Key Skills

Job Description

The Senior Project Planner / Lead Planner is responsible for leading schedule management activities on large-scale pharmaceutical projects. The role encompasses the creation, integration, and maintenance of complex project schedules using Primavera P6 across all disciplines. The position requires deep pharmaceutical and regulatory experience, and the ability to lead diverse planning and project teams. Key Responsibilities: Develop, integrate, and manage detailed project schedules for design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and validation activities. Lead planning efforts, providing guidance and mentorship to junior planners and schedulers. Coordinate closely with project managers, engineers, clients, contractors, and suppliers to collect progress data and resolve scheduling conflicts. Facilitate schedule-focused meetings, workshops, and reviews to ensure alignment and resolve issues. Perform schedule baselining, regular updates, resource loading, and risk assessment in Primavera P6. Conduct impact analyses and recommend mitigation measures in response to project changes, delays, or risks. Lead progress reporting: deliver dashboards, S-curves, resource histograms, and critical path analyses for senior stakeholders. Ensure all schedule controls, updates, and reporting meet pharmaceutical industry standards (FDA/EU GMP), validation requirements, and internal company procedures. Support integrated project controls for interface between schedule, cost, and risk management functions. Support constructability reviews and interface management across multi-disciplinary teams. Maintain strong relationships with internal stakeholders, external partners, and regulatory authorities. Qualifications & Experience: Extensive pharmaceutical project experience (capital projects, facility upgrades, new builds, shutdowns). Advanced proficiency in Primavera P6, including schedule development, maintenance, resource and risk integration. Experience in leading or mentoring project planning teams. Understanding of pharmaceutical regulations (FDA, EU GMP) and validation processes. Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction, Project Management, or related field (preferred). Relevant certifications such as PMI-SP, PMP, AACE, or IPMA are desirable. Excellent communication, leadership, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

Core Responsibilities

Lead the development, integration, maintenance, and reporting of complex Primavera P6 schedules across pharmaceutical project phases, including design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and validation. Coordinate stakeholders and planning teams, assess schedule risks and impacts, recommend mitigations, and ensure schedule controls comply with pharmaceutical regulations and company procedures.

Requirements

Requires extensive pharmaceutical capital project experience, advanced Primavera P6 proficiency, and experience leading or mentoring planning teams. Candidates should understand FDA and EU GMP requirements and validation processes; a relevant bachelor's degree is preferred, and certifications such as PMI-SP, PMP, AACE, or IPMA are desirable.