“Senior Planner” is probably one of the most misunderstood job titles in Town Planning.
You would think it would be fairly straightforward. Someone becomes a Planner, gets a few years under their belt, then becomes a Senior Planner.
In reality, it is nowhere near that simple.
A Senior Planner in one business might have three years’ experience and earn £38,000. Another might have eight or ten years’ experience, be working on nationally significant infrastructure projects and earn well over £50,000.
Then you have Senior Planning Managers working for housebuilders and developers who can be earning £60,000, £70,000, £80,000 or considerably more.
Same profession. Similar sounding job titles. Completely different jobs.
Consultancy is probably where the confusion starts
In a smaller planning consultancy, it is not unusual for someone to become a Senior Planner fairly early in their career.
They might have three to five years’ experience, perhaps have recently become chartered, and be starting to manage their own applications, clients and smaller projects.
In that part of the market, salaries can often be somewhere around £35,000 to £50,000, depending heavily on location and experience.
That is a perfectly normal Senior Planner salary.
But it does not mean every Senior Planner should be earning the same.
Infrastructure is a different world
Take a Senior Planner at somewhere like Arup, AECOM, WSP or another major infrastructure consultancy.
That person could have six, eight or ten years’ experience.
They may be working on major rail, energy, transport or nationally significant infrastructure projects. The work can be technically complex, involve huge project teams and carry a lot of responsibility.
Calling both that person and someone with three years’ experience at a small planning consultancy a “Senior Planner” shows you just how little the title can actually tell you.
For the more experienced infrastructure planner, earning well above £50,000 may be entirely reasonable.
Housebuilders and developers are different again
A Senior Planning Manager working for a housebuilder or developer can be operating at another level entirely.
They might be responsible for taking major residential sites through the planning process, managing external consultants, dealing with local authorities, assessing planning risk and helping unlock land worth many millions of pounds.
A salary of £60,000 to £100,000+ is therefore possible depending on the business, location, level of responsibility and bonus package.
Again, it has the word “Senior” in the title, but it is not really comparable to a Senior Planner working in a small consultancy.
Then there is local government
A Senior Planning Officer at a local authority might be handling a significant caseload and some fairly complicated applications.
They may have years of practical experience.
But they might not be chartered and may not even be working towards chartership.
Despite the level of responsibility involved, a salary somewhere around £38,000 to £45,000 would not be unusual in many parts of the country.
There are exceptions, particularly in London and in councils struggling to recruit, but the gap between public and private sector salaries can still be significant.
So what should a Senior Planner actually earn?
That is really the point.
There isn’t one answer.
“Senior Planner” is a job title. It isn’t a salary band.
You need to know what the person actually does.
How much experience do they have? Are they chartered? What sort of projects do they work on? Do they manage people? Do they bring in work? Are they dealing with small residential applications or £500 million infrastructure schemes?
Those things tell you far more about someone’s market value than the word “Senior” on their LinkedIn profile.
We regularly speak to planners who are surprised by what someone with the same job title is earning elsewhere.
Sometimes they are underpaid.
Sometimes they are comparing themselves with someone doing a completely different job.
And sometimes their current employer has simply been very generous with the job title and rather less generous with the salary.
So perhaps the better question isn’t:
“What does a Senior Planner earn?”
It is:
“What should someone with my experience and responsibilities be earning?”
That is usually a much more useful conversation..
If you are curious about where your salary sits in the market, we are always happy to have a confidential conversation we can put you directly in touch with leading recruiters who can put relevant roles in front of you.