Senior Planner
Location: Birmingham
Contract: Full Time, Permanent
Salary:£38,000 per annum
Hours: 42.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday
Mears is one of the UK's leading providers of housing repairs, maintenance, and regeneration services. We are committed to delivering excellent customer service, supporting our communities, and creating a great place to work.
About the role
We are looking for an experienced Senior Planner to join our responsive repairs team. Based in our Enterprise Wharf branch office, you will lead the planning function, ensuring that repairs and maintenance works are scheduled efficiently and resources are utilised effectively. You will support and guide the planning team, work closely with operational management, and help drive service performance while maintaining a strong focus on customer satisfaction.
Duties
- Lead and support a team of planners to ensure repairs and maintenance appointments are scheduled efficiently.
- Manage the allocation of operatives and subcontractors to maximise productivity and meet service objectives.
- Monitor and review daily work schedules, ensuring appointments, follow-on works, and overdue jobs are effectively managed.
- Act as the key point of escalation for complex scheduling and resource planning issues, as well as being the key lead for co-ordinating responses to emergency situations such as block outages.
- Produce and analyse performance reports to monitor KPIs, productivity, and service delivery targets.
- Work closely with Supervisors, Managers, Administrators, and Contractors to ensure a seamless customer journey.
- Support workforce planning by identifying resource gaps, capacity challenges, and opportunities for improvement.
- Ensure scheduling systems, PDAs, and job management tools are updated accurately and utilised effectively.
- Prioritise emergency and urgent repairs to minimise disruption and deliver excellent customer service.
- Maintain accurate records and documentation to support compliance and audit requirements.
- Provide coaching, guidance, and training to planners, promoting best practice across the team.
- Support continuous improvement initiatives to enhance planning processes, operational efficiency, and customer outcomes.
- Ensure all activities are carried out in accordance with company policies and Health & Safety requirements.
Role Criteria
- Proven experience in a Planning or Senior Planning role within repairs, maintenance, housing, facilities management, or a similar environment.
- Experience leading, mentoring, or supporting a planning or scheduling team.
- GCSEs (or equivalent) in English and Maths.
- Strong knowledge of scheduling and workforce planning processes.
- Experience using job management, workforce scheduling, and appointment booking systems.
- Ability to analyse performance data and use reporting tools to drive service improvements.
- Excellent organisational, prioritisation, and communication skills.
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced and pressurised environment.
- Strong customer service focus with the ability to manage challenging situations professionally.
- Experience scheduling multi-trade repairs using ICT appointing tools.
- Good understanding of repairs and maintenance operations.
Benefits
- Company Sick Pay
- Life Assurance (2x annual salary)
- 5% employee and 3% employer pension contribution with People pension
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity (14 weeks full pay, 12 weeks half pay and 13 weeks statutory pay), paternity (2 weeks full pay) and adoption leave
- Employee Assistance Programme - free confidential support and counselling available
- Mears Rewards offering discounts and cashback at leading retailers including travel, household items and shopping
- Annual Mears Fun Day - Our annual Fun Day is organised as a massive thank you from the Executive team for all the hard work!
- Volunteering leave – up to two days per year to support community initiatives
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Share save scheme
- Recognition and long service awards
- Buy up to 5 days holiday each year depending on length of service
- Learning and development opportunities
- Career progression opportunities across Mears Group
- Occupational health support
- Green car scheme with Tusker after successful probation period
- Be part of an inclusive workplace with access to a range of colleague networks and support groups focused on diversity, wellbeing and career development. From Disability, Pride (LGBTQ+) and Ethnic Diversity networks to Women in Leadership, the Women Operative Support Group, Women's Health, Men's Mental Health and Armed Forces communities, these groups provide opportunities for support, connection and professional development across our diverse workforce.
All roles require candidates to have the right to work in the UK. Mears does not currently offer visa sponsorship.
Please note that all offers of employment are subject to satisfactory Background, Identity and Security checks.
Apply below or to discuss your application further; contact:
Francesca Swan ([email protected])If you need any help with your application process, we are here to support you. We will be accessible every step of the way.
At Mears Group, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, we are a Disability Confident employer, valuing individuality and ensuring equal opportunities for all.
We proudly support the Armed Forces Covenant and are honoured to have achieved the Gold Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) to coincide with this, we hold an Endorser Award for the Career Transition Partnership, recognising our commitment to veterans transitioning into civilian careers.
In our continued effort to promote social mobility, we invite applicants to voluntarily share their background information during the application stages to help us better understand the diverse experiences of our candidates. This is to ensure we are committed to improving social mobility. We use the Social Mobility Index to assess and enhance opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds. These questions are optional and will not impact your ability to apply.
Skills Required
- Proven experience in a planning or senior planning role within repairs, maintenance, housing, facilities management, or a similar environment
- Experience leading, mentoring, or supporting a planning or scheduling team
- GCSEs or equivalent in English and Maths
- Strong knowledge of scheduling and workforce planning processes
- Experience using job management, workforce scheduling, and appointment booking systems
- Ability to analyse performance data and use reporting tools to drive service improvements
- Excellent organisational, prioritisation, and communication skills
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced and pressurised environment
- Strong customer service focus and ability to manage challenging situations professionally
- Experience scheduling multi-trade repairs using ICT appointing tools
- Good understanding of repairs and maintenance operations
- Right to work in the UK
Mears Group Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Mears Group and has not been reviewed or approved by Mears Group.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — 25 days’ holiday with the option to buy additional days, plus paid volunteering time, signal a comparatively generous time-off offering. Flexible working available in many roles further supports practical time-off and balance.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Retail discounts, Cycle to Work, an employee assistance line, volunteering days, and company family events add tangible non-cash value. Access to training and UK‑recognised qualifications reinforces the broader wellbeing and development offering.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — A stated commitment to pay at or above the Real Living Wage and the publication of pay-related reports indicate governance and baseline fairness focus. Independent snapshots also suggest many roles meet living‑wage thresholds.
Mears Group Insights
What We Do
Mears Group is a market-leading housing and care company that provides bespoke services to our clients. We provide and manage 11,000 homes for local and central Government and are also responsible for keeping 750,000 of all social housing in the UK in good repair. Mears has 6,500 employees and a footprint across the country
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