Join Sugar Australia as a Maintenance Planner, based at our Yarraville VIC site. This is a permanent full-time role, ideal for a strategic thinker who thrives on proactive planning and improving asset performance in a fast-paced food manufacturing environment.
Reporting to the Asset Care Manager, you'll play a key role in lifting our maintenance maturity - shifting the site from reactive fixes to proactive, planned, efficient, and cost-effective maintenance execution. You'll partner closely with operations, engineering, and production teams to reduce downtime, optimise preventative schedules, and support long-term plant performance.
The sweet things you'll be involved in:
As our Maintenance Planner, you'll lead the planning and coordination of preventative and shutdown maintenance across our Yarraville refinery and packing operations. You'll help ensure that equipment performs reliably and safely and that maintenance is planned, scheduled, and delivered on time and within budget.
What you'll be doing:
- Developing and executing preventative maintenance plans to maximise uptime and reliability across site equipment.
- Leading the planning of periodic and major shutdowns, including contractor coordination across both refinery and packing areas.
- Driving a shift from reactive to proactive maintenance through effective forward planning.
- Reviewing and optimising preventative maintenance programs to better align with operational priorities.
- Identifying and addressing equipment failure risks to minimise downtime and maximise asset life.
- Coaching and managing the site scheduler to ensure daily activities are aligned with maintenance plans.
- Monitoring and reporting on maintenance KPIs including plan compliance, asset availability, and effectiveness.
- Contributing to continuous improvement initiatives in planning, reliability, and maintenance systems.
What we're wanting you to bring to the table:
We're looking for someone who's proactive, organised, and has a strong maintenance background in manufacturing or industrial environments.
- Mechanical trade qualification (Fitter preferred) or Advanced Diploma in Engineering.
- At least 5 years' experience in a maintenance or engineering planning role.
- Strong understanding of heavy manufacturing equipment and rotating machinery.
- Hands-on experience with CMMS systems (SAP PM highly regarded).
- Familiarity with SCADA, PLCs, and supporting systems.
- Proven experience in shutdown planning and contractor coordination.
- Knowledge of GMP and strong safety compliance standards.
- Background in FMCG, food manufacturing or the sugar industry is desirable.
- Excellent planning, coordination, and communication skills.
- A continuous improvement mindset with the ability to influence and lead others.
About Sugar Australia:
Sugar Australia is the nation's trusted partner in sugar and ingredient solutions enabling our customers to make great products for every home. We own and operate refineries, packing facilities, sugar silo terminals and warehouse distribution sites across the country.
It takes a great team to turn raw sugar into our many food grade products, and we work hard to make the highest-quality liquid sugars, icings, syrups, and crystals.
You will find our retail products at your local supermarket under the iconic CSR sugar brand. We also supply refined sugar products and many other ingredients to the industrial, foodservice and hospitality industries, supplying some of the largest brands in the country.
When you join Sugar Australia, you'll be part of a passionate and inclusive team that values growth, collaboration, and continuous improvement. We offer a supportive work environment where people and performance are genuinely valued. In return, you'll enjoy competitive pay, onsite parking, corporate discounts, recognition and development programs, health and wellbeing initiatives, regular social events, and access to our product library for those passionate bakers at heart.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences.
If you're a proactive planner ready to roll up your sleeves and make a difference - we'd love to hear from you.
Apply today and be part of something sweet!
