Senior Front End Planner/Scheduler - Energy/Utilities

Job Title: Senior Front End Planner/Scheduler – Energy/Utilities

Company: AcceleratedPM

Job Type: Full-time

Job Location: Birmingham, AL

Work Schedule: 3 days a week on site/2 remote

AcceleratedPM is seeking a Senior Front End Planning Scheduler/Planner to support front-end planning, schedule development, and project controls execution for a portfolio of capital, environmental, and O&M projects supporting one of our energy clients. This is a senior-level role for a hands-on project controls professional who can build, manage, and communicate integrated schedules while also supporting resource loading, cost loading, earned value practices, and broader project reporting needs. The successful candidate must be comfortable operating across multiple concurrent projects, leading schedule discussions with project teams, and translating evolving scope into credible, decision-ready plans. This role is best suited for someone with strong Primavera P6 capability, solid project controls judgment, and prior experience in energy, utilities, or large industrial capital project environments.

Location/Travel:

• Hybrid role with minimum 3 days per week on site.
• Primary reporting location is Birmingham, Alabama.
• Periodic travel to client plant sites and project locations will be required.
• Work may include support across multiple facilities and project teams, depending on portfolio needs.

Role Focus:

• Lead front-end planning and schedule development efforts for a portfolio of large capital and plant-based projects.
• Build and maintain integrated project schedules that support planning, execution, change management, and performance reporting.
• Support resource-loaded and cost-loaded scheduling practices to improve forecasting, planning quality, and project visibility.
• Help align schedule development and status processes with earned value and broader project controls requirements.
• Provide a senior project controls presence capable of leading discussions, challenging weak assumptions, and improving schedule quality across multiple project teams.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop, manage, and maintain integrated Primavera P6 schedules for front-end planning and project execution support across a portfolio of projects.
• Lead schedule development efforts for capital, environmental, and O&M projects from early planning through execution support as assigned.
• Build logic-driven schedules that reflect realistic engineering, procurement, construction, outage, startup, and turnover sequencing.
• Coordinate directly with project managers, engineers, construction teams, contractors, and other stakeholders to develop credible schedule assumptions and execution plans.
• Facilitate schedule update meetings and planning sessions with project teams and document schedule changes, risks, constraints, and recovery actions.
• Maintain schedule baselines, status processes, schedule narratives, and KPI reporting in line with project and organizational requirements.
• Develop and maintain resource-loaded and cost-loaded schedules to support planning, forecasting, and project controls reporting.
• Support earned value management practices by aligning schedule progress, statusing methods, and reporting logic with performance measurement expectations.
• Provide quantity tracking support and maintain actual quantity updates in the schedule where applicable.
• Support development and implementation of Schedule Management Plans and related project controls procedures.
• Evaluate critical path, near-critical path, float consumption, sequencing concerns, and emerging risks across assigned projects.
• Support change management by documenting schedule impacts, logic revisions, scope movement, and baseline updates.
• Prepare project reporting outputs, dashboards, and ad hoc analysis for Technical Shared Services leadership and project teams.
• Review contractor schedules and integrate contractor planning data into broader project schedules where required.
• Help improve schedule quality, consistency, and project controls discipline across a portfolio of concurrent projects.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• 8 years of planning and scheduling experience supporting large capital projects in power, utility, industrial, or heavy infrastructure environments.
• Strong hands-on Primavera P6 capability, including schedule development, logic building, baselines, coding structures, layouts, reporting, and schedule quality review.
• Demonstrated experience supporting front-end planning and early-phase schedule development, not just execution updates.
• Proven experience with resource-loaded and cost-loaded schedules in a project controls environment.
• Working knowledge of earned value management principles and experience supporting EVM-compatible schedule development and reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to support multiple large projects concurrently in a portfolio environment.
• Experience leading schedule meetings and planning discussions with cross-functional teams and challenging assumptions where needed.
• Strong understanding of schedule change management, baseline control, progress measurement, and KPI reporting.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present schedule status, issues, and recommendations clearly.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Ability to work in a hybrid environment with a minimum of 3 days per week on site and travel to project sites as needed.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in energy or utility project environments.
• Combined cycle power generation project experience.
• Battery energy storage project experience.
• Experience supporting portfolios of projects rather than only a single mega project.
• Heavy industrial or power plant capital project experience.
• Experience integrating contractor schedules into owner-side master schedules.
• Familiarity with project controls standards, procedures, and schedule governance frameworks in utility or generation settings.
• Exposure to dashboarding or reporting tools such as Power BI.

Salary: $155 – 165k per year depending on experience (1099 contract available also).

Benefits: Comprehensive benefits package, including 401(k), health and dental insurance, and PTO for W2 employees.