Senior Planner - Pre-Construction / Tender

Designer Group; Dublin; On-site; EUR 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equal opportunities employer

Job summary

Designer Group is recruiting a Senior Planner to lead tender programmes across data centre, energy & industrial, and building services in a pre-construction context. You will report to the Head of Planning and collaborate with Estimating and Engineering to produce robust, client-ready programmes for bid submissions.

You will have Primavera P6 expertise, a minimum of 6+ years in construction planning (3+ in pre-construction), and a proven ability to identify risks and present clear methodology

Qualifications

• Degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying or similar.
• 6+ years in construction planning, with 3+ years in a pre-construction or tender planning role.
• Experience building tender programmes from first principles.
• Contractor experience across Data Centres, Energy/Utilities, Life Sciences, or Industrial sectors.

Responsibilities

• Lead the planning and programming input to all assigned tenders, from enquiry receipt through to submission, clarification and award.
• Develop detailed, logic-linked tender programmes in Primavera P6 covering procurement, construction, testing and handover.
• Review tender documents to identify key dates, access dates, sectional completions, liquidated damages and programme-related obligations, and advise the Preconstruction team on their impact.
• Develop procurement strategies and long-lead equipment schedules, including technical submittals, approvals, manufacturing lead times, factory acceptance testing and delivery, distinguishing between OFCI and CFCI equipment.
• Define testing, pre-commissioning and commissioning sequences, including interfaces with Employer, OEM and utility commissioning and energisation activities.
• Identify programme risks and opportunities and recommend mitigation or qualifications; carry out schedule risk analysis where required.

Skills

Primavera P6

Tender planning

Construction planning

MS Excel

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

Engineering degree or equivalent

Tools

MS Project

Job description

Description

Senior Planner – Pre-Construction / Tender

Primavera P6 and tender planning experience essential

About Our Company

Designer Group is a leading international mechanical & electrical provider specialising in turnkey packages for the design, supply, and installation of M&E services. Headquartered in Dublin, we work with some of the world's largest multinational companies, and our common purpose is delivering ambitious, innovative and sustainable engineering solutions, building client partnerships that bear testament to the standards we uphold.

Our people are the foundation of our continued growth across all client sectors. We invest in our people and have a philosophy of continuous professional development. This investment has produced an innovative and passionate team that deliver projects for our clients safely, efficiently and to the highest standards in the industry. Our approach to everything we do is underpinned by our Values of:

Safe

Trust

Respect

Challenge

Deliver

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Planner to join our Pre-Construction team on a full-time basis. Reporting to Head of Planning and working closely with the Preconstruction Director, Estimating and Engineering teams, you will lead the development of tender programmes across our Data Centre, Energy & Industrial and Building Services sectors. You will play a key role in winning work by producing robust, deliverable and well-presented programmes, and by identifying programme risk at bid stage.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Lead the planning and programming input to all assigned tenders, from enquiry receipt through to submission, clarification and award.
• Develop detailed, logic-linked tender programmes in Primavera P6 covering procurement, construction, testing, commissioning and handover, built from scope documents, drawings, equipment schedules and client programmes.
• Review tender documents and contracts to identify key dates, access dates, sectional completions, liquidated damages and programme-related obligations, and advise the Preconstruction team on their impact.
• Develop procurement strategies and long-lead equipment schedules, including technical submittals, approvals, manufacturing lead times, factory acceptance testing and delivery, distinguishing between client free-issue (OFCI) and contractor-procured (CFCI) equipment.
• Define testing, pre-commissioning and commissioning sequences, including interfaces with Employer, OEM and utility commissioning and energisation activities.
• Identify and model interfaces and dependencies with clients, main contractors, subcontractors, utilities and other third parties.
• Work closely with Estimating to align programme durations with labour hours, manpower levels and preliminaries, and produce resource-loaded labour histograms to support pricing.
• Identify programme risks and opportunities and recommend appropriate mitigation or qualifications. Carry out schedule risk analysis where required.
• Prepare programme narratives, methodology and phasing statements, assumptions, clarifications and exclusions for inclusion in tender submissions.
• Produce clear, client-ready programme outputs in the format required by the tender, to Designer Group presentation standards.
• Present and defend tender programmes at internal bid reviews, Director reviews and client clarification meetings and interviews.
• Manage multiple concurrent tenders and prioritise workload to meet strict submission deadlines.
• Hand over awarded tender programmes to the delivery planning team, ensuring assumptions, risks and contractual commitments are clearly communicated for baseline development.
• Capture lessons learned from awarded and lost tenders and feed them back into future programme development.
• Represent the company in a presentable and professional manner.
• Take responsibility for the quality and accuracy of all tender programmes and supporting documents.

Requirements

Qualifications and Skills

• Degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying or similar.
• Minimum experience required: 6+ years in construction planning, including at least 3 years in a pre-construction or tender planning role.
• Demonstrable experience of building tender programmes from first principles, rather than updating existing programmes.
• Contractor experience, ideally across two or more of the following sectors: Data Centres, Energy and Utilities, Life Sciences, Industrial.
• Strong understanding of construction sequencing, procurement and long-lead equipment, and testing and commissioning.
• Expert proficiency in Primavera P6 essential.
• Proficient in all MS Office packages, with advanced level MS Excel.
• Knowledge of MS Project is an advantage.
• Good commercial and contractual awareness, including standard forms of contract, key dates, sectional completion and liquidated damages.
• Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to produce concise, client-ready narratives, methodologies and assumptions.
• Confident presenting to senior management and client teams, and able to explain and defend programme logic clearly.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to work collaboratively with Estimating, Engineering, Operations and Directors, and to constructively challenge assumptions.
• Self-motivated, organised and able to work with limited supervision.
• Ability to work well under pressure and within a strict deadline environment, managing several tenders at once.

Designer Group is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity.