A commercial refrigeration COO designs how every branch works: dispatch and emergency response, refrigerant tracking, safety, technician training, and how new installs reach service. The general managers run their branches day to day, and the COO makes sure they run them the same way.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, HVAC and plumbing contractors · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $70,780, middle half $93,740 to $271,790, 90th percentile $421,320. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
Chief Executive Officer
Department
Operations
Schedule
Regular hours, travel between branches · On call for major emergencies and account escalations, with early or overnight visits to installs in open stores.
Also called
VP of operations · Director of operations · Vice president of service operations
Refrigeration Install & Service - Chief Operating Officer
Company Name:
[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]
Department:
Operations
Reports to:
Chief Executive Officer
Location:
[INSERT LOCATION HERE]
1. Position Summary
You'll build the systems every branch runs on: how service calls are dispatched and closed, how installs are started up and handed to service, how refrigerant is tracked, and how technicians are trained and promoted. The General Managers run their branches day to day; you make sure they run them the same way and keep improving.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Set company standards for dispatch, emergency response, preventive maintenance visits and job closeout, and audit each branch against them.
Own the refrigerant management program: cylinder tracking, leak inspection schedules, leak rate records and repair follow-up, following current EPA refrigerant management rules.
Build the technician career path from apprentice to lead, with skills checks and certifications at each step.
Run the safety program: lockout/tagout, brazing and hot work, roof and ladder safety, and driver safety.
Choose and roll out the field service software, truck stock standards and fleet plan.
Set how new systems are started up, checked and handed to the service department, so installs don't turn into early callbacks.
Lead and develop the General Managers and the HR Manager.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review branch dashboards: emergency response times, callbacks, open work orders, billable hours and install schedule status.
Meet with General Managers about staffing gaps, problem accounts and jobs running over budget.
Ride along with technicians or walk job sites to see how company standards hold up in the field.
Review leak repair and refrigerant usage reports and follow up on systems that keep losing charge.
Work with the HR Manager on technician hiring, apprenticeships and training classes.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Emergency response time across branches: [your target].
Repeat callback rate: [your target].
Billable hours per technician across branches: [your target].
Refrigerant added to leaking systems: [your target].
Recordable safety incidents: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[8+] years of operations leadership in commercial refrigeration, HVAC or mechanical service, across more than one branch or department.
Hands-on understanding of rack systems, condensing units, walk-ins and display cases.
Experience setting up field service software, dispatch rules and performance reporting.
Working knowledge of EPA Section 608 requirements and OSHA safety practices for field crews.
Experience developing managers and holding them to written standards.
6. Preferred Experience
Past work as a refrigeration technician, service manager or general manager.
OSHA 30 training.
Experience supporting a supermarket chain's refrigerant leak reduction program.
Experience with transcritical carbon dioxide or other low global warming potential refrigeration systems.
7. Physical Requirements
Office work plus frequent visits to stores, machine rooms, rooftops and install sites.
Climb ladders to roofs and walk construction areas in required safety gear.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Based at [headquarters], with travel between branches [how often].
On call for major emergencies and large account escalations.
Early-morning or overnight visits to installs in open stores when needed.
Regular hours: [your schedule].
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new chief operating officer gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
Every branch handles refrigerant, chain customers and rooftop work. The COO decides how, once, for all of them.
Refrigerant on the truck is a hazardous material
DOT's hazardous materials table lists refrigerant gases such as R-404A and R-407C as Division 2.2. The materials of trade exception for service trucks has conditions, among them: no cylinder tops 220 pounds gross, the truck's total load of these materials stays at or under 440 pounds, and cylinders are secured against shifting. Write truck stock standards so a loaded truck stays inside those limits. Source: eCFR: 49 CFR 173.6, materials of trade exceptions.
Systems that lose more than their charge get reported
An owner or operator of an HFC appliance holding 15 pounds or more that loses at least one and a quarter times its full charge in a calendar year must report to EPA by March 1 of the next year. Your service records are what the store will need to write that report. Have the tracking flag any system nearing that line well before year-end. Source: eCFR: 40 CFR 84.106, leak repair for appliances using HFCs and higher-GWP substitutes.
Chains may judge you on leaks
EPA's GreenChill is a voluntary partnership with food retailers, refrigeration system manufacturers and chemical producers, and eliminating refrigerant leaks is one of its stated goals. A chain working on leaks will want site-by-site numbers from you: pounds added, leaks found and how fast each was fixed. Build those reports before the first chain asks for them. Source: U.S. EPA: GreenChill corporate emissions reduction program.
Truck stock depends on the cases you service
Display cases and walk-ins from different makers use different expansion valves, controllers, fan motors and defrost parts. Base each branch's standard stock list on the equipment its accounts actually run, so more emergency calls end on the first visit. Review the list each quarter against the parts techs had to drive back for.
One audit for every branch
Write the dispatch, emergency response and job closeout standards down, then check every branch the same way: pull a sample of tickets, ride with two technicians and read the after-hours log. Share the scores with all the general managers. A manager who sees a peer branch doing the same work better has a clear target.
How much commercial refrigeration COOs make
The closest BLS group for commercial refrigeration COOs is chief executives. Chief executives who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $174,130 a year ($83.72 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $213,990 median for chief executives in all industries. About 760 of the 204,350 chief executives in that survey work for HVAC and plumbing contractors.
Base pay plus a bonus that weighs company profit alongside response times and callbacks.
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$174,130$174,130 median Middle half $93,740–$271,790 10th–90th $70,780–$421,320
All industries
$213,990$213,990 median Middle half $129,540–$356,200 10th–90th $75,700–$507,730
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$70,780
$93,740
$174,130
$271,790
$421,320
All industries
$75,700
$129,540
$213,990
$356,200
$507,730
BLS doesn’t publish pay for refrigeration contractors on their own. These figures cover plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Knows racks, condensing units, walk-ins and display cases well enough to judge a tech's diagnosis
Has written field standards and audited managers against them
Has set up dispatch rules and reporting in field service software
Understands EPA Section 608 duties and the leak records customers rely on
Has run a safety program covering lockout, hot work, roofs and driving
Teach these on the job
Your chains' response-time and reporting rules
Transcritical CO2 rack service practices
Your fleet and truck stock vendors
DOT materials of trade limits for cylinders
Your apprenticeship and training partners
The COO chooses and sets up the field service software, the refrigerant cylinder tracking that feeds it, fleet telematics, and the branch dashboards built from all three. Tell candidates which ones exist today and which the new COO gets to choose.
Commercial refrigeration COO interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Refrigerant management program
Leak reports show the same systems getting refrigerant added month after month. What do you do?
A strong answer: Pulls the list, requires a leak search and verified repair, follows the leak repair and record rules that apply to each system and refrigerant, reviews technician practice, and gives customers repair or replace options.
Behavioral · Developing managers
Tell me about a service manager you developed into someone who could run a branch's numbers and crews without you.
A strong answer: Names what the person needed (budgeting, on-call planning, coaching technicians, handling store escalations), how they coached, and results like response times, callbacks and branch margin.
Treat the template's target lines as open questions. Measure every branch the same way for a quarter, then set company targets from what your best branch already does.
Emergency response time across branches
Measure from the call's arrival to the technician's on-site check-in, by branch and by account, and review the slowest calls every week.
Repeat callback rate
Count return trips to the same equipment for the same problem inside your callback window, split by technician and by branch.
Billable hours per technician across branches
Divide hours billed to customers by hours paid for each technician, and compare branches only after they use the same definitions.
Refrigerant added to leaking systems
Total the pounds charged into systems with a known or suspected leak, by account and system, from tickets tied to cylinder scans.
Recordable safety incidents
Count cases from each branch's OSHA injury and illness log, and go over each one with that branch's general manager to find the cause.
What does a refrigeration COO do on roofs and job sites?
The field lines mean things like going up a roof ladder with a technician to look at condensing units, checking a rack room behind a store, and touring an active remodel in the safety gear the site requires. Ship the lines unchanged, say how often these visits happen, and leave the accommodation wording in place.
How much does a commercial refrigeration COO make?
Chief executives who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $174,130 a year ($83.72 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $93,740 and $271,790 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
How should refrigerant cylinders be tracked from the warehouse to the job?
Give each cylinder an ID when it arrives, scan it out to a truck, and record the pounds charged or recovered against the ticket and the system. Recovery tanks follow the same path back to the warehouse and on to the reclaimer. When the numbers come from scans instead of memory, customer leak records and the CFO's inventory count both get easier.
How does a refrigeration COO split work with the service managers?
The COO writes the rules and the service managers run them. The COO sets response targets by account type, the after-hours standard, ticket closeout steps and the path from apprentice to lead. Each branch's service manager staffs the rotation, assigns calls and coaches techs. When a branch keeps missing a standard, the COO works through its general manager instead of directing that branch's technicians.
Should a COO train techs on CO2 before the first CO2 store?
Yes. If a customer is buying CO2 racks, train before the install finishes, not after the first emergency. Send a lead from each branch to the manufacturer's class, stock the higher-pressure gauges and hoses those systems need, and have them work beside the installers at startup. Then set a rule for which techs may take CO2 calls alone.
