Maintenance Planner Job Description

What Does a Maintenance Planner Do?

Fixing a leaking valve is often less time-consuming than lining up the part, the shutdown and the technician for it because each depends on someone else's calendar. Maintenance planners do that lining up for campuses, hospitals and plants, turning requests into scheduled work orders so crews arrive with everything the job needs.

Also known as: Maintenance Scheduler, Work Management Coordinator

Maintenance Planner Duties and Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of a maintenance planner include:

• Review incoming work requests and turn them into work orders with clear scopes.
• Estimate labor hours, parts and tools for each job before it reaches a shop.
• Build the weekly maintenance schedule so crafts, parts and building access line up.
• Order parts and reserve stock so technicians do not wait at the storeroom counter.
• Load preventive maintenance tasks into maintenance software such as IBM Maximo or AiM, and set their intervals.
• Schedule shutdowns of water, power or air handlers with building occupants and shop leads.
• Chase backlogged work orders and report which jobs are stuck, and why.
• Close out finished work orders, checking that labor, parts and notes are recorded correctly.
• Track backlog, schedule compliance and costs in weekly reports for maintenance managers.
• Walk job sites with technicians to scope large repairs and note access or safety issues.

Required Skills and Qualifications

To succeed as a maintenance planner, you will need the following skills and qualifications:

• CMMS software such as IBM Maximo, AiM or TMA
• Excel for schedules, backlog and cost reports
• Working knowledge of building systems and trades
• Estimating labor and materials
• Organized, deadline-driven planning
• Clear writing for work order scopes
• Negotiating shutdown times with building users
• Attention to detail on part numbers and costs

Education and Training

Shop floor experience could lead to a planning job. Although BLS lists a high school diploma as the usual entry education for this kind of clerk, employers often prefer planners who have worked in a trade. Training on the employer's maintenance software usually takes several months on the job.

Salary and Job Outlook

According to BLS, employment of production, planning, and expediting clerks, the wider group that maintenance planners fall under, is projected to decline about 1 percent from 2025 to 2035. That is close to flat, and the same projections still show about 32,600 openings a year across the group. Planning jobs in maintenance often are tied to the size of a facilities department, but large campuses and plants will keep needing someone to decide what gets fixed, when, and with which parts.

Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Production, planning, and expediting clerks.