Lead Planner

Lead Planner – Drive Strategic Planning and Portfolio Execution for Large-Scale Closeout Operations

At Parsons, we empower visionaries to shape the future of complex infrastructure and construction projects. As a Lead Planner, you will play a pivotal role in steering the closeout phase of multi-billion SAR portfolios, ensuring seamless coordination, rigorous schedule adherence, and data-driven decision-making. This is an opportunity to leverage your expertise in advanced planning methodologies, stakeholder collaboration, and analytical foresight to deliver exceptional results in one of the world’s most dynamic markets.

In this dynamic role, you will serve as the strategic architect of schedule management, setting industry-leading standards and driving efficiency across high-stakes projects. Your leadership will be instrumental in aligning demobilization, preservation, and closeout timelines while mitigating risks and optimizing resource allocation. With a focus on both technical precision and cross-functional collaboration, you will elevate portfolio performance, support critical claims analysis, and provide actionable insights to senior stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Your impact will be felt across multiple dimensions of portfolio planning and execution:

• Schedule Ownership & Standardization: Define and enforce planning standards, coding requirements, and reporting protocols to ensure consistency and accuracy across all closeout activities. Develop and maintain standardized templates, calendars, and quality checks to streamline reporting cycles.
• Integrated Demobilization & Closeout Strategy: Design and oversee integrated schedules for demobilization, preservation, termination, and handover phases, ensuring alignment with contractual obligations and project milestones.
• Data-Driven Forecasting & Analysis: Produce detailed schedule forecasts, critical path analyses, and S-curve trends to identify slippages, constraints, and dependencies. Leverage advanced tools to model progress curves, milestone trends, and executive dashboards for real-time decision support.
• Stakeholder Collaboration & Review Leadership: Lead comprehensive schedule review meetings with project teams, contractors, consultants, and senior stakeholders. Assess updates for logical integrity, progress accuracy, and sequencing to ensure alignment with project objectives.
• Cross-Contract Portfolio Coordination: Consolidate contract and workstream schedules into a unified portfolio view, identifying cross-contract dependencies and their impact on closeout timelines. Provide substantiated analysis for claims, disputes, and final account reviews to support contractual negotiations.
• Executive Reporting & Presentation Development: Contribute to weekly and monthly reports, demobilization assessments, and closeout dashboards. Develop compelling PowerPoint presentations and visual reports to communicate complex planning insights to senior leadership and clients.
• Strategic Support for Portfolio Reviews: Partner with the Project Controls Manager to facilitate portfolio-level reviews and discussions, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and stakeholder expectations.

Qualifications & Expertise

To excel in this role, you will bring a blend of technical mastery and leadership experience:

• Proven Track Record: Minimum 20 years of specialized planning and scheduling experience, with 10 years dedicated to major projects in Saudi Arabia or the GCC. Prior experience on mega-projects or mixed-use programs with multi-billion SAR portfolios is highly valued.
• Technical Proficiency: Expertise in Primavera P6 and advanced Microsoft Excel is mandatory. Familiarity with Power BI for data visualization and reporting is a significant advantage. Proficiency in PowerPoint, Aconex, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365 tools is essential.
• Analytical & Forensic Skills: Strong background in schedule development, critical path analysis, progress measurement, and forensic planning. Experience with delay analysis and contract substantiation is desirable.
• Educational Foundation: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Project Management, Business, or a related discipline.
• Soft Skills & Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to distill complex data into clear, actionable insights for executive audiences. Strong presentation development skills to engage stakeholders at all levels.

Parsons is committed to fostering an inclusive and innovative environment where diversity is celebrated, and every voice is valued. We offer a dynamic career path with unparalleled growth opportunities, empowering you to reach new heights in your professional journey. Join us in shaping the future of infrastructure—where ambition meets excellence.