Senior Maintenance Planner

Haverhill | Permanent | Circa £45,000

Are you an experienced maintenance engineer or technician who understands what it really takes to keep a manufacturing site running but perhaps you’re ready to spend a little less time on the tools?

If so, this could be the next step you are looking for.

We are recruiting for a Senior Maintenance Planner to join an established manufacturing site. You will need a solid engineering and maintenance background either in a similar role or on the tools, because you will be working closely with engineers, operations and contractors to make sure maintenance activity is properly planned, realistic and achievable.

You will take ownership of both short and medium-term maintenance planning, coordinating preventative and reactive work, managing priorities and making sure the right people, parts, tools and resources are available when they are needed.

A big part of the role will be looking ahead, building weekly maintenance schedules and then adapting them when the inevitable happens. Breakdowns occur, priorities change and plans move, so you will need to be organised, logical and comfortable reshuffling activity without losing sight of the bigger picture.

You will also be involved in weekly maintenance planning meetings, liaise across Engineering and Operations, monitor backlog and progress, and keep maintenance activity accurately recorded through the CMMS.

There is some systems and administration responsibility too, including raising purchase orders and processing goods receipts, so good IT skills are important. Experience with SAP would be useful, but it’s the maintenance and engineering understanding that really matters.

What you will be doing:

• Managing short-term maintenance planning across a 0-4 week window

• Developing and communicating weekly maintenance schedules

• Coordinating preventative maintenance to maximise equipment reliability and minimise downtime

• Coordinating reactive maintenance following equipment breakdowns or system failures

• Monitoring maintenance backlogs and prioritising work based on operational requirements and equipment criticality

• Ensuring the right labour, parts, tools and contractor support are available

• Chairing weekly maintenance planning meetings and communicating agreed priorities

• Tracking planned work and providing updates on completion and schedule adherence

• Maintaining maintenance activities and records within the CMMS

• Raising Purchase Orders and processing GRNs and contractor invoices through SAP

• Supporting CMMS users and providing training where required

• Ensuring maintenance documentation is accurate, complete and compliant

• Supporting maintenance KPIs, reporting and continuous improvement initiatives

What we need from you:

• Previous experience as a maintenance engineer, technician, planner or similar

• A good understanding of preventative and reactive maintenance

• Experience using a CMMS

• Strong planning and organisational skills

• The confidence to work with engineers, operations and contractors and keep conversations focused

• A logical approach and the ability to juggle changing priorities

• An engineering or technical qualification

• Good general IT skills

Experience in food manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, FMCG or another regulated manufacturing environment would be helpful.

This could particularly suit someone who has been working hands on in maintenance and is now looking to move into a more planning focused, office based role while still using the engineering knowledge you have built throughout your career.

You will still be right at the heart of the engineering operation, just with a different toolkit.

What can you expect in return:

• Salary c£45,000 depending on experience

• Monday to Friday, 8:00am – 4:30pm

• 25 days annual leave + bank holidays

• Medical & dental care

• Discretionary bonus scheme

• Pension

If you have a strong maintenance background and are ready to move into a role where your engineering knowledge can help shape and improve how maintenance is planned across a busy manufacturing site, I’d love to hear from you.

Interested? Send me your CV or drop me a message for a confidential chat and I can tell you more about the role, the team and what they are looking for.