project controller Cheshire
Job description
THALES are looking to recruit a passionate & driven Lead Planner/Project Controller to work within the PMO team based in Cheadle, working on one of Thales's Autonomous Mine Counter Measure Projects. This is a high-profile, Multinational Project working on a leading edge technology developing the future autonomous maritime mine countermeasures systems.
What can we offer you?
- On offer is a competitive salary and benefits package, which includes;
- Performance Related Bonus
- Half day every Friday, usually finishing around 13:00pm
- Pension Scheme
- 28 days annual leave (Plus Bank Holidays)
- Life Cover
- 24/7 Employee Assistance Program and access to mental wellbeing app
- Employee discount shopping schemes on major brands and retailers
- Gym membership discounts
What will you deliver?
Project Planning Schedule Construct & Resource Profiling
- Produce and maintain a baseline schedule to underpin the project requirements ensuring the level of detail is correct for the type and complexity of project; tasks are logically linked correctly in accordance with the design lifecycle; all technical and non-technical requirements are reflected and all internal and external dependencies are accurately captured and linked to show any schedule impact on movement of dates.
- Making use of layouts to ensure that the schedule can be easily presented and understood by the project team.
- Generate an accurate and meaningful critical path which can be communicated to the Project Team enabling issues to be reconciled and decisions made to assist in the recovery of slippage, where applicable.
- Provide assistance in the development of Work Breakdown Structures for a project or work stream which effectively reflects and communicates the project to Stakeholders.
- Create and maintaining accurate project resource profiles ensuring any overloads are easily identified for resolution.
- Implement improvement actions resulting from schedule quality reviews ensuring that schedule integrity (FUSE) scores are within recommended boundaries for project type.
- Chair and run planning workshops at both Work Package and Project levels.
- Great communication skills, with the ability to communicate with both internal and external customers.
- Proficient user of Primavera
- Good understanding of Microsoft Project
Project Controls:
- Contributes effectively to all gate reviews by providing relevant and reliable information. Assesses recommendations from gate reviews and instigates appropriate responses for corrective action.
- Ensures project controls and planning governance defined for own projects or sector is followed.
- Undertakes monthly comprehensive status updates on projects in accordance with the Update and Review calendar using established reporting mechanisms and processes. Provide reports of status and performance of project in a timely manner using standard project formats. Contribute and support project level reviews.
- Ensure the baseline and configuration control processes are adhered to enable an audit trail of changes to schedule and cost to be maintained. identify “baseline to current” status changes and provide this to stakeholders, demonstrating an understanding of the importance of baseline control. Routinely applies basic performance measurement techniques to validate actual progress and reasons for variance.
- Ensure the timely completion of Internal Reporting packs in line with Thales processes ensuring information is accurate and delivered in a timely manner.
- Provide resource profiles resulting from the monthly schedule update process in order to reconcile resource loading anomalies ahead of the data publish.
- Supporting both internal and external Project Reviews by providing the schedule, critical path, progress and overall health of the project.
Who are we looking for?
- A relevant Defence or Civil Aviation background would be advantageous.
- Proven successful “hands-on” experience in planning, scheduling, data analysis & cost control within a complex engineering/manufacturing environment covering high level & detailed schedule compilation, programme reporting, budgeting & risk management.
- Working knowledge / application of scheduling tools such as Oracle Primavera and Microsoft Project.
- Demonstrated ability to work to specified timescales and expected deliveries, whilst displaying the drive to achieve work-related goals.
- Detailed understanding of the planning process & the role / importance of milestones, dependencies, project networks, float & critical path.
- Has an understanding of the project management & control process that includes change control, risk & opportunity management, plus financial management.
- Detailed understanding of the principles of Earned Value Management, the demands that EVM reporting places on the schedule & the ability to implement EVM on Projects.
- Has an understanding of the project life cycle for complex programmes with an understanding of Development, Production and Long Term Support activities.
- Working knowledge / application of Microsoft Office suite particularly the application of data analysis & summarisation techniques such as pivot tables & charting using Microsoft Excel.
- Strong interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills.
- Able to analyse and interpret underlying causes, themes & trends, whilst also being able to think through the consequences of different options and solutions and communicate these to the project team. Be able to influence where attention is required and drive action.
- Able to identify areas where a change in ways of working is required to ensure control of the project and be able to influence the project team to implement these changes
- Literacy level and report writing skills should meet requirements to produce short presentations, flow-charts or mini-reports suitable for distribution to senior management.
- Numeracy level should be aligned with the need to carry out detailed investigation of cost variance(s) and publishing of financial information directly into Company financial reports.
The successful candidate will need full Security Clearance (SC) -For more information and guidance please visit the UKSV website*
In line with Thales' Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.
At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.
Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment, if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.
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