Senior Operations Maintenance Planner

QTS Realty Trust; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Flexible spending / HSA

Paid holidays

Paid time off

Volunteer days

Tuition assistance

Parental leave

Military leave

QTS scholarship for dependents

Job summary

QTS Realty Trust is seeking a Senior Operations Maintenance Planner to own end-to-end maintenance planning, scheduling integrity, and site readiness across assigned data centers. You will balance preventive maintenance, vendor capacity, and risk to ensure safe, uptime‑aligned execution.

Responsibilities include maintaining calendars, prioritizing maintenance, and enforcing planning discipline while coordinating with internal teams and third‑party vendors. Travel up to 10% may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering or similar discipline or equivalent experience
• Three or more years’ professional experience in data center, mission critical environment, or maintenance role
• Ability to travel up to 10%

Responsibilities

• Own site or multi-building maintenance calendars, including sequencing and prioritization.
• Approve, defer, or re-sequence preventive maintenance based on risk, readiness, or site conditions.
• Own all maintenance demands across buildings and systems.
• Ensure maintenance execution aligns with uptime protection strategies, not just compliance.
• Maintain maintenance backlog health and aging, with corrective prioritization.
• Oversee vendor work schedule and ensure timely execution.
• Enforce planning standards, documentation quality and readiness requirements.
• Hold vendors accountable to schedule adherence, SLA performance and scope clarity.
• Identify vendor-driven risks and escalate or mitigate them proactively.
• Identify inventory needs and coordinate replenishment for long lead items.
• Establish annual drill calendars aligned to site risk profiles and coordinate across buildings.

Skills

Maintenance planning

Vendor management

Project management

Scheduling

CMMS (ServiceNow/Smartsheet)

Risk assessment

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering or similar discipline

Tools

ServiceNow

Smartsheet

Job description

Who we are: As a global leader in digital infrastructure, QTS designs, builds and operates advanced data centers that support strategic AI, cloud and digital transformation initiatives. We are driven by a mission to connect the world for good and our people make it possible. Every single day, the creativity, dedication and genuine care for our communities are what push us forward and make this a truly special place to be. The Senior Operations Maintenance Planner has end‑to‑end accountability for maintenance planning, schedule integrity, and operational readiness for assigned sites or campuses. The role balances preventive maintenance requirements, vendor capacity, site risk posture, and operational constraints to ensure maintenance and drill activities are sequenced and executed safely, consistently, and without undue risk to uptime. The Planner actively challenges inputs, adjusts timing, and escalates risk based on real‑time site conditions—enforcing planning discipline, standardization, and risk‑based prioritization across internal teams and third‑party vendors to identify and support stable, predictable operations.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ownership of site or multi‑building maintenance calendars, including sequencing and prioritization.
• Authority to approve, defer, or re‑sequence preventive maintenance based on risk, readiness, or site conditions.
• Ownership of all maintenance demands across buildings and systems.
• Accountability for ensuring maintenance execution aligns with uptime protection strategies, not just compliance.
• Ownership of maintenance backlog health, aging, and corrective prioritization.
• Oversight of vendor work schedule and ensuring acceptable timeline to proceed.
• Enforce planning standards, documentation quality, and readiness requirements.
• Holding vendors accountable to schedule adherence, SLA performance, and scope clarity.
• Identifying vendor‑driven risks and escalating or mitigating them proactively.

Spare Parts Governance Identify critically based inventory on system risk and long lead supply chain demand. Ensuring inventory availability is aligned with planned maintenance and known vulnerabilities. Exercising judgment to accelerate gaps that create unacceptable execution risk and implement solutions. Coordinating replenishment priorities when constraints exist.

Site Drill Planning Establishing annual drill calendars aligned to site‑specific risk profiles. Determining drill sequencing, scope, and coordination across buildings. Ensuring drills are planned to meaningfully test readiness, not simply satisfy requirements and executed. Ownership of reporting drill completion and adherence. Identifying corrective actions and ensuring closure through disciplined follow‑up. Providing leadership with a clear, defensible view of site readiness posture.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering or similar discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Three or more years’ of professional experience in data center, mission critical environment, or other maintenance role.
• Ability to travel up to 10%.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Project management experience and/or Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications.
• Prior experience working in mission critical data center environments.
• Experience with the following software tools: ServiceNow, Smartsheet, or other CMMS platforms.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Exhibits excellent interpersonal skills with all levels of the organization.
• Strong organization, multi-tasking, and prioritization teamwork skills.
• Strong coordination skills between multiple stakeholders, third‑party contractors, consultants and clients.

TOTAL REWARDS

• medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• flexible spending and HSA accounts
• paid holidays
• paid time off
• paid volunteer days
• employee assistance program
• tuition assistance
• parental leave
• military leave assistance
• QTS scholarship for dependents
• wellness program, and other company benefits.

This role is bonus eligible and may be eligible for equity.

We conform to all the laws, statutes, and regulations concerning equal employment opportunities and affirmative action.

We strongly encourage women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply to all of our job openings.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, age, disability status, Genetic Information & Testing, Family & Medical Leave, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

We prohibit retaliation against individuals who bring forth any complaint, orally or in writing, to the employer or the government, or against any individuals who assist or participate in the investigation of any complaint or discrimination claim.

The "Know Your Rights" Poster is included here: Know Your Rights (English) Know Your Rights (Spanish)

The pay transparency policy is available here: Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Poster-Formatted QTS

If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process, please send an e‑mail to [e-mail] and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.