5 Most Common Maintenance Jobs: The Ultimate Career Roadmap

When a crucial asset breaks down, the maintenance team springs into action to ensure everything is back to normal. From fixing a leaky pipe to troubleshooting complex machinery, maintenance workers perform various tasks behind the scenes to keep equipment and buildings functional.

If you’re considering a job in maintenance, start by learning the job descriptions and skills required for individual roles. In this article, we break down the five most common maintenance job titles you can consider depending on your level of experience.

What Is a Maintenance Worker?

But, first, let’s start with the basics. A general maintenance worker is a professional skilled in keeping assets, such as equipment or buildings, running smoothly by performing repairs, preventive maintenance and safety checks. Their maintenance duties include everything from routine upkeep to troubleshooting and repairing equipment breakdowns. Depending on the workflow, the responsibilities of a maintenance worker might include HVAC, electrical systems, plumbing, production machinery or general building maintenance.

Think about a manufacturing unit for example. The machines, HVAC systems, conveyor belts — all require maintenance and occasional repairs. A maintenance worker ensures that all equipment and assets stay in great shape through proactive maintenance while minimizing the mean time to repair (MTTR) in instances where an asset does fail.

5 Basic Maintenance Skills

Every great maintenance worker, regardless of job title, starts with the same core toolkit of skills. These include:

1. Technical proficiency: Understanding how machines, systems and tools work allows you to diagnose issues fast.
2. Problem-solving: When production halts or a system fails, maintenance professionals must think critically under pressure.
3. Attention to detail: This ensures you spot wear, leaks or unusual sounds before they become costly repairs.
4. Communication: Maintenance workers must clearly log issues, coordinate with supervisors and update team members through tools like a computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS).
5. Safety awareness: Knowing how to work around electricity, chemicals or heavy machinery safely separates experienced maintenance professionals from amateurs.

Together, these five maintenance skills form the foundation for advancing through higher-level maintenance roles — from technician to supervisor to maintenance manager.

Maintenance Department Roles, Defined

Maintenance departments often operate like a well-oiled machine, with each role playing a specific and crucial part. At the entry level, maintenance technicians handle hands-on inspections, repairs and routine servicing. As they gain experience, they may advance to maintenance supervisors, who coordinate technicians, manage work orders and ensure preventive maintenance schedules are met. Above them, maintenance engineers and planners design maintenance programs, analyze asset performance and optimize workflows using CMMS data. At the top of the hierarchy sits the maintenance manager, who oversees strategy, budgeting and team performance across facilities.

Let’s dive deeper into each individual maintenance role and what they entail. That way new maintenance workers can map a clear career path, build relevant skills and aim for the maintenance roles that align with their goals.

Maintenance Technician

• Average U.S. full-time salary: $55,521/year
• Skills required: Knowledge of mechanical and electrical systems, proficiency with power tools and reading technical materials and a strong grasp of preventive maintenance techniques and safety regulations.

A maintenance technician is an entry-level maintenance job that involves inspection, repairs and performing maintenance on equipment and other assets. As a technician, you’ll troubleshoot problems with equipment, perform preventive maintenance and ensure machinery and infrastructure operate efficiently and safely. This means maintenance technicians play a key role in minimizing equipment downtime and increasing equipment lifespan.

Maintenance technicians are often first responders to mechanical and electrical failures. If you’re about to interview for a maintenance technician job, make sure you’re prepared to answer practical questions about how you’d diagnose failures and implement repairs.

Proactive inspections are also a maintenance technician’s responsibility. The ideal candidate must know how to regularly inspect systems to identify potential issues before they escalate to extend asset lifespans and minimize costly downtime. Moreover, maintenance technicians should be able to read technician manuals and blueprints, handle specialized tools and adhere to safety protocols to avoid accidents. Most of these job roles only require a high school diploma, but it doesn’t hurt to have some job training or certification from a technical school as well.

Maintenance Supervisor

• Average U.S. full-time salary: $71,772/year
• Skills required: Leadership and team management, organizational skills, communication skills, computer proficiency, and budgeting and resource management.

A maintenance supervisor is responsible for overseeing maintenance teams and ensuring all maintenance work is completed on time and according to predefined guidelines. A maintenance supervisor’s day-to-day work involves assigning work orders, monitoring team performance and ensuring preventive and corrective maintenance tasks are executed according to schedule. They also coordinate daily maintenance operations, set priorities and manage resources to keep equipment, machinery and facilities in optimal working condition.

Maintenance supervisors play a key role in troubleshooting and resolving escalated issues, ensuring compliance with safety regulations and maintaining detailed records of maintenance activities. Moreover, they often collaborate with other departments, such as production or operations, to align maintenance efforts with organizational goals.

In essence, a maintenance supervisor’s role is to create a structured and efficient maintenance environment while fostering teamwork and adhering to best practices. Interview questions for a maintenance supervisor role typically assess both task management and team leadership skills.

Maintenance Engineer

• Average U.S. full-time salary: $85,049/year
• Skills required: Understanding of industrial engineering principles, ability to analyze equipment performance data, experience troubleshooting complex systems and proficiency in CMMS software.

A maintenance engineer is a highly skilled professional responsible for designing, managing and improving maintenance processes. Their goal is to ensure the reliability and efficiency of equipment, machinery and systems. While maintenance technicians focus on hands-on repair work, maintenance engineers take a more analytical and strategic approach. They analyze equipment performance, identify areas for improvement, optimize operational efficiency and minimize downtime.

A maintenance engineer’s responsibilities include creating preventive maintenance schedules, finding the root cause when equipment fails or malfunctions and collaborating with design or operations teams to recommend upgrades or modifications.

Maintenance engineers frequently use tools like CMMS and IoT devices to monitor asset health and plan interventions proactively. For example, maintenance engineers play a key role in condition-based maintenance. Collecting and interpreting asset data often requires technical skills. After all, maintenance engineers can extract valuable insights from this data and offer solutions when asset health deviates from normal.

Maintenance Planner

• Average U.S. full-time salary: $87,839/year
• Skills required: Organizational skills, analytical skills, proficiency in using CMMS software, attention to detail and time management.

Maintenance planners specialize in organizing and scheduling maintenance activities to ensure equipment, machinery and facilities operate efficiently. Their primary responsibility is to create detailed maintenance plans that strike the right balance (in terms of costs and benefits) between the needs of preventive, predictive and corrective maintenance with operational demands.

Planners work closely with other maintenance team members to determine resource requirements, prioritize tasks and ensure all materials, tools and personnel are available when needed. Maintenance planners also analyze historical maintenance data, asset performance metrics and failure trends to optimize schedules and improve functionality.

Planners typically rely on a CMMS to make their job easier. This software helps planners maintain accurate records of maintenance activities, work orders and equipment history and gives them better visibility over maintenance processes and bottlenecks.

Maintenance Manager

• Average U.S. full-time salary: $93,890/year
• Skills required: Leadership skills, strategic planning, safety and compliance knowledge and adaptability, and decision-making. 

Maintenance managers are responsible for overseeing the entire maintenance department and ensuring optimal performance, reliability and safety of equipment, machinery and facilities. They’re strategic leaders who plan, coordinate and monitor all maintenance activities to align with the organization’s operational and financial goals.

Their daily responsibilities include maintenance strategies, creating budgets and measuring resources, including personnel, tools and spare parts. They often develop and implement preventive and predictive maintenance programs and play a key role in complying with safety regulations, environmental standards and industry best practices.

Maintenance managers regularly analyze performance data to identify trends, assess potential risks or headwinds and make small but consistent improvements. They also collaborate with other departments, including production, engineering and procurement, to align maintenance activities with the company’s broader objectives. As such, maintenance manager interview questions are sure to address topics such as conflict resolution and project management.

What to Expect When Joining a Maintenance Team

If you’re looking for a job on the maintenance team, here’s a quick overview of what you should know:

• Understand the role: Maintenance roles vary widely. That’s why we dive into the types of maintenance job profiles you can opt for based on your work experience.
• Work environment: Expect a dynamic and sometimes fast-paced environment. You’ll need to respond quickly to emergencies while managing routine maintenance tasks.
• Tools and technology: To move up the career ladder, you’ll need to learn to work with software solutions like a CMMS and IoT devices.
• Safety matters: Always prioritize safety by adhering to regulations and wearing protective gear, especially when working with hazardous materials or machinery.

Start Simple: Progress With Coast

The easiest skill to acquire if you’re looking to work in maintenance or move up the ladder is how to use a CMMS. Coast is an easy-to-use, highly customizable CMMS that allows you to create and assign work orders, monitor maintenance tasks and view analytics. 

Sign up today, and acquire the skills needed to grow your career.