Lead Planner - NEOM

Jacobs Solutions Inc.; Neom; Hybrid; SAR 600,000 - 960,000; Full time

Job summary

Jacobs Solutions Inc. is seeking a Lead Planner to own planning and schedule reporting for a closeout portfolio. You will set standards, develop demobilization and closeout schedules, and lead reviews with diverse teams to support decisions.

Required are extensive experience in schedule development, forecasting, and critical path analytics across mega-projects in Saudi Arabia/GCC. The role emphasizes governance, dashboards, and executive reporting in a hybrid working model.

Qualifications

• 20+ years of planning and scheduling experience.
• 10+ years on major projects in Saudi Arabia and/or the GCC.
• Experience on mega-projects or mixed-use programs with multi-billion SAR portfolios.
• Substantial experience in schedule development, review, forecasting, critical path analysis, progress measurement and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Own schedule reporting across the portfolio and manage the status, updates, reviews and reporting cycle.
• Set planning standards, coding requirements, schedule templates, calendars, reporting cut-offs and quality checks.
• Develop and maintain integrated demobilization, preservation, termination and closeout schedules.
• Prepare schedule forecasts covering milestones, remaining activities, contract interfaces, handovers and closure dates.
• Perform critical path, near-critical path, float, logic and schedule health analysis.
• Develop S-curves, milestones trends, progress curves, narratives and dashboards.
• Lead schedule review meetings with project, construction, commercial, procurement, contractor, consultant and stakeholder teams.
• Assess schedule updates for completeness, logic, status accuracy and sequencing.
• Combine contract and workstream schedules into a portfolio view and identify cross-contract dependencies.
• Identify slippage and forecast changes and explain effects on closeout objectives.
• Provide schedule substantiation for claims, disputes and final account reviews.
• Lead inputs to weekly and monthly reports, demobilization and closeout reports, dashboards and presentations.
• Support the Project Controls Manager in portfolio reviews and senior stakeholder discussions.

Skills

Scheduling

Critical path analysis

Portfolio planning

Forecasting

Schedule reporting

Stakeholder coordination

Job description

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good.

Your impact

The Lead Planner owns planning and schedule reporting for the closeout portfolio. The role sets schedule standards, develops integrated demobilization and preservation schedules, leads schedule reviews, and provides critical path, progress, S-curve, and forecast analysis to support closeout decisions.

Key Accountabilities

• Own schedule reporting across the portfolio and set the status, update, review, and reporting cycle.
• Set planning standards, coding requirements, schedule templates, calendars, reporting cut-offs, and quality checks.
• Develop and maintain integrated demobilization, preservation, termination, and closeout schedules.
• Prepare schedule forecasts covering milestones, remaining activities, contract interfaces, handovers, preservation periods, and closure dates.
• Perform critical path, near-critical path, float, logic, constraint, and schedule health analysis.
• Develop S-curves, milestone trends, progress curves, schedule narratives, and executive planning dashboards.
• Lead schedule review meetings with project, construction, commercial, procurement, contractor, consultant, and stakeholder teams.
• Assess schedule updates for completeness, logic, status accuracy, sequencing, and support for reported progress.
• Combine contract and workstream schedules into a portfolio view and identify cross-contract dependencies.
• Identify slippage, constraints, missed milestones, and forecast changes, and explain the effect on closeout objectives.
• Provide schedule substantiation for claims, disputes, settlement discussions, and final account reviews.
• Lead planning inputs to weekly and monthly reports, demobilization reports, closeout reports, dashboards, and presentations.
• Support the Project Controls Manager in portfolio reviews and senior stakeholder discussions.

Here's what you'll need

• Minimum 20 years of planning and scheduling experience.
• Minimum 10 years of experience on major projects in Saudi Arabia and/or the GCC.
• Experience on mega-projects or mixed-use programs with multi-billion SAR portfolios and a high volume of contracts.
• Substantial experience in schedule development, review, forecasting, critical path analysis, progress measurement, and reporting.
• Experience with demobilization, preservation, termination, handover, or closeout schedules is preferred.

From our inclusive employee networks to our positive mental health champions - we’re committed to driving a culture of caring where you can be you. Joining Jacobs not only connects you locally but globally - and together, our diverse perspectives and unique backgrounds power our collective strength. We collaborate and share! By supporting one another, we all succeed.

With safety and flexibility always top of mind, we’ve gone beyond traditional ways of working so you have the support, means and space to maximize your potential. You’ll uncover flexible working arrangements, benefits and opportunities to do good too - from participating in our global giving and volunteering program, to exploring new and inventive ways to help our clients make the world a better place.

No matter what drives you, you’ll discover how you can cultivate, nurture and achieve your goals - all at a single global company.

We value collaboration and believe that in-person interactions are crucial for both our culture and client delivery. We empower employees with our hybrid working policy, allowing them to split their work week between Jacobs offices/projects and remote locations enabling them to deliver their best work.

Onsite employees are expected to attend a Jacobs Workplace on a full-time basis, as required by the nature of their role.

Your application experience is important to us, and we’re keen to adapt to make every interaction even better. If you require further support or reasonable adjustments with regards to the recruitment process (for example, you require the application form in a different format), please contact the team via Careers Support .