How To Become A Refrigeration Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a refrigeration engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Refrigeration engineer, refrigeration technician, refrigeration mechanics; call them whatever name you want to call them since the duty is the same for everything. A refrigeration engineer, like a mechanic, repairs, installs, and troubleshoots refrigeration systems. They are only called a specialist because that is their area of expertise, and they do it better than everyone else. As a result, refrigeration engineers work on residential and industrial climate control systems. They are generally trained to work on different electrical and mechanical parts of the system and earn up to $45,586 yearly.

Refrigeration engineers sometimes work in grocery stores, hotels, manufacturing companies, and restaurants to oversee the refrigeration system. They install new systems, repair, upgrade old ones, and maintain existing refrigeration systems. As expected, the engineer must possess problem-solving, organizational, and analytical skills. They must also be able to work independently and must be physically fit.

ScoreRefrigeration EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.9

Avg. Salary $88,921

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 10.36%

Black or African American 3.37%

Hispanic or Latino 9.17%

Unknown 4.59%

White 72.41%

Gender

female 1.04%

male 98.96%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a refrigeration engineer

Explore refrigeration engineer education requirements

Most common refrigeration engineer degrees

Bachelor's

42.9 %

Associate

23.1 %

High School Diploma

12.1 %

Start to develop specific refrigeration engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
HVAC	16.35%
Freon	13.36%
Plumbing	10.11%
Absorption	7.96%
A/C	7.76%

Complete relevant refrigeration engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New refrigeration engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a refrigeration engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real refrigeration engineer resumes.

Research refrigeration engineer duties and responsibilities

Contribute PowerShell functions to a PowerShell module used to automate software upgrades.
Establish the best quality and cost effective components such as compressors, evaporators, condensers, fan motors etc.
Maintain steam boilers, air compressors and building HVAC's requirements.
Repair water leaks, plumbing, kitchen fixtures and water filters.

Prepare your refrigeration engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your refrigeration engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a refrigeration engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable refrigeration engineer resume templates

Build a professional refrigeration engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your refrigeration engineer resume.