Planning Lead

Job description

**About Yondr** Yondr is a disruptor. We challenge convention and simplify complexity.A global developer, owner operator and service provider of data centers, we deliver complex data center capacity needs for the world’s largest tech companies. Our exponential growth sees us looking for extraordinary people to help accelerate us towards our vision: a tomorrow without constraints. But we can’t do this without you. #### About the Role Yondr is growing rapidly across the Americas, with live and emerging projects in North Virginia, Dallas and Toronto, alongside further development opportunities in locations including Phoenix, Albuquerque and Pennsylvania. As our business scales, we are looking for an experienced and proactive Planning Lead to join the team and play a key role in strengthening planning support across our regional portfolio. This is an opportunity to help shape how planning is delivered across a fast-growing business, ensuring our site teams and General Contractors are aligned to Yondr’s Planning Guidance, Project Controls procedures and high standards of delivery. The Planning Lead will support the successful delivery of complex Data Centre projects from early development through design, procurement, construction, commissioning and handover. Working client-side, the role will provide planning, scheduling and project controls expertise to ensure programmes are robust, realistic, fully integrated and aligned with Yondr’s commercial, technical and operational objectives. We are looking for a strong, highly motivated Planning Lead who is excited by the opportunity to join a growing business, influence how we deliver, and contribute to a high-performing team. This role will be central to supporting Yondr’s 2026 business plan and our ambition to deliver 1.6GW of live Data Centre capacity by 2030. #### Main Responsibilities - Develop, maintain and manage integrated master schedules covering design, procurement, enabling works, construction, utilities, commissioning, IST, handover and operational readiness activities. - Review, interrogate and challenge General Contractor and supply chain program to confirm logic, sequencing, scope completeness, critical path integrity and alignment with contractual milestones. - Provide client-side schedule assurance by testing program assumptions, validating progress updates and identifying inconsistencies, gaps or unrealistic forecasts. - Monitor project progress against baseline and current approved schedules, highlighting variances, emerging delays, float erosion and potential impacts to key milestones. - Lead critical path, float, look-ahead, scenario and recovery analysis to support informed decision-making by the client and wider project leadership team. - Support procurement and tender processes by reviewing bidder program, phasing strategies, logistics assumptions and schedule-related submissions. - Work closely with project managers, development managers, design teams, commercial teams, consultants, utilities providers, contractors and operations stakeholders to maintain an accurate view of program performance. - Prepare clear, concise and accurate program reports for internal governance, executive reporting, project reviews and stakeholder updates. - Support risk management activities by identifying schedule risks, assessing potential impacts and developing mitigation or acceleration strategies. - Contribute to change control, delay analysis and schedule impact assessments, ensuring changes are properly evaluated and reflected in program forecasts. - Attend project meetings, planning workshops, contractor reviews and site progress sessions, providing constructive challenge and practical planning guidance. - Promote planning best practice, schedule quality standards and consistent project controls processes across the client’s data center portfolio. #### Qualifications and experience - Bachelor’s degree in construction management, engineering, project management, quantity surveying or a related construction discipline. - 10+ years’ experience in planning, scheduling or project controls within the data centre industry or a similarly fast-paced construction sector. - Strong client-side planning and project controls experience, ideally representing an owner, developer or end client on major capital projects. - Experience reviewing and challenging General Contractor programmes, including logic, sequencing, critical path, float, constraints and recovery plans. - Proven experience on large-scale mission-critical, data centre, advanced manufacturing, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, infrastructure or complex MEP-led projects. - Strong understanding of design, procurement, construction, commissioning, IST and handover sequencing. - Experience preparing executive-level schedule reports, including milestone tracking, critical path commentary, variance analysis and risk or opportunity summaries. - Ability to lead planning workshops, programme reviews and schedule assurance sessions with contractors, consultants and internal stakeholders. - Knowledge of delay analysis, change control and schedule impact assessment, with the ability to assess programme risk and support mitigation planning. - Experience working with baseline schedules, progress updates, lookaheads, recovery programmes and scenario planning. - Comfortable working in a fast-paced, growing international business with evolving processes and high levels of stakeholder engagement. - Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex programme information into clear, actionable insights for senior stakeholders. - Professional certification or membership such as AACE, PMI-SP, CIOB, RICS, PMP or equivalent would be beneficial but is not essential. - Proficient in Primavera P6, with the ability to build, review, maintain and analyse complex integrated schedules. - Experience with data-led reporting, schedule quality, QSRA and schedule integrity tools such as Power BI, Acumen Fuse, ScheduleReader, Deltek Acumen, Safran, Primavera Risk Analysis or similar. At Yondr, we want to enhance the diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging of our workforce to reflect the world we live in. Our roles are potential opportunities for everyone; all interested parties, regardless of nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, or gender, are welcome to apply. We ensure all candidates have equitable access and consideration throughout the hiring process. Yondr is committed to fostering a welcoming, safe and inclusive work environment. We provide support through our benefits, which are inclusive of all backgrounds.