Programme Analyst QS
Harlow District Council
Temporary, Full Time
£500.00 per day umbrella
Location: Harlow
Closing Date: 18th September 2026
Essex County Council are delighted to be supporting Harlow District Council to recruit a temporary Programme Analyst QS on a 12-month basis. Please note that this post requires the successful individual to be based on site 4 days per week.
Harlow is a district of contrasts and an ideal location to both live and work. The town itself is thriving, with excellent shopping and leisure facilities for all ages. We have good road links to the M11 and M25 and excellent rail connections to London and Stansted Airport, just 35 minutes and 20 minutes away from Harlow respectively.
The role
Harlow District Council are seeking an experienced Programme Analyst QS who is available on short notice to join the Housing Operations team to support on a large housing capital construction programme. The role owns the master programme and cost forecast across the pipeline and live projects, and provides QS and contract support to the commercial team when demand dictates.
Programme management and reporting
- Build and maintain a high-level master programme of all pipeline and live projects across the housing capital programme, presented as a Gantt chart with clear milestones, dependencies and critical path
- Track actual progress against forecast on every project and report slippage, its causes and its knock-on effect on the wider programme
- Maintain live cost projections against the programme – budget, forecast, committed and actual spend – and reconcile these to the programme monthly
- Produce clear monthly programme and cost dashboards and reports for senior leadership and governance, with variances, risks and recommended actions
- Support in-year and multi-year budget profiling, spend forecasting and cash-flow projections for the capital programme
Cross-service tracker calibration
- Collate, calibrate and scrutinise the trackers held by Capital Delivery, Procurement, Pre-Construction, Asset Data, Compliance and Fire Safety, so that a single, consistent version of the programme is reported
- Challenge and validate the data behind those trackers – dates, scope, cost and status – and resolve inconsistencies with the service area leads
- Establish and embed standard tracker formats, reporting cycles and data standards across service areas
- Map stock condition, compliance and fire safety data (FRAs, remedial actions, statutory deadlines) through to the works programme so that regulatory deadlines drive project sequencing
- Attend internal and external stakeholder meetings (occasionally after hours)
Quantity surveying and contract support
- Assist with the preparation of tender and contract packages, including contract particulars, pricing documents and schedules of amendments
- Support tender evaluations, including commercial assessment, clarifications and recommendation reports
- Provide contract administration and project QS support across a portfolio of works when demand dictates – valuations, variations, cost reporting and final accounts
- Support the commercial team with early cost estimates, cost plans and risk registers at pre-contract stage
The experience you will bring
- Degree qualified in Quantity Surveying, Construction Management or similar; RICS / CIOB / APM membership (or working towards) desirable
- Demonstrable experience planning and programming multi-project construction or housing capital programmes
- Strong IT skills are essential, in particular advanced Microsoft Excel (complex formulas, lookups, pivot tables, data modelling and dashboard building) and Microsoft Project (building, resourcing, baselining and updating multi-project programmes and Gantt charts)
- Working knowledge of the wider Microsoft 365 suite (SharePoint, Teams, Power BI) and the ability to pick up housing asset, compliance and finance systems quickly; experience of Asta Powerproject or Primavera an advantage
- Proven ability to organise and structure high volumes of programme and financial data into clear, robust reporting
- Quantity surveying background with practical experience of tender documentation, tender evaluation, contract administration and JCT contracts
- Experience of housing refurbishment, building compliance and fire safety works programmes, ideally local authority or housing association
- Confident working across service areas, challenging data and holding others to account for programme information
What you should do next
If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website. If you have any queries relating to this post please email louise.butler@essex.gov.uk
