Mechanical & Maintenance Planner
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Job Title: Mechanical & Maintenance Planner
Location: Barry, South Wales
Contract: 12 months initial (strong likelihood of extension)
Overview
We are seeking an experienced Mechanical & Maintenance Planner to support maintenance, shutdown, and decommissioning activities within a heavy industrial environment. This role is responsible for developing detailed work packs and job plans to ensure the safe, efficient, and cost-effective execution of maintenance and decommissioning work.
The successful candidate will have strong planning experience within engineering, maintenance, shutdown, or project environments and will possess a solid understanding of CMMS/SAP systems, field operations, and contractor coordination.
Key Responsibilities
- Review work orders for technical completeness and liaise with relevant stakeholders to ensure all required information is available before planning activities commence.
- Conduct site and field inspections to develop safe, accurate, and executable job plans.
- Define detailed task sequences, labour requirements, materials, tooling, equipment, and specialist service needs.
- Identify safety requirements, hazards, permits, and controls required for safe execution of work.
- Coordinate long lead-time materials and work closely with procurement and materials teams to ensure timely availability.
- Liaise with site operations, maintenance teams, and external vendors to coordinate specialist labour and material requirements.
- Produce comprehensive work packs and job packages within SAP and supporting documentation systems, including:
- Detailed task descriptions
- Photographs and scope details
- Material requirements
- Resource estimates
- Safety and procedural documentation
- Act as a key point of contact for contractors during tendering and execution phases, including supporting site walk-downs and responding to technical queries.
- Ensure all work packs comply with maintenance procedures and company safety policies, including hazard assessments and procedural controls.
- Support the creation, revision, and management of maintenance procedures and checklists, including Management of Change (MOC) processes where required.
- Work closely with scheduling teams to ensure plans align with outage, shutdown, and maintenance schedules.
- Participate in work pack reviews with operations, engineering, and maintenance teams.
- Continuously improve work planning processes using operational feedback and best practice methodologies.
Experience & Qualifications
Essential
- Mechanical or Instrumentation apprenticeship, NVQ, or equivalent technical qualification
- Previous planning experience within engineering, maintenance, shutdown, turnaround, or project environments
- Experience working within heavy industrial sectors such as:
- Petrochemical
- Power Generation
- Chemical Manufacturing
- Oil & Gas
- Heavy Manufacturing
- Experience using SAP or other CMMS systems
- Strong understanding of maintenance and operational processes
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings and technical documentation
Desirable
- Previous field supervision or contractor management experience
- Experience supporting shutdowns, turnarounds, or decommissioning projects
- Knowledge of maintenance procedures, risk assessments, and permit systems
Key Skills
- Excellent organisational and planning skills
- Strong communication and stakeholder coordination abilities
- Attention to detail and strong safety focus
- Ability to manage multiple work scopes and priorities
- Problem-solving and continuous improvement mindset
Apply now!
Please be advised: if you haven't heard from us within 48 hours, then unfortunately your application has not been successful on this occasion. We may, however, keep your details on file for any suitable future vacancies and contact you accordingly.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Place SAP and CMMS experience prominently in your Personal Statement — the advert lists it as an essential requirement and a core daily tool.
📊 Quantify your planning output: e.g. 'Produced 120+ work packs per shutdown cycle, reducing execution delays by 25%' to demonstrate scale.
🎯 Explicitly name heavy industrial sectors you have worked in (petrochemical, power generation, oil & gas) — the advert lists these as key background requirements.
🔧 Include a dedicated 'Key Skills' section listing work pack development, MOC processes, and permit-to-work experience, as these are called out specifically in the responsibilities.
🤝 Highlight contractor liaison and site walk-down experience in your most recent role bullet points, as the advert emphasises this as a key point-of-contact responsibility.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Developed 85 SAP-based work packs for a 6-week petrochemical shutdown, coordinating materials and specialist labour across 12 contractors and achieving on-time execution for 94% of planned tasks.
- •Conducted 30+ field inspections to identify hazards and define permit-to-work controls, reducing safety non-conformances during turnaround execution by 40% compared to the prior outage.
- •Managed long lead-time procurement coordination for 3 major plant overhauls, ensuring 100% material availability at mobilisation and eliminating schedule delays attributable to missing parts.
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Letter preview — tailored to Pontoon
Dear Hiring Manager,
Pontoon's Mechanical & Maintenance Planner vacancy in Barry is a strong match for my background in shutdown and turnaround planning within heavy industrial environments. Having developed comprehensive work packs and job plans using SAP, and coordinated contractor teams through execution phases, I am well placed to support the maintenance and decommissioning activities described in the role.
My background in mechanical maintenance planning spans petrochemical and power generation sites, where I have produced detailed task sequences, defined labour and material requirements, and ensured all documentation met permit-to-work and hazard assessment standards. I have worked closely with procurement teams to manage long lead-time materials and with scheduling teams to align work packs with outage windows, consistently reducing last-minute scope changes.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through your process for developing a work pack from initial work order review to final approval — what steps do you follow?
- ›How have you used SAP or another CMMS to manage work orders, materials, and task sequences during a shutdown or turnaround?
- ›Describe how you identify and document safety requirements, hazards, and permit controls when planning a complex maintenance task.
- ›How do you coordinate long lead-time materials with procurement teams to ensure availability aligns with the maintenance schedule?
- ›What is your approach to interpreting engineering drawings and translating them into detailed task sequences for field technicians?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time when a work pack you developed had to be revised at short notice — how did you manage the change and communicate it to the team?
- ›Describe a situation where you identified a safety risk during a site inspection that had not been captured in the original scope — what did you do?
- ›Give an example of when you had to coordinate multiple contractors and internal teams simultaneously during a shutdown — how did you keep everything on track?
- ›Tell me about a time you improved a planning process based on operational feedback — what did you change and what was the outcome?
- ›Describe a situation where a key material was delayed and threatened the execution schedule — how did you resolve it?
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Describe a situation where you identified a safety risk during a site inspection that had not been captured in the original scope — what did you do?
Tell me about a time you improved a planning process based on operational feedback — what did you change and what was the outcome?