Planner - Maintenance

Are you the kind of person who is always thinking, sketching, seeking, and adjusting? Who needs to understand how things work and then figure out how they can work better? Are you a passionate, tenacious solver who loves to work with others who share your drive? Are you positive, constructive, and ingenious?

Are you always solving?

Then we’d like to meet you and bet you’d like to meet us.

Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a Maintenance Planner to join our Ashland Specialty Ingredients, GP business at our Hopewell, VA location.

This is a very visible, significant role within the Company and the manufacturing function. This position will report to the Maintenance Manager.

The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Receive, review, and clarify work requests; ensure scope, priority, and required approvals are defined.
• Work with the scheduler to execute the planned priority backlog and operations to execute work requests.
• Develop detailed job plans/packages (task steps, resources, estimated hours, job hazards, permits, and hold points).
• Identify required materials, parts, services, special tools, and equipment; coordinate procurement and kitting.
• Sequence and bundle work to reduce downtime and improve efficiency (e.g., common locations, same isolations).
• Communicate schedules, constraints, and changes; facilitate planning/scheduling meetings as needed.
• Track job status, update the CMMS, and ensure documentation (as-builts, test results, closeout notes) is complete.
• Support post-job reviews by capturing lessons learned and improving standard job plans.
• Maintain compliance with safety, environmental, and quality requirements, and escalate risks or conflicts promptly.

In order to be qualified for this role, you must possess the following:

• High school diploma or equivalent required; technical certificate, associate degree, or trade apprenticeship preferred.
• 3+ years of experience in maintenance, operations, construction, or manufacturing (planning/scheduling experience preferred).
• Working knowledge of work management processes (work order lifecycle, backlog management, scheduling).
• Familiarity with safety programs (e.g., LOTO, confined space, hot work) and job hazard analysis practices.
• Ability to read and interpret drawings, manuals, and specifications relevant to the work performed.

The following skill sets are preferred by the business unit:

• Clear written and verbal communication; able to align multiple stakeholders to a workable plan.
• Analytical problem-solving (constraint identification, risk mitigation, sequencing).
• Attention to detail in job packages, estimates, and documentation.
• Maximo CMMS experience preferred

Third-party recruiters and agencies (“Agency”) should not contact employees of Ashland or its subsidiaries directly. Any resumes sent by an Agency to a hiring manager, recruiter, or submitted to Ashland’s career portal are considered unsolicited and property of Ashland. Ashland will not pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume, unless the Agency has a signed contract with Ashland’s Human Resources/Procurement department in advance of submitting a candidate for consideration. Verbal and written approvals will not be considered a valid contract for service.