Reliability Planner

The Office of Physical Plant (OPP) at Penn State is responsible for maintaining, improving, and supporting the University's extensive physical infrastructure. Through facility operations, engineering, maintenance, and construction services, OPP helps provide a safe, sustainable, and efficient environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors across the University.

We are seeking a Planner Estimator / Reliability Planner to plan, estimate, coordinate, and manage single and multiple-discipline internally funded major maintenance projects while supporting the reliability and lifecycle management of University assets. Projects are initiated from work orders, project requests, and facility inspections. This position allocates available material and labor resources, honors the constraints of scope, schedule, and budget, assists project coordinators and project managers with project development, and provides design estimates for feasibility studies and conceptual designs used to develop customer and internal budgets.

In addition, the Reliability Planner is responsible for developing, coordinating, and optimizing maintenance plans and work management processes that support safe, reliable, and cost-effective asset operation. This position utilizes Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) principles, asset management practices, and CMMS/EAM systems to develop preventive, predictive, condition-based, and corrective maintenance strategies that improve equipment reliability, maintenance effectiveness, regulatory compliance, and operational performance.

The Reliability Planner works closely with maintenance, operations, engineering, project, and inventory personnel to define work scope, plan resources, coordinate materials, maintain asset data, support asset lifecycle management, and ensure maintenance activities are executable, properly documented, and aligned with organizational goals. The role supports continuous improvement initiatives through maintenance planning, work management optimization, asset onboarding, reliability program support, and maintenance strategy development while ensuring adherence to safety requirements, regulatory obligations, and organizational standards.

Key Responsibilities

Project Planning & Estimating

• Consult with clients and personnel in other departments to discuss and formulate project scope.
• Prepare estimates for projects using software and interfaces to transfer estimate data to data management systems in accounting, scheduling, and project management.
• Prepare working folders, purchase orders, and other required information necessary for the proper execution of the work.
• Oversee coordination of projects from inception through closeout and update project progress activities in project data management systems.
• Monitor and inspect work in progress to ensure work is performed as planned and in compliance with safety codes and regulations.
• Coordinate with project supervisors and field personnel in handling constructability issues; evaluate and determine proposed field changes and estimate change orders.
• Review and analyze design documents to develop time, cost, material, and labor estimates.

Reliability Planning & Asset Management

• Develop, coordinate, and optimize maintenance plans and work management processes that support safe, reliable, and cost-effective asset operation.
• Utilize Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) principles and asset management practices to develop effective maintenance strategies.
• Develop and maintain preventive, predictive, condition-based, and corrective maintenance programs.
• Support equipment reliability, maintenance effectiveness, regulatory compliance, and operational performance improvements.
• Collaborate with maintenance, operations, engineering, project, and inventory personnel to define work scope and plan resources.
• Coordinate materials, maintain asset data, and support asset lifecycle management activities.
• Ensure maintenance activities are properly planned, executable, documented, and aligned with organizational objectives.
• Support asset onboarding, maintenance strategy development, reliability initiatives, and work management process improvements.

Leadership & Continuous Improvement

• Encourage and seek process improvement initiatives and create efficiencies whenever possible.
• Supervise, hire, and evaluate assigned staff to ensure adherence to quality standards, deadlines, and proper procedures, correcting errors or problems as needed.
• Ensure adherence to safety requirements, regulatory obligations, and organizational standards.
• Contribute to a culture of continuous improvement, operational excellence, and customer service.

What You'll Bring

The successful candidate will demonstrate strong project planning and estimating expertise, knowledge of maintenance and reliability best practices, experience working with CMMS/EAM systems, and the ability to effectively collaborate with diverse stakeholders. The ideal candidate will possess strong analytical, organizational, and leadership skills and a commitment to safety, quality, asset stewardship, and continuous improvement.