Planning Manager, Project Controls

What is the Opportunity?

CanAtom, a joint venture between AtkinsRéalis and Aecon, is delivering the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Refurbishment Project under a collaborative contract with Ontario Power Generation. The joint venture is underway to complete the retube, feeder, and boiler replacement (RFBR) of Units 5–8. Building on the successful delivery of the Darlington Refurbishment Project, the CanAtom team brings proven experience in safely executing complex nuclear projects on time and on budget to support Ontario’s clean energy future.

Reporting to the Project Controls Manager, the Planning Manager is responsible for leading the development, integration, governance, maintenance, and analysis of the project schedule for a large and complex nuclear refurbishment project. The role provides leadership to the planning and scheduling team, ensures schedule information is accurate and aligned with the project execution strategy, supports earned value and reporting processes, and enables timely management decisions through critical path analysis, schedule risk insight, recovery planning, and clear stakeholder communication.

What You'll Do Here:

Planning Leadership and Schedule Governance

• Lead the project planning and scheduling function and establish clear expectations for schedule development, update cycles, progress measurement, forecasting, and reporting.
• Develop and maintain the project schedule management approach, planning procedures, coding structure, calendars, progress rules, and baseline control requirements in alignment with the Project Controls plan and contract requirements.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and technical direction to planners and schedulers, including review of schedule quality, logic integrity, coding compliance, and reporting consistency.
• Promote a strong safety, quality, accountability, and continuous improvement culture within the planning team and across project interfaces.

Integrated Master Schedule Development and Maintenance

• Lead development, integration, and maintenance of the Level 1 to Level 4 Integrated Master Schedule, with appropriate alignment to the WBS, CBS, work packages, milestones, procurement deliverables, and execution strategy.
• Ensure schedule logic, constraints, calendars, milestones, resource loading, and progress rules are fit for purpose and support critical path, earned value, and forecast analysis.
• Coordinate schedule inputs from engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, project management, commercial, quality, safety, licensing, and client stakeholders.
• Maintain schedule baseline integrity and ensure approved changes are reflected through the project change management process.

Schedule Monitoring, Forecasting and Performance Analysis

• Lead regular schedule update cycles, progress validation, variance analysis, and forecast reviews to identify deviations from plan and emerging risks to key milestones.
• Perform and oversee critical path analysis, float analysis, trend analysis, schedule quality checks, and schedule risk reviews to support timely project decision-making.
• Develop recovery plans, mitigation options, and management recommendations when schedule risks, delays, or productivity constraints are identified.
• Support earned value management by aligning schedule status, physical progress, resource planning, performance indices, and schedule variance narratives.

Reporting, Dashboards and Stakeholder Communication

• Prepare and review schedule reports, milestone trackers, look-aheads, dashboards, and executive-level summaries for project leadership, JV partners, and client reporting requirements.
• Translate detailed schedule information into clear management narratives highlighting critical path movement, milestone performance, forecast changes, risks, opportunities, and required decisions.
• Facilitate schedule review meetings, planning workshops, readiness reviews, and interface sessions with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure timely and accurate planning inputs into monthly project reports, PMT reports, Steering Committee materials, and other project governance fo