Maintenance Planner​/Scheduler

Overview

Who We Are We are on a mission to become a leading supplier of critical materials that enable the green energy and technology revolution. Our materials and technologies support the electric vehicle, green energy, consumer electronics, and defense industries. Our battery grade lithium and tech metals are needed for chipsets, semiconductors, and 5G. We have substantial interests in the Round Top, Heavy Rare Earth, Lithium and Critical Minerals deposits in West Texas.

We also developed the United States’ first rare earth and critical minerals processing facility and own a scalable, sintered neo-magnet manufacturing system in the Western Hemisphere. By building a fully integrated, US-based “mine-to-magnet” supply chain, we aim to be the leading domestic supplier to these industries.

What You Can Expect At USA Rare Earth, we are pioneers and problem solvers, technologists and team players. We work across sectors and with customers to deliver world-class solutions in sustainable ways, guided by core values:
Build Solutions, Deliver Quality, Lead Responsibly, and Win Together.

We’re looking for a hands-on Maintenance Planner/Scheduler to build and lead preventative maintenance and scheduling systems at our fast-moving magnetics manufacturing startup. You’ll work closely with operations, engineering, and maintenance teams to maximize equipment uptime and plan proactive service for critical tools like furnaces, presses, and coating lines. This role offers the opportunity to shape core maintenance processes from the ground up and directly impact our ability to scale high-performance magnetic components for next-generation applications.

• Develop, implement, and refine preventative maintenance plans for magnet production equipment, including furnaces, presses, coating lines, and CNC machines.
• Plan and coordinate scheduled downtime and turnaround events, minimizing disruptions to production while ensuring long-term equipment health.
• Accurately scope and estimate incoming maintenance work orders, including labor, materials, tools, and required downtime.
• Build and maintain a work order tracking system within the CMMS to support data-driven maintenance planning.
• Collaborate closely with technicians, engineers, operations, and leadership to align maintenance activities with evolving production needs in a startup environment.
• Create and document inspection routines and condition-monitoring procedures tailored to magnetics-specific assets.
• Track critical spare parts inventory and help define minimum stock levels to ensure maintenance readiness without overstocking.
• Leverage planning and scheduling methodologies to optimize limited resources and reduce reactive maintenance.
• Participate in the development of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for new equipment and maintenance processes as the company scales.
• Contribute to a safety-first culture by ensuring all planned work adheres to safety standards and protocols.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Industrial Maintenance, Operations Management, or a related field; equivalent hands-on experience will be considered.
• 2–4 years of relevant experience in maintenance planning/scheduling, ideally in a high-precision or materials-focused manufacturing environment.
• Experience with CMMS platforms and setting up asset hierarchies and maintenance schedules from scratch.
• Strong mechanical and technical aptitude, especially with equipment common to magnet manufacturing or similar process industries.
• Comfortable operating in a dynamic, evolving startup environment where systems and processes are still maturing.
• CMRP certification (preferred but not required).
• Excellent organizational, communication, and cross-functional coordination skills.

The work environment will be a mix of a typical office environment, a manufacturing floor and a construction site. Noise level:
Normal office, manufacturing and construction noises.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable…