Position Summary
The Lead Planner is the PMC's senior planning and scheduling authority responsible for developing, maintaining, analysing, and forecasting the integrated programme for a multi-billion-dollar renewable energy and transmission project comprising Solar PV, BESS, HVAC substations, HVAC transmission infrastructure, and the Indonesia–Singapore subsea interconnector. Acting independently on behalf of the Owner through the PMC appointment, the role provides objective schedule assurance, contractor oversight, critical path management, and forecasting across multiple EPC/EPCI contractors, Chinese vendors, marine installation campaigns, and cross-border project interfaces to ensure timely delivery of the project and achievement of commercial operation and power import objectives.
Role Purpose
The Lead Planner is the PMC's senior planning and scheduling professional responsible for developing, maintaining, analysing, and reporting the integrated project schedule across all project phases.
Acting independently on behalf of the Project Owner through the PMC appointment, the Lead Planner provides schedule governance, assurance, forecasting, performance analysis, and planning leadership across all project activities, including:
- Engineering
- Procurement
- Manufacturing
- Logistics
- Construction
- Marine Installation
- Testing and Commissioning
- Energisation
- Commercial Operations
The role is responsible for providing an objective assessment of project schedule performance independent of EPC contractor reporting and ensuring the Project Director and Owner have a realistic understanding of project progress, risks, and forecast completion dates.
The Lead Planner plays a critical role in integrating multiple EPC/EPCI contractors, International suppliers, utility stakeholders, regulatory approvals, marine installation campaigns, and cross-border project activities into a single integrated project schedule.
Key Responsibilities
1. Planning Leadership & Governance
- Lead all project planning and scheduling activities across the PMC.
- Establish planning standards, procedures, coding structures, and reporting requirements.
- Ensure consistent scheduling practices across all contractors and project teams.
- Support project execution, forecasting, and proactive schedule risk identification.
2. Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) Management
Develop, maintain, and update the Integrated Master Schedule covering:
- Development: permitting, environmental studies, regulatory approvals, land access.
- Engineering: basic design, detailed engineering, design reviews, technical approvals.
- Procurement: long-lead equipment, vendor awards, supplier milestones, deliveries.
- Manufacturing: PV modules, BESS, transformers, GIS, cables, protection & control systems.
- Construction: civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, substation, BESS, and solar installations.
- Marine: surveys, vessel mobilization, cable installation/burial, shore crossings, marine commissioning.
- Commissioning: mechanical completion, system completion, energization, integrated testing, trial operations, and COD.
3. EPC Schedule Assurance & Validation
- Independently review EPC schedules, logic, sequencing, productivity assumptions, and resource loading.
- Validate schedule realism, identify omissions, and challenge unsupported forecasts.
- Focus on manufacturing durations, procurement lead times, marine installation windows, regulatory approvals, and commissioning readiness.
- Provide independent schedule assessments to project leadership.
4. Critical Path Management
- Identify, monitor, and maintain project critical and near-critical paths.
- Track float trends, milestone impacts, and emerging schedule threats.
- Recommend mitigation, acceleration, and recovery strategies.
- Key focus areas include permitting, cable manufacturing, marine installation, grid readiness, BESS commissioning, and energization.
5. Progress Measurement & Control
- Develop progress measurement systems across engineering, procurement, manufacturing, construction, marine, and commissioning activities.
- Validate contractor progress claims against actual performance.
- Monitor productivity trends, identify variances, and provide objective progress reporting.
6. International EPC & Supplier Oversight
- Review contractor planning methodologies and schedule credibility.
- Monitor manufacturing, procurement, logistics, factory testing, and export activities.
- Verify supplier milestone achievement and assess recovery plans.
- Provide independent schedule evaluations separate from contractor forecasts.
7. Schedule Risk Management
- Support schedule risk identification, assessment, mitigation, and monitoring.
- Contribute to quantitative schedule risk analysis and milestone confidence assessments.
- Focus on regulatory approvals, manufacturing delays, weather impacts, logistics, utilities, construction productivity, interfaces, and commissioning.
8. Recovery & Acceleration Planning
- Review contractor recovery plans and acceleration strategies.
- Assess resource requirements, schedule impacts, and feasibility of mitigation measures.
- Ensure recovery plans are practical, measurable, and achievable.
9. Schedule Integration & Interface Management
- Integrate schedules across Solar, BESS, Substation, HVAC Transmission, Subsea Cable, and Marine Installation packages.
- Coordinate interfaces with regulators, utilities, government authorities, ports, marine authorities, and operations teams.
- Manage dependencies across project sites, manufacturing locations, marine corridors, and receiving facilities.
10. Construction & Commissioning Planning
- Support construction readiness, workfront planning, look-ahead scheduling, and productivity monitoring.
- Develop commissioning schedules, manage system completions and handovers, track energization milestones, and support operational readiness.
- Ensure commissioning is fully integrated into the project schedule from early project phases.
11. Reporting & Schedule Analytics
Prepare and present:
- Integrated Master Schedule updates
- Executive dashboards and monthly reports
- Critical path and milestone analyses
- Schedule health checks and risk reports
- Recovery plan assessments and forecast updates
Provide advanced scheduling analysis including:
- CPM and float analysis
- Trend and productivity analysis
- Progress curve monitoring
- Delay impact assessment
- What-if scenario modeling
Key Accountabilities
- Maintain the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS).
- Deliver accurate schedule forecasting and reporting.
- Independently validate contractor schedules and progress.
- Identify, assess, and escalate schedule risks.
- Manage critical paths and project interfaces.
- Support informed project decision-making.
- Ensure schedule readiness for commissioning and Commercial Operation Date (COD).