Refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic recruitment for regional employers

Refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics lay out installations from drawings, install and repair compressors, motors, condensers, evaporators and controls, run and braze copper lines, pressure-test systems for leaks and commission them.⁵ The work can range from coolrooms and process refrigeration in food plants to chillers in hospitals and split systems in homes.

The current national trade qualification is UEE32225 Certificate III in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, which replaces the equivalent UEE32220.⁶ Anyone whose work risks releasing a fluorocarbon refrigerant also needs a refrigerant handling licence from the Australian Refrigeration Council.⁷

Where the Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Award 2020 covers the role, a qualified refrigeration mechanic (Electrical worker grade 5, a trade certificate in an electrical trade) must be paid at least $1,182.82 a week, or $31.13 an hour, from 1 July 2026, including the industry and tool allowances.⁴ That award covers electrical contractors and has a refrigeration and air-conditioning stream.²⁰ A mechanic employed by a plumbing or mechanical services contractor may instead fall under the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award 2020, which counts air conditioning plumbing as plumbing.²¹

Market pay is well above either minimum. Airconditioning and refrigeration mechanics, the occupation group, had median full-time earnings of $2,100 a week, or $51 an hour, in May 2025, nationally.³ We talk with you about the rate, the on-call allowance and any vehicle before the search begins.

Tell us the plant: coolrooms and freezers, process or industrial refrigeration, chillers and commercial air conditioning, transport refrigeration or domestic split systems. Name the refrigerants, including any ammonia or CO2 systems, the controls and building management systems, and whether the work is installation, service or both.

Then the arrangements that decide who applies: the after-hours call-out roster, the service area and travel, a vehicle and tools, and the licences the person must hold on day one.

Tell us the service area, the call-out roster and the vehicle. We describe each of them plainly before any candidate applies.

We start with mechanics who already live near you, then widen the search to those ready to move. A mechanic from another state keeps the national refrigerant licence but may need your state's electrical licence, so we raise it early.

If the right person needs a visa or sponsorship, our sister business Australian Immigration Agency can advise.

Register with Hire Australia and tell us the systems you work on, your refrigerant licence and state electrical licence, and where you would like to work. We will talk with you about regional roles that fit.