Senior Program Planner

Job summary:

The Senior Program Planner will assist with the co-ordination of the planning function, which aims to provide a consultancy service to project managers and the management team in the preparation, monitoring and updating of project schedules and plans for their projects, using the Primavera software package. This role ensures plans are realistic and accurate.

Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Work closely with Program/Project Managers and relevant teams in the construction of resourced project plans using Primavera in accordance with company standards and the project structure
• Build credible relationships with key stakeholders, including customers, colleagues and project team members
• Lead meetings and be the primary point of contact with the customer as required for specified projects
• Travel to customer and other Cubic sites to attend and contribute to project review meetings as and when required
• Maintain programs and project schedules using Primavera software as per company standards
• Adherence to company established processes related to planning and SAP
• Ensures project status information is received, processed and reported in a timely manner to a regular schedule. (That may be weekly, fortnightly or monthly depending on the project)
• Ensure plans are realistic and consistent with estimates of costs to complete
• Convert MS Project schedules into Primavera as required
• Liaise with resource managers, WBS (Work Breakdown Structures) owners and global teams to ensure timely allocation and utilisation of staff resources
• Carry out resourcing analysis, understanding and factoring in the impact of over / under allocation, talent acquisition and attrition
• Co-ordinate the production of detailed budgets consistent with resourced project plans
• Assist/advise in reporting of progress to customers, senior management and project team members
• Analyse progress, identifying key risks, issues and opportunities, establishing current position and forecasting trends. Report significant schedule slippages and the status of project progress to the wider team
• Produce earned value and critical path reporting and be able to speak confidently on the detail
• Provide expertise in prioritisation of plans and schedules, and evaluate accuracy of the job plan
• Assist in the analysis of project costing reports received by Program/Project managers from the accounts team
• Assist as required in the preparation of bid proposals and estimates. E.g. project/contract mobilisation stage, engineering development stage etc.
• Lead other Planners as required
• Update company planning standards/procedures and educate/train project managers in their use.
• Facilitate planning workshops as required
• Delegates for own management as required

General Duties and Responsibilities:

• Comply with Cubic’s Quality Management System
• Comply with Cubic Occupational Health, Safety and Environment policies and procedures
• Comply with security in accordance with established policies and procedures of the organisations
• Comply with Cubic Human Resources Procedures
• Other duties as requested

Minimum Job Requirements:

Qualifications

Essential:

• Degree or equivalent in project management or business related discipline or equivalent experience
• Certification in Project Planning and/or Scheduling

Desirable:

• Practitioner in relevant APM / OGC topic (e.g. PRINCE2 P3O)

Skills/Experience/Knowledge

Essential:

• 5 years + experience as a Primavera scheduler in either a project or Program Management Office (PMO)
• Experience with Primavera P6 EPPM, MS Project, PowerPoint, Visio or equivalent and Excel.
• Experience creating and maintaining robust project plans throughout the entire lifecycle
• Experience in providing planning support to complex and varied projects
• Experience in establishing and reporting Earned Value Management Processes
• Significant experience and understanding of all aspects of Project Management and their effect on the implementation and delivery of project objectives.

Desirable:

• Experience of working within an engineering or IT development environment.
• Acumen Fuse software
• Risk Analysis Software (e.g. for Monte Carlo analysis)
• Prior experience of using SAP

Personal Qualities

• Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing with employees and managers at all levels and across all departments
• Self-motivated and proactive, able to work unsupervised
• The ability to learn quickly and to think laterally, with the perseverance to understand, identify and explain shortcomings in complex arguments related to planning
• The ability to work across large and complex project teams and with multiple parties (internal and external)
• Ability to multi-task and effectively manage and co-ordinate output for large complex projects
• Confidence to challenge the project manager/teams on their plans and resource assignment/utilization
• Strong negotiation skills and the ability to be persuasive
• Problem solving skills and the ability to think outside the box
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to travel when required

Competencies:

• Living One Cubic: Identifies with the larger organisation and their role within it, shares resources, responds to requests from other parts of the organisation, supports larger organisational initiatives and sees them as more important than local or personal goals.
• Ethics & Compliance: Demonstrates high level of trust and respect for others and maintains compliance with Cubic's polices, mission and values.
• Communication: Expresses information clearly, transparently, and disseminates appropriately in a timely manner.
• Results: Effectively balances and prioritises time and projects to meet deliverables and drive continuous improvement.
• Winning the Customer: Seeks to understand customer needs and challenges, works effectively with customers to resolve issues, provides exceptional service and deliverables that exceed customer expectations.
• Innovation: Applies information, imagination and initiative to identify efficiencies, implement improvements and drive growth.
• Accountability: Takes personal responsibility for all work activities and actions; follows through on commitments and adheres to deadlines; implements decisions that have been agreed upon; acknowledges and learns from mistakes without blaming others; early transparency about risks and issues; recognises the impact of one's behaviour on others and the company.

Condition of Employment:

Successful outcome of a National Police Check