Jobs › Conagra Brands

Associate Maintenance Planner

Conagra Brands · Darien, WI · $59,000–$79,000 a year · Full time

Posted Sep 29, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about a time you kept several people or teams coordinated on a shared task.

What they are checking: Whether they can organize and communicate across production, maintenance and vendors.

What interests you about maintenance planning as a career?

What they are checking: Whether they genuinely want to grow in planning and reliability, not just take any open role.

What would you do

A planned job can't start because the right part isn't in stock. What do you do?

What they are checking: Whether they solve parts problems quickly and learn from them to improve future planning.

Production keeps asking to move planned maintenance to keep lines running. How do you handle that?

What they are checking: Whether they can negotiate schedules and explain the cost of deferring maintenance.

About the work

How would you prioritize a list of maintenance work orders?

What they are checking: Whether they rank work by safety, food safety, equipment criticality and production impact.

What goes into a good maintenance job package?

What they are checking: Whether they know a job package needs parts, tools, steps and safety details so techs aren't left guessing.

What do you know about Drumbeat planning, or a similar weekly maintenance planning cycle?

What they are checking: Whether they understand structured planning meetings and the follow-up that makes them useful.

How would you reduce excess spare parts inventory without risking downtime?

What they are checking: Whether they understand the balance between carrying cost and equipment reliability.

How would you use equipment history and backlog data to find a reliability problem?

What they are checking: Whether they can spot patterns in data that point to root causes.

How organized are you with data entry and master data, and how do you keep records clean?

What they are checking: Whether they keep maintenance data accurate, since bad master data breaks planning.

Practice this interview out loud.

Offer builds a real interview for this exact role at Conagra Brands from your resume and this job description, asks the questions one at a time, and tells you what landed. The first one is free.

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The full job description

As published by Conagra Brands.

Reporting to the Maintenance Supervisor, you will support plant reliability by planning, scheduling, and coordinating maintenance activities. You will manage preventive, planned, and unplanned maintenance work, prioritize work orders, maintain parts availability, support reliability improvements, and partner with production, engineering, accounting, and maintenance teams to improve equipment performance and plant efficiency. A Taste of Your Responsibilities • Plan, prioritize, and schedule preventive, planned, and unplanned maintenance activities. • Manage maintenance work orders, job packages, and parts requirements to support operational needs. • Maintain appropriate spare parts inventory while identifying opportunities to reduce excess inventory and standardize materials. • Lead Drumbeat planning activities, including pre- and post-Drumbeat meetings and associated follow-up. • Partner with production, engineering, maintenance, accounting, and external vendors to resolve issues and ensure efficient execution of maintenance work. • Analyze backlog, rework, and equipment history to identify root causes and drive reliability improvements. • Support preventive maintenance optimization, task development, and maintenance master data maintenance. • Create reports, communicate planned and unplanned work updates, and support continuous improvement and cost reduction initiatives. • Provide support of standard work processes. Ingredients Required for Your Success • High school diploma required; bachelor's degree preferred. • 3+ years of maintenance experience in a manufacturing environment. • Experience with SAP or a computerized maintenance management system. • Maintenance planning experience or formal planner training. • Food manufacturing experience preferred. • Knowledge of machine repair and programmable logic controller systems. • Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications. • Strong communication, organization, and problem-solving skills. • Experience interpreting technical information and managing competing priorities. • Proven success working independently and collaboratively in a team environment. Physical Requirements More information about essential tasks and the facility will be shared during the hiring process. This role may require you to be in our manufacturing facilities. When visiting these sites, the physical requirements below may apply: • You may be required to walk around the facility, climb stairs/ladders, kneel, or perform repetitive tasks that require hand-eye coordination. • You may be required to lift or carry materials that can vary in weight and size. • This is a manufacturing environment with large, moving equipment. Noise levels can be high, and temperatures may vary. #LI-Onsite #LI-MW1 #LI-Associate Compensation Pay Range:$59,000-$79,000 The annual salary listed above is the expected offering for this position. An employee’s actual annual salary will be based on but not limited to: location, relevant experience/level and skillset, while balancing internal Conagra employees’ equity. Conagra Brands will comply with applicable law regarding minimum salaries for exempt employees. Our Benefits We care about your total well-being and will support you with the following, subject to your location and role: • Health: Comprehensive healthcare plans, wellness incentive program, mental wellbeing support and fitness reimbursement • Wealth: Great pay, bonus incentive opportunity, matching 401(k) and stock purchase plan • Growth: Career development opportunities, employee resource groups, on-demand learning and tuition reimbursement • Balance: Paid-time off, parental leave, flexible work-schedules (subject to your location and role) and volunteer opportunities Our Company At Conagra Brands, we have a rich heritage of making great food. We aspire to have the most impactful, energized and inclusive culture in food. As a member of our 18,000+ person team across 40+ locations, you are empowered to reach your potential, make an impact and own your career. We're in the business of building champions – within our people and our iconic brands like Birds Eye®, Slim Jim® and Reddi-Wip®. Our focus on innovation extends beyond making great food, it also reflects our commitment to embracing new solutions that positively impact our team, the communities we serve and the health of our planet. Foodies Welcome. Conagra Brands is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, pregnancy, leave status, disability, veteran status, genetic information and/or any other characteristic or status protected by national, federal, state or local law. Reasonable accommodation may be made upon request.

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