Planner Scheduler at Rio Tinto in Invercargill

Planner Scheduler

Location: Invercargill

• Join a leading global company committed to safety, inclusion and continuous improvement.

• Residential role based in the beautiful outdoor and family-oriented community of Invercargill, New Zealand.

• Permanent opportunity with a competitive salary, annual incentive programme and a wide range of benefits designed to make life better for you and your family.

About the role

We are looking for a Maintenance Planner / Scheduler to develop and optimise planned and preventative maintenance schedules that support safe, reliable and efficient operations at New Zealand Aluminium Smelter (NZAS).

This is a great opportunity for a motivated and organised planning professional to contribute to the long-term reliability and performance of our assets while working alongside experienced operations and maintenance teams.

This role plays a critical part in supporting safe, reliable, and efficient operations by developing high-quality maintenance plans and schedules that maximize equipment reliability, availability, and performance.

Working closely with maintenance supervisors, tradespeople, operations teams, and key stakeholders, you will ensure maintenance activities are planned, resourced, scheduled, and executed effectively while supporting safety, asset management, and business objectives.

Reporting to the Senior Planner and working within a collaborative and safety-focused Maintenance team, you will:

• Develop, review and optimise planned and preventative maintenance schedules.
• Plan maintenance activities to improve resource utilisation and operational efficiency.
• Create and maintain maintenance plans, task lists, job instructions, and work procedures within SAP.
• Ensure maintenance plans comply with safety, environmental and statutory requirements.
• Maintain accurate maintenance schedules and asset data within SAP and other work management systems.
• Analyse maintenance and work management data to identify improvement opportunities.
• Work closely with operations and maintenance teams to support safe and effective work execution.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives that enhance asset reliability and performance.
• Support the development and management of maintenance budgets through Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) principles.
• Contribute to forecasting, budgeting, and cost tracking processes for maintenance and major maintenance activities

About you

• A commitment to the safety of yourself and your team.
• Demonstrated experience in maintenance planning, scheduling, or work management within an industrial, manufacturing, processing, or asset-intensive environment.
• Experience developing planned and preventative maintenance schedules.
• Proficiency using SAP or other CMMS/work management systems.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret maintenance and asset performance data.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement and organisational skills.

It will also be beneficial if you have:

• A trade qualification, technical qualification, or tertiary degree in Engineering, Asset Management, or a related discipline.
• Experience supporting shutdowns, major maintenance campaigns, or reliability improvement programmes.

Where you'll be working

New Zealand Aluminium Smelter (NZAS) is one of New Zealand's largest industrial operations and has been producing aluminium for more than 50 years.

Located at Tiwai Point near Invercargill, NZAS employs approximately 1,000 people and is recognised globally for its safety, operational performance and commitment to sustainability.

The smelter produces high-quality aluminium for customers around the world and plays an important role in the Southland community through employment, training opportunities and local investment.

About Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a leading global mining and materials company. We operate in 35 countries where we produce iron ore, copper, aluminium, critical minerals, and other materials needed for the global energy transition and for people, communities, and nations to thrive.

We have been mining for 150 years and operate with knowledge built up across generations and continents. Our purpose is finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs – striving for innovation and continuous improvement to produce materials with low emissions and to the right environmental, social and governance standards. But we can’t do it on our own, so we’re focused on creating partnerships to solve problems, create win-win situations and meet opportunities.

Respect and Inclusion

At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, women, the LGBTQ+ community, mature workers, people with disabilities and people from different cultural backgrounds.

We are committed to an inclusive environment where people feel comfortable to be themselves. We want our people to feel that all voices are heard, all cultures respected and that a variety of perspectives are not only welcome – they are essential to our success. We treat each other fairly and with dignity regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or anything else that makes us different.