Scheduler - Life Sciences/Pharma

Project Scheduler

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world's most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

We are seeking an experienced Project Scheduler to support complex life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and laboratory facility capital projects. This role operates in an Owner's Representative capacity, providing independent oversight of scheduling across the full project lifecycle—from early planning through construction, commissioning, qualification/validation (CQV), and closeout. The Project Scheduler will serve as a subject matter expert in integrated scheduling, ensuring alignment between design, construction, system turnover, commissioning, and validation activities within highly regulated, cGMP-compliant environments.

This position will be in Foster City California and 5 days on-site.

Key Responsibilities

• Integrated Schedule Ownership
• Develop and manage integrated master schedules encompassing design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and validation
• Define and control critical path, dependencies, and milestone sequencing across multi-disciplinary teams
• Perform schedule impact analysis, risk identification, and mitigation planning
• Provide proactive advisory support to project leadership on schedule performance and risks

• Lifecycle Scheduling (Life Sciences Focus)
• Planning & Design
• Develop preliminary schedules, WBS structures, and milestone frameworks
• Integrate regulatory approvals, permitting, and long-lead equipment procurement
• Coordinate design deliverables with early CQV planning requirements

• Construction
• Review and approve contractor schedules (baseline, interim, GMP)
• Perform schedule health checks and monitor performance against baseline
• Facilitate pull planning sessions and coordination meetings
• Evaluate time impact analyses (TIAs) and contractor recovery plans

• Commissioning, Qualification & Validation (CQV)
• Integrate system turnover, commissioning, and validation milestones into the master schedule
• Track CQV-critical milestones (e.g., system start-up, turnover packages, readiness for release)
• Support MEP/system-based sequencing and pull planning
• Ensure alignment between construction completion and validation readiness

• Closeout
• Validate and approve as-built schedules
• Confirm completion of regulatory and contractual milestones
• Support lessons-learned and benchmarking activities

• Schedule Controls & Reporting
• Develop and maintain schedule dashboards and reporting tools (e.g., Power BI or equivalent)
• Monitor and report on:
• Schedule performance (SPI)
• Milestone adherence
• Critical path movement
• Risk and recovery actions
• Deliver weekly and monthly reporting packages, including narrative and variance analysis

• Stakeholder Coordination
• Interface with owners, designers, general contractors, commissioning teams, and CQV stakeholders
• Lead schedule workshops, pull planning sessions, and coordination meetings
• Ensure compliance with Good Engineering Practices (GEP), SOPs, and regulatory requirements
• Maintain clear, concise communication with cross-functional teams

Minimum Requirements

• 5–10+ years of project scheduling experience supporting capital projects
• Demonstrated experience in life sciences / pharma / biotech / laboratory facility projects
• Proven experience across:
• Design
• Construction
• Commissioning / CQV phases

Technical Expertise

• Expertise in developing and managing integrated schedules across construction and CQV activities
• Advanced proficiency in:
• Primavera P6
• Microsoft Project
• Enterprise scheduling systems (e.g., Oracle-based platforms)

Sector-Specific Requirements (Critical)

• Experience supporting cGMP-regulated environments (e.g., pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotech, or laboratory facilities)
• Strong understanding of:
• System turnover and commissioning sequencing
• Qualification and validation processes (CQV)
• Regulatory milestone integration into project schedules
• Experience coordinating construction-to-CQV transition and facility/area release readiness

Core Technical Competencies

• Advanced knowledge of Critical Path Method (CPM) scheduling
• Experience performing:
• Schedule health assessments (e.g., industry standard checks)
• Time impact analysis (TIA)
• Schedule risk analysis and mitigation planning
• Ability to integrate:
• Construction schedules
• Commissioning activities
• Validation timelines into a unified plan

Professional Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities
• High attention to detail and data-driven decision-making
• Ability to communicate complex schedule issues to technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Proven success in a client-facing / Owner's Representative role
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills

Working Model

• Full-time, dedicated project assignment
• On-site presence required (Foster City, CA)
• Embedded within a multi-disciplinary capital project team

This role is essential to ensuring schedule certainty in highly regulated life sciences environments, where project success depends on precise coordination between construction, commissioning, and validation milestones. The Project Scheduler enables informed decision-making, reduces risk, and drives successful delivery of complex capital programs.

Continue your career journey as an Arcadian.

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It's why we are pioneering a skills based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You do meaningful work, and no matter where your next role in Arcadis takes you, you'll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark; on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We are an equal opportunity employer. We are dedicated to a policy of non-discrimination in employment on any basis including race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, disability, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by law.

Arcadis offers benefits for full time and part time positions. These benefits include medical, dental, and vision, EAP, 401K, STD, LTD, AD&D, life insurance, paid parental leave, reward & recognition program and optional benefits including wellbeing benefits, adoption assistance and tuition reimbursement. We offer nine paid holidays and 15 days PTO that accrue per year. The salary range for this position is $94,944 to $161,405. Actual salaries will vary and are based on several factors, such as experience, education, budget, internal equity, project and location.