Assistant Planning Engineer at Unknown Company – Harare

Position: Assistant Planning Engineer
Department: Projects / Managing Director’s Office
Reports To: Managing Director
Location: Head Office - Harare, with regular travel to project sites as required
Employment Type: Full Time
Date Issued: September 2026

1. JOB PURPOSE
To provide planning, programme monitoring and coordination support to the Managing Director across all company projects. The role exists to strengthen the Managing Director’s oversight of project programmes and follow-up: gathering accurate information from site, keeping programmes and records up to date, and ensuring that instructions and action points issued by the Managing Director are carried through to completion. It is a hands-on support position for an early-career engineer with practical site experience, working closely with the Managing Director.

2. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Planning and Project Support
• Maintain and update project programmes in Microsoft Project under the direction of the Managing Director and site management.
• Collect weekly progress information from site agents and foremen and update actual progress against the programme.
• Prepare progress charts, look-ahead schedules and variance summaries for the Managing Director’s review.
• Maintain accurate project records — site instructions, delay events, weather records, plant and labour returns — as the evidence base for reporting and claims.
• Maintain the project risks and issues register and bring slippage to the attention of the Managing Director promptly.
• Assist in compiling material, plant and labour requirement schedules in conjunction with site management and the quantity surveying function.
Support to the Managing Director’s Office
• Assist with the Managing Director’s diary, meetings, correspondence and technical documentation.
• Coordinate the flow of information between the Managing Director, Head Office, project sites and external stakeholders.
• Attend meetings and site visits as directed; record decisions accurately and follow up outstanding action points to closure.
• Assist in the preparation of project updates, management reports, presentations and briefing notes.
• Escalate matters requiring the Managing Director’s attention promptly, accurately and without filtering.
• Handle confidential commercial, contractual and personnel information with absolute discretion.

4. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
• Degree or Higher National Diploma in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, Project Management or a related field.
• Minimum two (2) years’ experience in a construction, civil engineering or project environment, including practical site-based experience.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Project, with practical exposure to programme preparation and progress monitoring.
• Competent in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Word.
• Familiarity with standard construction records — site instructions, plant and labour returns, delay records — and with site health, safety and environmental requirements.
• Sound report-writing and communication ability in English.
• A clean Class 4 driver’s licence is an advantage.
• Willingness to travel to project sites at short notice and to spend extended periods away from Head Office.

5. KEY COMPETENCIES
• Organised and thorough — follows matters through to completion without needing to be reminded.
• Confident communicator — able to obtain information from busy site personnel and senior stakeholders.
• Technically curious — quick to learn construction processes, programmes and site realities.
• Accurate — reports what is actually happening on site, not what is expected to be heard.
• Resilient — able to manage competing priorities and work under pressure.
• Mature and discreet — professional conduct and absolute confidentiality at all times.

8. ROLE EXPECTATION
The successful candidate will develop into a reliable support to the Managing Director’s office — able to move between an executive discussion, a project meeting and a working site, understand the issues under discussion, coordinate the relevant people, and ensure that matters are closed out. The role is a supporting one: its measure of success is the Managing Director’s ability to act on accurate, timely and complete information.

- Degree or Higher National Diploma in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, Project Management or a related field.
- Minimum two (2) years’ experience in a construction, civil engineering or project environment, including practical site-based experience.
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Project, with practical exposure to programme preparation and progress monitoring.
- Competent in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Word.
- Familiarity with standard construction records — site instructions, plant and labour returns, delay records — and with site health, safety and environmental requirements.
- Sound report-writing and communication ability in English.
- A clean Class 4 driver’s licence is an advantage.
- Willingness to travel to project sites at short notice and to spend extended periods away from Head Office.