New Job Opening: Senior Planner, Workshop Production in Eastern Province, SA

Job Description

The Senior Planner – Workshop Production is responsible for overall workshop-level production planning, control, and performance management for shipbuilding projects. The role provides planning leadership and governance, ensuring that detailed workshop plans are aligned with the master schedule, production strategy, and capacity constraints. This position acts as the single point of accountability for workshop production schedules, progress reporting, resource leveling, and recovery actions to support safe, efficient, and on-time project delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Planning Leadership & Governance

• Own and manage workshop-level production schedules from project start through completion.


• Review, validate, and approve detailed schedules prepared by planners and engineers.


• Ensure alignment between master schedules, look-ahead plans, and daily/weekly execution.

Production Control & Performance Management

• Monitor workshop production progress and identify deviations, bottlenecks, and risks.


• Lead schedule recovery and mitigation plans, including re-sequencing and resource reallocation.


• Consolidate and approve weekly and monthly production performance reports.

Coordination & Stakeholder Management

• Act as the primary planning interface with Operations, Project Management, Engineering, and Subcontractors.


• Represent workshop planning in coordination and integrated work team meetings.


• Ensure subcontractor schedules and progress are fully aligned with approved production plans.

Reporting & Decision Support

• Lead preparation of look-ahead schedules and chair related coordination meetings.


• Provide planning inputs to management, including capacity outlooks, risk exposure, and forecast completion.


• Ensure accuracy and consistency across all planning and reporting deliverables.

Systems & Continuous Improvement

• Oversee effective use of Primavera P6 / AVEVA ERM for scheduling, progress tracking, and resource management.


• Drive continuous improvement in planning processes, tools, and reporting standards.


• Ensure compliance with internal quality, governance, and audit requirements.

People Development

• Provide technical guidance, mentoring, and performance oversight to planners and engineers.


• Support capability development and succession planning within the planning team.

Qualifications & Experience

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Management, or a related discipline.

Experience

• 9–12 years of experience in shipbuilding or heavy fabrication planning.


• Proven experience leading workshop-level or area-level production planning.


• Background in shipbuilding, offshore/onshore fabrication, oil & gas, MRO, or heavy industrial projects.

Technical Skills

• Advanced expertise in Primavera P6 and production planning systems.


• Strong understanding of shipyard workshop operations and fabrication workflows.