Planning Engineer (Early Career)

The Planning Engineer (Early Career) is an early-career role within the Castle Controls team, providing planning and scheduling support across a portfolio of client engagements in the oil and gas and mining sectors. You will work on a variety of project types and phases, contributing to different client teams while remaining part of the Castle Controls organisation and building your project controls capability under the guidance of senior team members. Day to day, you will support the development and maintenance of engineering and construction schedules, monitor progress, prepare structured reporting, and work closely with client project managers, project engineers, and fellow project controls professionals. You will be comfortable moving between projects and adapting to different client environments, tools, and ways of working — and you will take pride in delivering clear, reliable, and well-structured planning outputs. This is a hands-on technical role suited to an engineering graduate or early-career professional with 2–5 years of engineering, project planning, scheduling, or project-controls experience, a working knowledge of Primavera P6 and Oracle OPC, and the drive to continue developing their project controls capability in a diverse and supportive team environment. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Schedule Development & Maintenance – Develop, baseline, and maintain multi-level project schedules (Levels 0–III) using Primavera P6 and Oracle OPC – Build and maintain schedule logic, WBS structures, activity coding, and resource assignments aligned with engineering deliverables and construction sequences – Prepare short-interval and look-ahead schedules to support execution activities – Integrate and review contractor and subcontractor schedules, assessing logic quality, progress claims, and alignment with the approved plan – Support schedule change management processes, including scope change assessment, variation analysis, and re-baselining Progress Monitoring & Reporting – Monitor physical progress against baseline plans and provide clear, timely status updates – Support development of progress measurement systems, earned value methodologies, and rules of credit – Prepare weekly and monthly schedule reports including S-curves, milestone trackers, variance analysis, and critical path commentary – Identify schedule deviations and emerging risks early, communicating findings and recommendations to project management – Collect and validate progress data from contractors and project teams Project Controls Integration – Work alongside cost controllers, risk engineers, and project services professionals to support integrated project reporting – Contribute to schedule risk analysis activities, including development of schedule models and probabilistic milestone assessments – Assist in developing planning procedures, scheduling specifications, and progress measurement frameworks for client projects and tender packages – Maintain planning data in client project management systems and document control platforms – Participate in project meetings, progress reviews, and contractor coordination sessions Technical Support & Continuous Improvement – Contribute to the development and refinement of Castle Controls' internal planning standards, templates, and tools – Share knowledge and lessons learned across the team – Stay current with developments in planning tools, scheduling techniques, and industry best practice – Support junior team members and contribute to a collaborative, high-performing team culture EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS Qualifications – Bachelor's degree in Engineering (any discipline) — mandatory Experience – 2–5 years’ experience in project planning, scheduling, or project controls on capital projects – Exposure to oil and gas operator or major project environments – Experience preparing schedule status reports, S-curves, variance analyses, or progress narratives – Experience reviewing contractor schedules and progress data, with guidance – Exposure to multiple project phases — study, FEED, execute, commissioning, or closeout Skills – Competency in Primavera P6 for schedule development, logic review, progress tracking, and baseline management – Working knowledge of Oracle Primavera Cloud (OPC), or the ability to rapidly develop capability – Understanding of engineering deliverables, construction sequencing, and project execution workflows – Ability to interpret contractor schedules, progress claims, and logic structures – Capability in preparing schedule reports, S-curves, milestone charts, and variance analysis – Familiarity with earned value concepts and progress measurement techniques – Strong analytical skills, with the ability to identify schedule risks, deviations, and critical path impacts – Clear and confident communication with technical and management stakeholders – Ability to work collaboratively within integrated project controls teams – Strong organisational skills and ability to manage workload across concurrent engagements – Adaptability to different client environments, systems, and project phases – Commitment to continuous learning and improvement in project controls methodologies