Commercial refrigeration field supervisor job description
A commercial refrigeration field supervisor oversees installers on grocery remodels, case swaps and new walk-ins, often working nights so the store can keep selling by day. They check brazing, pressure tests and evacuation before cases and ceilings close up, then hand the service team a system that works.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, HVAC and plumbing contractors · BLS, May 2025
Refrigeration Install & Service - Field Supervisor
Company Name:
[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]
Department:
Operations
Reports to:
Operations Manager
Location:
[INSERT LOCATION HERE]
1. Position Summary
You'll lead install crews on site. You'll set up each job, check the work as it goes (brazing, pressure tests, evacuation and wiring), keep crews safe in stores that stay open, and close out punch lists so the service department inherits systems that work.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Lead Refrigeration Installers across [two to four] active jobs at a time.
Walk each job before it starts with the Project Manager & Estimator: store access, equipment locations, roof access, power and crane setup.
Check work in progress: nitrogen flowing during brazing, pressure tests held, deep vacuum verified with a micron gauge, and charge recorded.
Plan overnight work with store managers: product moves, which cases come down, and which aisles stay open.
Run toolbox talks and enforce lockout/tagout, hot work permits, fall protection and ladder safety.
Manage punch lists, daily logs and photos, and sign off startup with the Lead Refrigeration Technician.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Brief crews at the start of each shift on tasks, safety and store rules.
Move between job sites to check progress and quality.
Solve field problems: missing parts, changed layouts and conflicts with other trades.
Update the Operations Manager on progress, hours and delays.
Fill out daily logs and photo records.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Crew hours against estimate: [your target].
Pressure tests passed on the first try: [your target].
Punch list items open at turnover: [your target].
Safety incidents: [your target].
Store complaints during installs: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[5+] years installing commercial refrigeration systems, including [1+] years leading a crew.
EPA Section 608 Type II or Universal certification, to check and sign off the crew's refrigerant work.
Skilled at brazing, piping, pressure testing and evacuation on walk-ins, cases, condensing units and racks.
Can read refrigeration piping drawings and equipment schedules.
Valid driver's license and an insurable driving record.
6. Preferred Experience
OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 training.
Experience with grocery remodels and case swaps in open stores.
Experience with transcritical carbon dioxide or electronic expansion valve systems.
Aerial lift and forklift operator training.
7. Physical Requirements
Lift and carry copper, fittings and equipment up to [50] pounds; team lift heavier loads.
Climb ladders, work on rooftops, and work in tight spaces above ceilings and under cases.
Work in rooftop heat and freezer cold.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Install sites across [your service area], with daily travel between jobs.
Overnight, early-morning and weekend shifts to work around store hours.
Company truck: [your vehicle policy].
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 field supervisor 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
What makes refrigeration field supervision different
Installs here happen inside working grocery stores and restaurants, next to cases full of food. Here is what that changes for the person running the crews.
Case lineups start from the floor's high point
A lineup set off level is hard to fix once the piping is brazed. Hillphoenix's manual for its O5DR case says leveling keeps cases aligned, and has the crew find the highest point on the chalk line and set shim packs from there. Check the level, and the sealed joints between cases, before the crew pipes the lineup together. Source: Hillphoenix: O5DR display case installation and operation manual.
Cases expect a cooled store
Hillphoenix designs its cases to run in an air-conditioned store that can hold 75 degrees F and keep humidity under the maximum its manual lists. On a remodel, the store's own HVAC may be off or doors may be propped open all night. Don't judge a new case's temperatures at startup until the store is back to its normal conditions. Source: Hillphoenix: O5DR display case installation and operation manual.
Lifts over the aisles have their own rules
Piping above the sales floor often goes in from a boom lift. For remodels and new installs, OSHA's aerial lift rule allows only authorized people to run one, keeps workers standing on the basket floor rather than its edge or a ladder set inside it, and bans tying off to the building from the basket. Name the authorized operators before the first night, and keep everyone else off the controls. Source: eCFR: 29 CFR 1926.453, aerial lifts.
Pick the cutoff time before the night starts
A case swap has to end with product back under refrigeration before the store opens. Settle a cutoff hour with the store manager each night. If a pressure test or vacuum isn't holding by then, the supervisor makes the call: product stays where it is, the store hears why, and the crew finishes the next night instead of working into the morning rush.
How much commercial refrigeration field supervisors make
The closest BLS group for commercial refrigeration field supervisors is First-Line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers. First-Line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $39.33 an hour ($81,800 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $79,860 median for First-Line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers in all industries. About 31,350 of the 617,500 First-Line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers in that survey work for HVAC and plumbing contractors.
Paid hourly or salaried, usually with a company truck. Spell out in the offer how overnight and weekend store work is paid.
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$81,800$81,800 median Middle half $66,460–$102,640 10th–90th $55,420–$128,500
All industries
$79,860$79,860 median Middle half $62,690–$101,360 10th–90th $49,600–$126,790
$25k$50k$75k$100k$125k$150k
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
$55,420
$66,460
$81,800
$102,640
$128,500
All industries
$49,600
$62,690
$79,860
$101,360
$126,790
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
Years of brazing, piping and evacuation on walk-ins, cases and racks
A current EPA 608 card, Type II or Universal
Traces a piping drawing to the rack and to each case circuit
Runs a crew of installers without skipping the quality checks
Talks plainly with store managers about what comes down tonight
Keeps daily logs and photos without being chased
Teach these on the job
Your punch list and turnover forms
Each chain's store rules and check-in steps
Transcritical CO2 or electronic expansion valve systems
Aerial lift and forklift operation, through formal training
Your project and time tracking software
The kit is a micron gauge, a nitrogen regulator and brazing rig, digital gauges, and a laser transit for setting case lineups. Name the project software you use for logs and photos, and the lift types your jobs need, in the ad.
Commercial refrigeration field supervisor 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 · Overnight work in open stores
You're planning an overnight swap of a frozen food case lineup in a store that stays open. How do you plan it?
A strong answer: Plans product moves and which cases come down with the store manager, aisle closures, product and floor protection, crew size, safety, and cleanup before opening.
Behavioral · Leading crews
Tell me about a time an installer on your crew kept cutting corners, like skipping the nitrogen purge or shortening the pressure test.
A strong answer: Showed them the specific problem, explained why it mattered, set expectations, checked their work, and acted if it continued.
The template's targets are stand-ins. Set real ones from the last few installs your crews closed out and the size of the jobs coming up.
Crew hours against estimate
Compare hours logged by phase, such as setting cases, piping and startup, with the estimate's hours for each phase at closeout. Phase-level numbers show whether the bid or the crew missed.
Pressure tests passed on the first try
Record every nitrogen pressure test in the daily log with its start and end readings. Count the tests that held the first time against all tests run on the job.
Punch list items open at turnover
Count the open items on the punch list on the day the service department takes over the system, and mark which ones wait on a part and which wait on labor.
Safety incidents
Log every injury, near miss and piece of store property damaged on install jobs, with what happened and what changed afterward. Talk through each one with the crews at the following toolbox talk.
Store complaints during installs
Ask each store manager at the end of the job about blocked aisles, mess and product problems, and log any complaint the chain or the store sends while the job runs.
What should a field supervisor check before a store opens after a night install?
Walk the floor with the crew lead before the doors open. Look for aisles clear of lifts, carts and copper scraps, case drains and floor drains open, cases running with product back in them, doors, lights and price rails working, and ceiling tiles back in place. Then tell the store manager what's left for the next night, so the morning crew isn't surprised.
How much does a commercial refrigeration field supervisor make?
First-Line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $39.33 an hour ($81,800 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $66,460 and $102,640 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What should the service department get when an install is turned over?
Give service what they'll need on a night call months from now: the piping drawing marked with field changes, each case's circuit and setpoints, the startup sheet with the charge and refrigerant type, warranty registration details, and the punch list with an owner for each open item. A walk through the machine room with the lead technician beats an email.
How should a field supervisor work with the store manager during a remodel?
Meet before each night's work, or the day before. Cover which cases come down, where product goes, which aisles close and when the crew leaves. Give one phone number for the night. If plans change, tell the store manager before the crew acts. A closed aisle nobody mentioned is the kind of surprise that turns into a complaint to the chain.
What hands-on work does a refrigeration field supervisor do on site?
The template's physical lines describe tasks like these: carrying copper, fittings and equipment within the template's weight limit, with a second person for heavier loads; climbing ladders to piping above the ceiling and onto roofs to condensing units; reaching under cases to check drain and pipe joints; and checking work on summer roofs and inside running freezers. Tell candidates which of these come up weekly and that accommodations are on the table.
