Project Planning Lead

Babcock; West Devon; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 61,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holiday allowance

Pension with life assurance

Digital GP & health check

Employee share scheme

Shopping savings portal

Professional fees paid

Reservists paid leave

Be Kind Day

Job summary

Babcock invites applications for a Project Planning Lead. The role sits at our Technology Centre or Devonport Royal Dockyard with hybrid working and 2 days in the office.

You’ll lead scheduling across varied Royal Navy submarine-related projects, ensuring accurate time/cost forecasts and governance compliance. You must have strong leadership and communication skills, experience in complex project planning, and UK national eligibility for security clearance.

Qualifications

• Experience in project scheduling and planning across complex programs.
• Ability to build schedules for management analysis.
• Leadership and communication in a matrix organisation.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with attention to detail.
• Security clearance eligibility (UK National).

Responsibilities

• Create schedules for new tasks and review schedules to ensure standards.
• Forecast time and cost across the project lifecycle.
• Proceed with time and risk analysis of schedules.
• Communicate updates to team and stakeholders.
• Apply lessons learned for future projects and continuous improvement.

Skills

Project scheduling

Leadership

Communication

Attention to detail

Forecasting

Education

APM Project Fundamentals Qualification

APM Project Planning & Control Practitioner

Job description

Job Title: Project Planning Lead

Location: Plymouth, Devon or Stoke Gifford, Bristol + Hybrid Working Arrangements

Compensation: U p to £55,800 Depending on Experience + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / Permanent

Role ID: SF76529

At Babcock we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together, and if you join us, you can play your part as a Project Planning Lead at our Babcock Technology Centre or Devonport Royal Dockyard site.

The role

As a Project Planning Lead, you’ll have a role that’s out of the ordinary where you’ll be at the forefront of delivery across a diverse range of projects supporting in service Royal Navy submarines.

Day-to-day, you’ll manage a diverse range of projects, ensuring precise oversight of project schedules. Your responsibilities will include accurate time and cost forecasting throughout the project lifecycle.

Key duties encompass:

• Schedule Production and Review: Create schedules for new tasks and review schedules produced by others to ensure adherence to standards and best practices.
• Compliance Assurance: Ensure all planning activities comply with internal governance and contractual obligations.
• Time/Risk Analysis: Take responsibility for conducting time and risk analysis of schedules throughout the entire project lifecycle.
• Team and Stakeholder Communication: Maintain high standards within the project team and keep customers and business stakeholders informed.
• Continuous Improvement: Identify, review, and apply lessons learned for continuous improvement in future requirements.

This role is full time, 35 hours per week and provides hybrid working arrangements with a minimum of 2 days in the office/onsite.

Essential experience of the Project Planning Lead

• Knowledge of all aspects of project scheduling and planning
• Experience in building project schedules for management analysis
• Leadership, coaching and influencing skills in a matrix organisation.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to present technical and business information clearly
• Highly motivated with strong organisation skills with attention to detail and data accuracy#

Qualifications for the Project Planning Lead

• Associate for Project Management Project Fundamentals Qualification.
• APM Project Planning & Control Practitioner certification or willingness to pursue as part of CPD.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be a sole UK National who is able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) Security clearance for this role.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What we offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Babcock employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. There is an annual Window to request this benefit. ‘Be Kind Day’ enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
• Excellent development opportunities and benefits package including an employee assistance programme supporting physical, mental and financial wellbeing.

Babcock

We’re Babcock — a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 29,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email [e-mail] with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 25/11/2026

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