Senior Planner at Dangote

Reports To: Head of Planning                           

Job Summary

• The Senior planner owns the development of feasible, executable refinery production plans that translate economic optimization into operational reality while protecting margin, process integrity, and schedule stability. 
• The role needs to ensure delivery of stable, executable production plans, while balancing economics and operational constraints, with minimum rework or plan churn. 
• The individual will act as the primary planning authority toward Operations and Scheduling

Key Duties and Responsibilities
Strategic Production Planning & Scheduling (Ownership):
Lead formulation of: 

• Monthly and rolling production plans
• Weekly operating targets
• Translate economic optimum into feasible, executable plans

Balance: 

• Unit constraints
• Inventory limitations
• Maintenance activities
• Own the planning risk register and mitigation actions

Economic–Operational Bridging:
Apply economic guidance to: 

• Feedstock allocation
• Blending strategies (volume & spec optimization)
• Minimize quality giveaway while ensuring market responsiveness
• Challenge LP outputs when operationally infeasible (with justification).

Sensitivity & Scenario Support:
Support scenario planning by: 

• Testing operational constraints
• Evaluating shutdowns, rate changes, feedstock swaps
• Provide operational insight into scenario outcomes.

Cross Functional Leadership:
Primary planning interface with: 

• Scheduling
• Operations
• Maintenance
• Lead planning coordination meetings
• Mentor Junior Planners.

Key Requirements

Education and Work Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Economics, Finance, or a related quantitative discipline.
• A Master’s degree, MBA, or relevant professional certification (such as CFA or PMP) is advantageous
• Minimum of 7-10 years of proven experience in production planning and scheduling within the petroleum, petrochemicals, or refining industries. Experience with large-scale operations and complex production environments is essential. 

Functional Competencies:

• A Senior Planner combines economic literacy, operational realism, and disciplined judgment to deliver stable, margin protective refinery plans.

Technical Competencies:
Refinery Process & Configuration Knowledge:

• Understanding of refinery units, interdependencies, and operating envelopes
• Ability to identify bottlenecks and rate/yield trade offs.

Integrated Production Planning:

• Development of monthly, rolling, and weekly production plans
• Integration of maintenance, inventory, and logistics constraints.

Economic Interpretation (Margin Awareness):

• Interpretation of LP outputs and marginal economics
• Identification and mitigation of margin leakage and quality giveaway.

LP Output Translation:

• Conversion of economic optimization results into executable plans
• Structured feedback on infeasible LP recommendations

Scheduling & Logistics Awareness:

• Understanding of tankage, receipts, and lifting constraints
• Ability to ensure plans are schedulable (without performing scheduling)

Blending & Product Quality Management:

• Knowledge of blend component properties and specs
• Minimization of quality giveaway while meeting demand

Scenario & Contingency Planning:

• Evaluation of operational scenarios (rate changes, outages, feedstock swaps)
• Contribution to sensitivity and “what if” planning

Planning Tools & Data Literacy:

• Proficient use of planning tools, dashboards, and analytical models
• Strong data integrity and version control discipline

Non Technical Competencies:
Decision Discipline & Governance:

• Adherence to planning governance and segregation of duties
• Appropriate escalation of margin impacting decisions

Cross Functional Collaboration:

• Effective engagement with Operations, Scheduling, Maintenance, and Economics
• Ability to align stakeholders around a single executable plan

Analytical Judgment & Problem Solving:

• Clear distinction between planning, execution, and market driven variances
• Practical, risk aware decision making under uncertainty

Communication & Influence:

• Clear articulation of plans, risks, and trade offs to technical and non technical audiences
• Credible challenge and constructive negotiation

Planning Leadership & Coaching:

• Mentoring of Junior Planners
• Knowledge transfer and succession readiness.