About this opportunity
AcceleratedPM lists this Senior Planner/Scheduler - Lifesciences Mega Project opportunity in kankakee, Illinois. Review the employer’s description below for duties, qualifications and application requirements.
Job description
Job Title: Senior Planner/Scheduler – Lifesciences Mega Project
Company: AcceleratedPM
Job Type: Full time
Job Location: Kankakee, IL
Work Schedule: Full time on site
AcceleratedPM is seeking a Senior Planner/Scheduler to support a major biopharmaceutical manufacturing expansion in the Kankakee, Illinois area. This is a senior, field-facing planning and scheduling role for a professional who understands construction execution, can facilitate interactive planning sessions, conduct field walks to validate progress, and convert real project conditions into credible, logic-driven schedules. The successful candidate must be able to integrate contractor inputs, support earned value reporting, identify critical and near-critical path drivers, and translate construction, procurement, commissioning, and operational readiness requirements into executable schedules. This role is best suited for someone with strong construction knowledge, major CAPEX experience in process-heavy industries, and the ability to support a construction management team in meeting rigorous client project controls standards.
Location/Travel:
Full-time on-site presence required
Primary project location is in the Kankakee, IL/Bourbonnais Township area
Work environment includes construction management offices, professional office settings, and active construction areas where PPE and site safety requirements apply
Role Focus:
Serve as a field-facing planner/scheduler with strong construction knowledge and practical understanding of how work is planned, sequenced, installed, inspected, turned over, and commissioned
Develop, maintain, and analyze integrated project schedules for a major biopharmaceutical manufacturing expansion
Facilitate interactive planning sessions with contractors, construction managers, discipline leads, commissioning/validation stakeholders, and project controls personnel
Conduct field walks to validate progress, identify constraints, confirm workface readiness, and test whether schedule updates reflect actual field conditions
Support schedule governance, progress measurement, earned value requirements, baseline discipline, and client reporting standards
Provide schedule analysis that helps leadership understand critical path movement, milestone risk, contractor performance, interface issues, forecast impacts, and recovery options
Key Responsibilities:
Develop, maintain, status, and analyze project schedules using Oracle Primavera Cloud or similar Primavera-based platforms
Build logic-driven schedules that reflect construction sequencing, procurement dependencies, contractor interfaces, access constraints, inspection requirements, commissioning handoffs, and turnover milestones
Facilitate interactive planning sessions, look-ahead planning meetings, pull-planning discussions, and schedule development workshops with contractors and project stakeholders
Conduct field walks with construction managers, superintendents, discipline leads, and contractors to validate progress, identify constraints, confirm sequencing, and assess workface readiness
Review contractor schedule updates and reported progress against actual field conditions, including installed quantities, physical percent complete, inspection status, system turnover, and milestone readiness
Coordinate schedule inputs from contractors, construction managers, engineering, procurement, quality, commissioning, validation, and project controls stakeholders
Review contractor schedules and updates for completeness, sequencing, logic quality, constraints, float, calendars, coding, progress status, and alignment with project requirements
Support baseline development, reforecasting, schedule change control, schedule reporting, and earned value requirements
Coordinate with cost controls and project controls leadership to support cost/schedule integration, forecast updates, variance narratives, and performance reporting
Produce schedule reports, look-ahead schedules, milestone reports, critical path analysis, variance explanations, executive summaries, and schedule dashboards
Identify critical and near-critical path drivers, schedule slippage, missed handoffs, field constraints, access issues, trade stacking, procurement delays, and emerging milestone risks
Support recovery planning, resequencing, mitigation planning, and what-if analysis when milestones, handoffs, productivity, or field execution plans are at risk
Perform schedule quality reviews, including checks for logic, constraints, float, calendars, open ends, out-of-sequence progress, lags, leads, and critical path reasonableness
Support change control and time impact evaluation by identifying schedule impacts associated with scope changes, delays, productivity issues, procurement movement, contractor performance, and field constraints
Qualifications & Requirements:
15+ years of planning/scheduling experience supporting large capital projects, preferably in process-heavy industrial environments
Strong construction knowledge with the ability to understand means and methods, field sequencing, contractor interfaces, workface readiness, inspections, turnover, and commissioning handoffs
Demonstrated experience supporting major CAPEX projects involving complex construction, engineering, procurement, contractor coordination, commissioning, turnover, or startup phases
Strong hands-on Primavera scheduling capability, preferably including Oracle Primavera Cloud
Experience conducting field walks to validate progress, assess work status, identify constraints, and confirm whether schedule updates reflect actual field conditions
Experience facilitating interactive planning sessions with contractors, field leaders, discipline leads, and project stakeholders
Experience reviewing contractor schedules and integrating multiple schedule inputs into a broader project schedule or master schedule environment
Working knowledge of earned value management, including progress measurement, baseline discipline, cost/schedule alignment, variance awareness, and reporting support
Strong understanding of schedule governance, including baselines, calendars, coding, WBS alignment, constraints, float, logic quality, progress rules, and change control
Ability to produce clear schedule narratives, variance explanations, milestone summaries, critical path analysis, and recovery recommendations
Ability to challenge weak schedule logic, unrealistic durations, unsupported progress, missing interfaces, inaccurate progress claims, and incomplete contractor updates professionally
Strong communication skills and ability to work directly with construction managers, superintendents, contractors, project controls staff, engineering, procurement, quality, commissioning, validation, and client stakeholders
Ability to work in a hybrid environment with regular on-site presence in the Kankakee, IL/ Bourbonnais Township area
Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and standard schedule reporting tools
Preferred Skills:
Pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, biotech, life sciences, clean manufacturing, or validated facility project experience
Experience with cGMP-regulated project environments
Familiarity with commissioning, qualification, turnover, and operational readiness requirements
Experience planning or scheduling clean utilities, process systems, automation, HVAC, high-purity piping, controlled environments, or validated manufacturing systems
Experience with Oracle Primavera Cloud, Contruent, CMiC, Power BI, Acumen Fuse, Primavera Risk Analysis, Safran, or similar tools
Experience with schedule risk analysis, time impact analysis, delay analysis, recovery planning, or contractor claims support
Experience supporting multi-contractor, multi-phase capital programs with complex reporting and governance requirements
Salary: $185k per year depending on experience (1099 contract available also)
Benefits : Comprehensive benefits package, including SIMPLE IRA, health insurance, and PTO for W-2 employees.
Worksite address
kankakee, IL, 60901, US
Who can apply
Review the original listing for work authorization, qualifications and employer requirements.