Senior Planner (Marine Construction)

• BSc Eng / Construction Management (or equivalent)
• Full Time
• Cape Town, RSA

The Senior Planner will play a key role in supporting marine works contractors in the preparation of design and build bids from Sevra's Cape Town office. The role carries full responsibility for the development of robust, realistic, and fully integrated construction programmes for marine and coastal infrastructure projects. The Senior Planner will translate construction methodologies into logical, resource driven programmes that reflect real world constraints, marine operations, and sequencing requirements. The position requires a highly experienced planner capable of aligning programme, cost, construction methodology and sequencing, and of driving out of the box thinking and value engineered solutions. This role is central to Sevra's contractor support offering and requires strong technical understanding of marine construction, excellent planning discipline, and the ability to challenge assumptions to ensure proposed programmes are achievable, efficient, commercially sound and value engineered.

• Take full responsibility for the development, structure, and integrity of construction programmes for marine works tenders.
• Develop detailed, logic linked programmes reflecting construction sequencing, dependencies, and constraints.
• Ensure alignment between programme, construction methodology, and cost estimate.
• Maintain clear documentation of planning assumptions, constraints, and key drivers.
• Translate construction methodologies into practical and executable programme logic.
• Define work breakdown structures aligned with construction activities and cost breakdowns.
• Identify critical path activities, key interfaces, and programme risks.
• Ensure programmes reflect realistic marine construction constraints, including access, weather, and logistics.

• Develop resource loaded programmes including labour, plant, and marine equipment.
• Work with operators and estimators to validate production rates and durations based on realistic outputs.
• Assess utilisation of marine plant (e.g. dredgers, cranes, barges, piling rigs) and identify inefficiencies.
• Optimise sequencing and resource allocation to improve programme efficiency.
• Identify programme risks including weather downtime, marine access limitations, and logistical constraints.
• Assess the impact of alternative construction methodologies on programme duration.
• Develop scenario analyses and "what if" programmes to support bid strategy.
• Support the definition of contingency allowances in coordination with the operators and estimators.

• Work closely with estimators to ensure consistency between programme durations, resource assumptions, and cost build ups.
• Interface with engineers and operators to ensure constructability and sequencing are aligned.
• Support coordination with contractors and subcontractors to validate sequencing and durations.
• Contribute to technical and commercial bid reviews.
• Prepare programme submissions including summary and detailed schedules and supportive documentation for tenders, that withstand formal employer and engineering reviews.
• Develop phasing diagrams, sequencing narratives, and programme related technical inputs.
• Support value engineering by identifying programme driven efficiencies.
• Assist in responding to programme related tender queries and clarifications.

• Contribute to the development of planning standards, templates, and workflows.
• Build and maintain a structured library of marine construction production rates, plant output norms, weather downtime factors, and programme benchmarks derived from completed tenders, forming a proprietary knowledge base for the company.

• Bachelor's degree in civil engineering, construction management, or equivalent.
• Professional registration preferred.

• 8-15 years relevant experience in planning for marine or heavy civil works.
• Strong experience in contractor side construction planning for dredging, marine structures, or reclamation projects, including experience in developing procurement and mobilisation schedules.
• Working knowledge of typical contract conditions to ensure tender programmes are contractually informed and commercially protective.
• Experience in the Middle East marine construction market preferred.

• Advanced understanding of construction planning principles, including critical path analysis and resource scheduling.
• Strong ability to translate construction methodologies into executable programme logic.
• Experience in planning complex marine works including dredging, reclamation, piling, quay walls, retaining structures and rock works.
• Familiarity with delay analysis methodologies (Time Impact Analysis, Windows Analysis, As vs As Built) to ensure baseline programmes are defensible against future claims.

• Understanding of marine construction constraints including weather downtime, tides, and operational limitations.
• Planning of marine plant operations including dredgers, barges, cranes, and support vessels.
• Integration of logistics, access constraints, staging, environmental and regulatory constraints into construction programmes.

• Advanced proficiency in Primavera P6 and/or MS Project.
• Experience with resource loaded scheduling and programme optimisation.
• Strong Excel skills for programme analysis and scenario testing.
• Experience with 4D BIM construction simulations is considered an advantage.
• Experience with Monte Carlo simulation tools for probabilistic duration modelling is considered an advantage.
• Ability to develop structured, auditable, and defensible construction programmes.
• Clear documentation of assumptions, constraints, and risks.
• Strong analytical capability to assess programme robustness and identify weaknesses.

The role requires a high standard of professional conduct and interpersonal behaviour. These attributes are considered as important as technical competence.

• Demonstrates a strong team oriented mindset, working for the collective success of the company rather than individual agendas.
• Contributes positively to a respectful, professional, and collaborative working environment, both within the local office and across offshore and international teams.
• Engages constructively with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders, and does not participate in workplace negativity, gossip, or unprofessional conduct.
• Actively supports, collaborates with, and uplifts team members, sharing knowledge and contributing to the development of others.
• Communicates clearly, respectfully, and professionally, particularly when working under pressure or across different cultures and time zones.
• Demonstrates maturity, accountability, and sound judgement in all professional interactions.

Office Location: Based full time in Sevra's Cape Town office, South Africa.

• Working Hours: Monday to Friday, with a standard working week of 45 hours.
• Office Attendance: The role is primarily office based, with an expectation of a minimum of three days per week in the Cape Town office to support collaboration, project delivery, and team integration, and two days per week from home.
• Travel Requirements: Regular travel (min. one week per quarter) to the UAE is required to support project delivery, client meetings, and site activities.
• Collaboration with Offshore Teams: Effective collaboration with offshore and international technical delivery teams is a core requirement of the role. The successful candidate must be comfortable working across different countries and time zones, managing coordination, communication, and technical integration to ensure consistent quality and timely delivery.
• Professional Environment: The role operates within a lean, specialist consultancy environment, requiring a high degree of professionalism, self management, and accountability.

The successful candidate must be legally entitled to work in South Africa.