PMO Planner

Employment type: Contract. Sword is a leading provider of business technology solutions within the Energy, Public and Finance Sectors, driving transformational change within our clients.  We use proven technology, specialist teams and domain expertise to build solid technical foundations across platforms, data, and business applications.  We have a passion for using technology to solve business problems, working in partnership with our clients to help in achieving their goals. Join us on an exciting and high-profile M&A programme where you'll play a key role in shaping and establishing the foundations for successful project delivery. We are seeking an experienced Project Planner to support a significant programme of work on an initial 3-month contract, helping to baseline schedules, validate critical paths, assess programme risks, and ensure plans are aligned with available resources. This is a hands-on planning role suited to someone with strong MS Project expertise and experience managing complex project or programme schedules. Working closely with stakeholders, you will gather and analyse data, provide planning insight, and help create a robust and achievable programme plan that supports business objectives. Create, manage, and update detailed project schedules using Microsoft Project (Desktop or Online). Define tasks, durations, dependencies, milestones, and critical paths. Ensure schedules reflect accurate progress, forecasts, and baselines. Integrate multiple project schedules into programme‑level or portfolio‑level plans. Ensure all schedules adhere to PMO standards, frameworks, and reporting cycles. Support project managers with planning best practices and schedule structure. Contribute to PMO reviews, stage‑gate processes, and quality assurance checks. Generate schedule reports, dashboards, and timeline views for stakeholders. Identify schedule variances, slippage, and potential delivery risks. Support preparation of highlight reports, RAID logs, and PMO reporting packs. Present scheduling insights to Project Managers, Programme Managers, and senior stakeholders. Maintain resource plans within Microsoft Project and/or supporting tools. Requirements Strong proficiency in Microsoft Project (including dependencies, baselines, resource sheets, tracking Gantt views). Understanding of project management methodologies (e.g., PRINCE2, Agile). Excellent analytical and problem‑solving skills. Strong attention to detail and organisational skills. Ability to communicate schedule impacts and insights clearly and confidently. Experience in project controls or PMO environments preferred. Ability to work collaboratively with cross‑functional teams and multiple project managers. Benefits At Sword, our core values and culture are based on caring about our people, investing in training and career development, and building inclusive teams where we are all encouraged to contribute to achieve success. We offer comprehensive benefits designed to support your professional development and enhance your overall quality of life. In addition to a Competitive Salary, here's what you can expect as part of our benefits package: Personalised Career Development: We create a development plan customised to your goals and aspirations, with a range of learning and development opportunities within a culture that encourages growth. Flexible working: Flexible work arrangements to support your work-life balance. We can’t promise to always be able to meet every request, however, are keen to discuss your individual preferences to make it work where we can. A Fantastic Benefits Package: This includes generous annual leave allowance, enhanced family friendly benefits, pension scheme, access to private health, well-being, and insurance schemes, an employee assistance programme, discounted cash plan and more…. At Sword we are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, ensuring that all applicants receive fair and equal consideration for employment, regardless of whether they meet every requirement. If you don’t tick all the boxes but feel you have some of the relevant skills and experience we’re looking for, please do consider applying and highlight your transferable skills and experience. We embrace diversity in all its forms, valuing individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Your perspective and potential are important to us. If we can do anything to help make the hiring process more accessible, please let our talent acquisition team know when you apply so we can support any adjustments.