Maintenance Technician job description
A Maintenance Technician keeps plant machines and utilities working through planned servicing and quick breakdown repairs. The role cuts downtime so production can meet its plan.
Why the role exists
The Maintenance Technician works in the maintenance team of a factory, reporting to the maintenance engineer or manager. The role covers mechanical, electrical or both, and supports every production line on every shift, including breakdown calls.
What the person does
- Carry out preventive maintenance checks on machines, including lubrication, belts, filters and fasteners, as per the schedule.
- Respond to breakdown calls, diagnose the fault and repair or isolate the machine quickly and safely.
- Record each breakdown with start time, cause, action and spare parts used in the maintenance log.
- Maintain compressors, pumps, motors, panels, conveyors and other utilities that production depends on.
- Request spare parts through the stores and keep critical spares at the right level.
- Follow lockout and tagout steps and permit procedures before working on any machine.
- Support machine installation, relocation and modification projects with the maintenance engineer.
- Share repeated faults with the maintenance engineer and suggest fixes to prevent them.
Skills and tools
- Fault finding in mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic systems
- Basic electrical work, including motors, starters, contactors and control panels
- Reading circuit diagrams and machine manuals
- Use of multimeters, clamp meters, torque wrenches and standard hand tools
- Welding or fitting skills, depending on the plant
- Planned maintenance schedules and breakdown logs
- Awareness of machine safety and isolation practice
- Calm decision making under production pressure
Education and experience
Preferred, never a bar: equivalent experience counts.
- ITI in fitter, electrician or electronics, or diploma in mechanical or electrical, preferred, or equivalent experience.
- Experience maintaining production machines in a factory preferred.
- Experience with PLC or CNC maintenance is useful where the plant needs it, or equivalent experience.
- Licences or certificates for electrical or lifting work depend on the employer, state and facts; confirm with the employer's own adviser.
How the work is judged
- Machine availability, judged by downtime trends and response to breakdowns.
- Quality and durability of repairs, judged by repeat faults on the same machine.
- Completion of the preventive maintenance schedule.
- Safe working, judged by isolation practice and near misses.
- Accuracy of maintenance records and spare parts usage.
Where the role can lead
- Senior Maintenance Technician or Shift Maintenance In-charge.
- Maintenance Engineer, with a diploma or degree and added electrical or PLC skills.
- Maintenance Supervisor or Manager, or a move into plant utilities and facilities.
Interview questions to ask
Ask every candidate the same questions in the same order and score them against written anchors, so the decision rests on the work and not the impression.
- A CNC machine stops with an alarm during a rush order. How do you work through the diagnosis?
- Tell us about a repeated breakdown you fixed permanently. What was the cause and what did you change?
- What do you check before starting work on a machine, to be sure it cannot start unexpectedly?
- How do you decide which spares should always be in stock?
- A motor keeps tripping its overload. What are the possible causes and how do you test them?
- Production asks you to restart a machine before you finish the safety check. What do you do?
Hiring tips for this role
- Put a faulty machine or a bench setup in front of the candidate and ask them to find the fault aloud. Practical diagnosis matters more than theory answers.
- Ask about trades. A fitter is not an electrician, and plants that hire the wrong skill mix find breakdowns last longer.
- Check how they log work. Technicians who cannot write down cause and fix keep repeating the same failures.
- Ask about their attitude to isolation and safety steps. Shortcuts are the most common cause of serious maintenance incidents.
Questions about hiring a maintenance technician
The technician services machines on a schedule, repairs breakdowns, maintains utilities such as compressors and pumps, keeps the maintenance log and works safely during isolation and repairs.
It depends on your machines. A plant with many motors, panels and PLC controls needs electrical skill, while heavy presses and conveyors need fitters. Many small plants need one person with both.
Often they are on rotating shifts or on call because breakdowns happen at any time. State the pattern and any on-call duties in the job description before you interview.
GullyHR works on permanent hiring. We agree the job description with you, screen candidates on trade skills and plant experience, and support the offer stage. You make the final decision.
Hiring a maintenance technician?
GullyHR runs talent acquisition for permanent roles. We agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates against it, and support the offer through to joining. We recruit permanent employees. We do not supply contract or temporary staff.