Senior Planning Engineer - Oil & Gas

Position Overview

The Senior Planning Engineer plays a pivotal role in the oil and gas sector by crafting, maintaining, and refining project schedules for capital and operational initiatives. Responsibilities include expert schedule development, performance tracking, analytics, and stakeholder communication to ensure project timelines align with business goals.

Primary Duties

• Create detailed project schedules based on bottom-up techniques, integrating all tasks, dependencies, and constraints while identifying critical paths and optimizing for cost and resource efficiency.
• Continuously monitor schedule adherence, analyze deviations, generate status reports, provide forecasts, identify risks, and implement corrective actions.
• Conduct critical path analyses to optimize sequencing, discover opportunities for acceleration, and develop alternative scheduling scenarios.
• Assess schedule-related risks and develop mitigation approaches, including contingency and what-if analyses to support risk-adjusted planning.
• Assist in formulating detailed work packages and activity plans, validating activity logic, and assessing resource demands and durations.
• Develop and uphold scheduling standards, train team members on best practices, and maintain quality assurance across projects.
• Manage planning software tools such as Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project, including schedule creation, system management, report generation, and tool optimization.
• Prepare clear schedule reports and presentations for leadership and stakeholders, articulating status, risks, and recommendations to facilitate informed decisions.
• Coordinate scheduling efforts with cost, resource, and quality planning to support integrated project controls and ensure alignment with operational milestones.
• Utilize planning analytics to identify improvements, support lessons learned, and enhance organizational planning capabilities.

Experience & Expertise Needed

Candidates should have over ten years of experience in oil and gas project planning encompassing capital projects, operations, or program management. Proven expertise in project scheduling methodologies, critical path analysis, schedule optimization, and use of tools such as Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project is essential.

Required Knowledge and Skills

• Mastery of scheduling principles, critical path method, activity dependencies, and realistic schedule creation.
• Advanced skills in schedule tracking, variance and earned schedule analysis, and performance reporting.
• Deep understanding of oil and gas industry execution processes, construction phases, and scheduling constraints.
• Proficiency in planning software and data analytics relating to scheduling databases and reporting.
• Competence in schedule risk management, contingency strategies, and buffer planning.

Educational Background & Certifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Project Management, or related field is required.
• Master's degree in Project Management or Engineering Management is preferred.
• Professional certifications such as PMP or PMI-CP are an advantage.
• Training or certification in Primavera P6 is beneficial.

Technical Competencies

• Expert-level user of Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, and advanced scheduling software with reporting capabilities.
• Skilled in developing schedule dashboards, trend analyses, and presenting data to support project decisions.
• Strong capability in critical path, network analysis, schedule compression, and what-if scenarios.
• Experienced in resource planning, leveling, and coordination through the schedule.
• Proficient in schedule risk assessment, contingency reserve development, and buffer management.