Programme Management or a related discipline.

Extensive aerospace, aviation or defence, preferably in PMO, programme controls, project controls, scheduling or project coordination.

Strong analytical, organisational and communication skills, with the ability to manage priorities, present data clearly and follow up across cross-functional teams.

High attention to detail, problem-solving capability and ability to maintain accurate records under pressure.

Advanced Microsoft Excel and strong Microsoft Office skills, particularly PowerPoint.

Additional experience supporting customer bids, proposals, governance reviews, project cost accounting or programme risk management.

Experience using PMO, planning, reporting or ERP tools, such as Power BI, SharePoint, Planisware, Planview, Microsoft Project or equivalent systems.

Project, programme, risk or PMO qualification, such as APM, PRINCE2, MSP, PMI or equivalent.

Working Pattern and Location

This role is based in Farnborough, with hybrid working flexibility and occasional travel to support programme, supplier and governance activities.

What we offer:

Attractive, market‑aligned full time salary.

Rewarding Excellence: Benefit from our short-term incentive plan that rewards your hard work and dedication.

Enjoy Your Time Off: Benefit from 25 days of holiday to relax and recharge.

Stay Healthy: We’ve got your health covered with private medical insurance, along with dental and optical cash back.

Secure Your Future: Take advantage of our personal pension plan to ensure a comfortable retirement.

Peace of Mind: Our income protection and life assurance schemes are there to support you when you need it most.

We Care About You: Our employee assistance programme is always available to provide the support you need.

Perks Galore: Enjoy a range of employee discounts via Perkbox, because you deserve a treat!

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Project Planner (Bids) Farnborough, England, United Kingdom