Lead Planner

What is the Opportunity?

As part of an alliance agreement, Aecon has been awarded a contract in an Aecon-led partnership with Kiewit Nuclear Canada by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) for the execution phase on the Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) in Clarington, Ontario. Beginning in 2025 Aecon will support the Construction of the Unit 1 Small Modular Reactor at the Darlington site.

Reporting to the Planning Manager, the Lead Planner will be responsible for providing project controls support to Aecon’s ongoing mega-projects in the Nuclear sector.

What You'll Do Here:

• Lead project set-up activities, including establishing the WBS & all control accounts, reconciling bids to awards, setting the cost & schedule baseline
• Lead meetings focused on communicating project performance status to the wider project team
• Provide coaching & hands-on training opportunities to junior team members, adapting teaching styles to suit the audience
• Provide input into the continuous improvement of Aecon's Project Controls policies and guidelines
• Contributes to Lessons Learned and ensures implementation of Best Practices.
• Assist in project set-up activities, including establishing the WBS & all control accounts, reconciling bids to awards, setting the cost & schedule baseline
• Participate in customer and internal management project status reporting meetings.
• Liaise with external groups (Accounting, Finance, Procurement, Construction, etc.) to gain inputs into Project Controls reports.
• Create & maintain project status update reports, forecast reports & project dashboards; ensure timely issuance to internal & external stakeholders (per client requirements).
• Create & maintain customized reports or dashboards to adapt to evolving risks & project needs.
• Develop and maintain resource plans, ensuring cost & schedule alignment.
• Regularly conduct variance analysis to understand trends & other baseline deviations in support of rigorous change management; provide variance narratives & propose corrective actions or recovery plans.
• Assist in monitoring project health & performance; ensure key performance metrics are well articulated to project leadership.
• Regularly conduct detailed analysis on project performance key metrics (e.g. CPI, SPI, key commodity tracking, etc.); propose corrective actions to maintain performance/productivity; provide timely feedback to project leadership on adverse trends.
• Prepare Earned Value Management KPIs to assess project performance.
• Assist in the creation & maintenance of tools & templates that ensure compliance with the processes outlined Project Controls plan & contract requirements.
• Support the development of project-specific Project Controls plans, and the development of tools & templates.
• Develop and maintain a change log to track all internal & external changes and monitor progress through the change management process.
• Review the contract to ensure compliance with contract conditions regarding reporting, change management, and all other Project Controls areas.
• Provide mentorship & guidance to junior team members.
• Provide subject-matter expertise to project team on any customized reporting tools & dashboards.
• Develop & maintain complex construction and engineering resource-loaded schedules in compliance with customer scheduling standards/protocols as specified in the contract.
• Develop & maintain basis of schedule documenting all assumptions & parameters underpinning the baseline schedule.
• Develop fragnets to be carried out throughout the project lifecycle, across the different phases for use on similar scopes.
• Lead meetings focused on assessing schedule progress, obtaining schedule updates & general schedule coordination.
• Create lookahead reports, resource profiles & other customized P6 reports.
• Assist in project set-up, casting baseline budgets, setting up rules of credit to support earned value management; ensure WBS & CBS alignment.
• Liaise with Construction on scheduling sequencing, assist in determining schedule priorities, support constructability reviews.
• Proactively identify schedule variances, logic gaps etc.; facilitate the development of recovery plans & other remedial action plans.
• Enter daily/weekly progress into the schedule & provide progress status reports.
• Maintain detailed baseline or schedule change logs to ensure integrity of the performance measurement baseline.
• Regularly perform critical path analysis to flag delays, identify near critical paths & parallel paths within the schedule.
• Regularly perform schedule quality analysis utilizing assessment tools (e.g. Acumen Fuse).
• Perform regular field tours to validate progress.
• Assist in the development of a project-specific Schedule Management Plan for incorporation into the Project Controls Plan.
• Ensure schedule quality by addressing deficiencies from schedule quality analysis.
• Support change management process by analyzing trends & schedule impact assessments.
• Support risk management process by providing inputs into schedule risk analysis modeling.
• Maintain baselines with approved changes, ensuring contractual alignment.
• Identify & lead rebase line efforts when required.
• Manage the integration of subcontractor schedules (if applicable); review for schedule quality; assess progress and provide feedback to project leadership.
• Establish and ensure a set cadence for the importing of back-up copies of project schedules managed in the client's P6 environment.

What You Bring to the Team:

• 8–12 years of related experience
• Demonstrated analytical and adaptive thinking
• Quantitative, engineering, or construction management post-secondary degree
• Strong team collaboration skills
• Detail-oriented approach with a focus on quality
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Agility and flexibility in a dynamic environment
• Innovative problem-solving skills
• Project Controls Ambassador experience
• EPC contractor (self-perform) experience
• Construction field experience
• Mega-project or portfolio project experience
• Demonstrated project controls technical knowledge (e.g., PMI or AACE certification)
• Stakeholder management experience
• Strategic orientation
• Consensus-building experience
• Claims avoidance and/or claims negotiation experience
• Microsoft Excel expertise
• Advanced Primavera P6 expertise
• Completion of a full security clearance and background check.

Reason for vacancy: New

Pay Range: $121,000 - 171,000

Individual pay is determined based on several factors, including work location, education, experience, unique skills and job conditions. Other considerations may include certifications, specialized training, and the complexity or scope of the role.

We strongly encourage applicants who identify as Indigenous to apply to work with us on the Darlington New Nuclear Project. At Aecon, Indigenous is an umbrella term for First Nations (status and non-status), Metis and Inuit.