How to hire an operations and maintenance technician

How to hire an operations and maintenance technician, step by step

Here's a step-by-step operations and maintenance technician hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an operations and maintenance technician job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new operations and maintenance technician
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an operations and maintenance technician do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your operations and maintenance technician job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an operations and maintenance technician for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   An operations and maintenance technician's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, operations and maintenance technicians from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   The following list breaks down different types of operations and maintenance technicians and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Operations And Maintenance Technician	Description	Hourly rate
   Operations And Maintenance Technician	General maintenance and repair workers fix and maintain machines, mechanical equipment, and buildings. They paint, repair flooring, and work on plumbing, electrical, and air-conditioning and heating systems.	$18-35
   Maintenance Engineer	A maintenance engineer is responsible for the maintenance of industrial machinery and inspects equipment defects for immediate troubleshooting or replacement as needed. Maintenance engineers install and upgrade system components to improve system optimization and perform diagnostic systems to locate any adjustments... Show more	$13-35
   Maintenance Helper	A maintenance helper performs basic support tasks to assist maintenance technicians in installing and repairing machines and equipment. Their responsibilities typically include gathering and handing tools, changing fixtures such as light bulbs and faucets, preparing workspaces, and cleaning work areas and equipment... Show more	$11-19

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Hand Tools
   • Preventative Maintenance
   • HVAC
   • Plumbing
   • Safety Procedures
   • PLC
   • Plant Operations
   • Maintenance Tasks
   • Plant Equipment
   • Cleanliness
   • Windows
   • Ladders
   • Routine Maintenance
   • General Maintenance

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Stoop, climb ladders, and lift heavy loads during set-up.
   • Replace and install motors, PLC I/O controls, valves, and safety lights.
   • Perform preventive maintenance on all HVAC units and monitor daily readings of chillers and boilers.
   • Experience in electronic controls, PLC's, calibrations, troubleshooting and maintenance of electronic controls.
   • Monitored/Maintain all HVAC and relate equipment.
   • Contact and direct excavating, electrical and plumbing contractors for installations of remediation systems.

   More operations and maintenance technician duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your operations and maintenance technician job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. An operations and maintenance technician salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, operations and maintenance technicians' average salary in florida is 51% less than in alaska.
   • Seniority. Entry-level operations and maintenance technicians earn 47% less than senior-level operations and maintenance technicians.
   • Certifications. An operations and maintenance technician with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in an operations and maintenance technician's salary.

   Average operations and maintenance technician salary

   $53,680yearly

   $25.81 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level operations and maintenance technician salary

   $39,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 21, 2025

   Average operations and maintenance technician salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Washington	$68,744	$33
   2	Minnesota	$68,355	$33
   3	Rhode Island	$64,750	$31
   4	California	$64,340	$31
   5	Massachusetts	$61,340	$29
   6	New York	$59,889	$29
   7	Nevada	$57,275	$28
   8	Colorado	$52,819	$25
   9	Kansas	$49,584	$24
   10	Pennsylvania	$48,872	$24
   11	Maryland	$48,563	$23
   12	Indiana	$48,431	$23
   13	Virginia	$47,153	$23
   14	Georgia	$47,113	$23
   15	Ohio	$46,392	$22
   16	Arizona	$46,219	$22
   17	North Carolina	$45,216	$22
   18	Michigan	$44,662	$21
   19	Texas	$43,299	$21
   20	Florida	$36,301	$17

   Average operations and maintenance technician salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Calpine	$79,064	$38.01	16
   2	Constellation Energy Partners	$71,750	$34.50	8
   3	Williams International	$70,445	$33.87	24
   4	Gray Television	$68,639	$33.00
   5	Omaha Public Power District	$67,004	$32.21
   6	Advance Auto Parts	$66,506	$31.97	5
   7	LSI Solutions	$66,325	$31.89
   8	PepsiCo	$64,208	$30.87	32
   9	Cottage Health	$63,165	$30.37	2
   10	Xcel Energy	$62,547	$30.07	7
   11	TTI Maumee Equipment	$61,892	$29.76	2
   12	University of Massachusetts Boston	$61,218	$29.43	3
   13	Baptist Health Home Care	$60,789	$29.23	4
   14	BD	$60,082	$28.89	5
   15	DTE Energy	$59,618	$28.66	13
   16	The Williams Companies	$59,413	$28.56	42
   17	XPO Logistics	$59,225	$28.47
   18	Ingram Micro	$59,091	$28.41	4
   19	Arkansas Electric Cooperative	$58,989	$28.36
   20	Donaldson	$58,968	$28.35	9

4. Writing an operations and maintenance technician job description

   An operations and maintenance technician job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of an operations and maintenance technician job description:

   Operations and maintenance technician job description example

   • 5 + years of relevant hands-on and supervisory experience in commercial/industrial facilities management, or professional services industries preferred

   • In-depth knowledge of commercial HVAC systems and BMS controls

   • Skilled understanding of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire/life safety concepts

   • Demonstrated ability to plan and prioritize task in a self-directed work environment while maintaining high levels of efficiency

   • Highly skilled in oral and written communication, customer service, and customer satisfaction

   • Relevant knowledge of local and state building and safety regulations

   • Skilled understanding in the use of computer tools such as Computer Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), productivity software, e-mail, and databases

   • Familiarity with MacOS and iOS platforms

   • Able to quickly adapt to new concepts, processes and tools

   Description

   - Act as key liaison for campus operations and maintenance work including scheduling, facilities project creation, oversight, and financial tracking

   - Provide hands-on technical troubleshooting and repair of building automation and MEP systems as needed

   - Help to supervise all aspects of Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire / Life Safety, Building Automation, and critical environment systems

   - Provide training to new team members or vendor leads to ensure that they are established within Apple’s internal systems and processes

   - Keep accurate documentation of any incidents, including Root Cause Analysis for internal reporting

   - Provide direct supervision to on-site technicians and vendors and drive daily performance of work and goals

   - Make periodic inspections of work performed by technicians and subcontracted vendors to ensure all work is performed according to Apple standards

   - Maintain preventative maintenance schedules and logs on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis; reporting deficiencies as needed

   - Hold ownership of PM program and make recommendations for new maintenance procedures as needed

   - Respond to after-hours emergencies as they occur

   - Serve as back-up to the O&M manager as needed

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right operations and maintenance technician for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your operations and maintenance technician job on Zippia to find and recruit operations and maintenance technician candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with operations and maintenance technician candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new operations and maintenance technician

   Once you've found the operations and maintenance technician candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new operations and maintenance technician. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire an operations and maintenance technician?