Principal Planner

McDermott; Gurugram District; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

McDermott is seeking a Principal Planner to interpret complex issues, lead planning teams, and apply best practices in scheduling. The role requires deep expertise in planning/scheduling within the Project Control function and hands-on leadership of projects in oil and gas EPCIC contexts.

Responsibilities include developing detailed schedules, validating progress, mentoring junior planners, and ensuring alignment with project baselines and critical paths across marine installation scopes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in PM/Engineering/Construction/Business or equal.
• 10–15 years EPCIC experience onshore/offshore oil, gas or power projects.
• Proficiency in Primavera P6, MS Project and advanced Excel features.
• Ability to produce and assess progress curves, critical paths and histograms.
• Strong communication with team members and management.

Responsibilities

• Perform schedule analysis using Primavera P6, Deltek Fuse & Risk, and MS Project.
• Support project baseline creation during initiation and setup.
• Update and validate progress from EVMS systems and reports.
• Develop level-3/level-4 activity schedules for marine scope projects.
• Maintain linked schedules and monitor critical path and durations.

Skills

Project planning

Scheduling

Team communication

Mentoring

Project leadership

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Project Management/Engineering/Construction/Business

Tools

Primavera P6

Microsoft Project

Excel (advanced)

Microsoft Office

Job description

Our ingenuity fuels daily life. Together, we’ve forged some of the most trusted partnerships across the energy value chain to make what was once just an idea a reality: laying subsea infrastructure thousands of feet below sea level, installing platforms hundreds of miles from shore, using our expertise to design and build offshore wind infrastructure, and reshaping the onshore landscape to deliver the energy products the world needs safely and sustainably.

For more than 100 years, we've been making the impossible possible. Today, we're driving the energy transition with more than 30,000 of the brightest minds across 54 countries.

Job Description

Job Overview:

The Principal Planner is responsible for interpreting internal or external business issues and recommending best practices. They will be tasked with solving complex planning/scheduling-related problems and will work independently with minimal guidance. The Principal Planner may be responsible for leading functional teams or projects and is regarded as a specialist in the field of planning/scheduling. As such, they must have in-depth expertise in planning/scheduling as well as broad knowledge of the planning/scheduling discipline within the Project Control function.

Responsibilities

Key Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Perform schedule analysis using Project Management software's including Primavera P6, Deltek Fuse & Risk, and Microsoft Project
• Support project baseline creation during the project initiation and setup phase
• Perform detailed schedule quality and integrity checks
• Update and validate physical progress reported from EVMS systems
• Provide project schedule support and mentor junior planners as required
• Develop and maintain logically linked level 3 and level 4 activity schedules, for marine scope installation projects in the Oil and Gas Industry (pipelines, subsea, platforms, HDD), according to precedence flow planning, using best practices
• Produce workforce histograms and progress and quantity curves in connection with the schedules
• Maintain and review the sequence of Engineering, Procurement, Fabrication, Construction, Installation, Hook-Up, and Commissioning, and other operations for control of critical path and overall project durations
• Elevate and expedite operations that are delaying the schedule and analyze changes to the schedule to meet unforeseen conditions
• Create and Monitor schedule compliance, key performance, factors, and provide analysis of variations to baseline data
• Identify current and potential factors that may delay the schedule. Assess actions for recovery and improvement and analyze changes to the schedule to meet unforeseen conditions
• Lead and deliver initiatives

Qualifications

Essential Qualifications and Education:

• Bachelor's Degree in Project Management/Engineering/Construction/Business Management or equivalent combinations of technical training or experience required
• 10-15 years of EPCIC experience with Onshore or Offshore Oil and Gas or Power Generation related projects
• Planning/Scheduling experience for Large LNG or Topside Fabrication projects preferred
• Have solid commands of Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft Office software
• Must be able to use advanced features in Excel (curves, histograms, dynamic tables, formulas, etc.)
• Able to produce and maintain logically linked activity schedules, according to precedence flow in EPCIC planning, using best practices
• Able to produce and assess progress curves, histograms, variance reports, and critical paths
• Able to analyze project status and performance, deviations, performance factors, forecasts, and workarounds
• Must be able to produce multidisciplinary logically linked activity schedules, according to precedence flow in planning, using best industry practices
• Ability to effectively communicate with team members and management