Lead Scheduler

Title: Senior Construction Scheduler                                                     

Reporting to:General Counsel / Scheduling Manager

The Lead Scheduler serves as the primary scheduling and planning authority for complex commercial construction projects on behalf of project owners. This role is responsible for developing, maintaining, analyzing, and reporting integrated project schedules throughout the project lifecycle, from planning and design through procurement, construction, commissioning, and closeout.

The Lead Scheduler collaborates closely with owners, project managers, design consultants, contractors, and other stakeholders to establish realistic project timelines, identify schedule risks, evaluate recovery strategies, and provide objective schedule oversight that supports successful project delivery. This position also leads scheduling best practices, mentors scheduling professionals, and drives continuous improvement across the organization.

Essential Functions

Schedule Development & Management

• Develop, maintain, and manage integrated master project schedules encompassing the full project scope, key milestones, constraints, and project objectives.

• Create and manage schedules utilizing Critical Path Methodology (CPM) and industry best practices.

• Establish Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) that clearly define scope, accountability, and ownership across all project activities.

• Ensure schedules align with project execution plans, contracting strategies, procurement plans, commissioning requirements, and overall project controls procedures.

• Establish schedule baselines and maintain formal processes for schedule updates, revisions, and change management.

• Structure schedules to support reporting and analysis at varying levels of detail, from executive summaries to detailed task-level reviews.

Schedule Analysis & Reporting

• Perform critical path analysis, float analysis, schedule health assessments, and forecasting.

• Monitor project performance against approved baselines and identify potential delays, risks, and recovery opportunities.

• Prepare and present schedule reports, dashboards, and executive-level updates to project stakeholders.

• Evaluate schedule impacts resulting from scope changes, procurement issues, unforeseen conditions, and other project challenges.

• Develop schedule recovery and mitigation strategies in collaboration with project teams.

Project Planning & Collaboration

• Facilitate Interactive Planning, Last Planner®, and Pull Planning sessions with project stakeholders.

• Coordinate planning efforts among owners, architects, engineers, contractors, vendors, and commissioning teams.

• Negotiate and mediate schedule interfaces, milestones, and project dependencies across multiple stakeholders.

• Support resource-loaded scheduling efforts as required by the project team.

• Participate in project workshops and planning sessions to improve project predictability and delivery outcomes.

Risk Management

• Support project risk management programs through schedule risk analysis and forecasting.

• Participate in risk identification workshops and Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) processes.

• Develop and communicate schedule contingency recommendations based on project risks and uncertainties.

• Analyze potential schedule impacts and provide data-driven recommendations to project leadership.

Schedule Review & Quality Assurance

• Conduct independent reviews of contractor, consultant, and vendor schedules.

• Verify external schedules comply with contractual requirements, scheduling specifications, and industry best practices.

• Identify schedule deficiencies, logic issues, resource constraints, and unrealistic assumptions.

• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve scheduling standards, procedures, and best practices.

• Promote consistency in scheduling methodologies across projects and teams.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and mentor scheduling professionals and project controls personnel.

• Foster a culture of accountability, technical excellence, quality, and continuous improvement.

• Provide coaching and professional development opportunities to team members.

• Support business development activities through schedule reviews, proposal support, and client presentations when required.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate a positive proactive approach to the role and will be committed to delivering customer service excellence.

• Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Project Management, Architecture, or related discipline; equivalent professional experience may be considered.
• 8+ years of construction scheduling and project controls experience, preferably representing owners, program managers, or construction consultants.
• Advanced experience developing and managing CPM schedules for commercial construction projects.
• Proficiency with Primavera P6 scheduling software.
• Understanding of project delivery methods including Design-Bid-Build, Design-Build, CMAR, and Integrated Project Delivery.
• Experience facilitating collaborative planning sessions and stakeholder coordination meetings.
• Excellent analytical, communication, presentation, and problem-solving skills.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and quality-focused.

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions:

• Indoor office environment. May require work on site location when necessary.

• Equipment used includes: computers and standard office machines.

• Essential physical tasks include: the ability to work on a computer and the ability to answer and speak on a telephone.