A refrigeration inventory specialist keeps the branch's parts, copper and refrigerant cylinders counted, so service trucks roll out stocked and installs start complete. They log each cylinder by number and weight, restock trucks from usage reports, and box up failed compressors and motors for warranty credit.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, HVAC and plumbing contractors · BLS, May 2025
Refrigeration Install & Service - Inventory Specialist
Company Name:
[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]
Department:
Operations
Reports to:
Warehouse Manager
Location:
[INSERT LOCATION HERE]
1. Position Summary
You'll keep parts and refrigerant counts right, so technicians have what they need on the truck and installs start with everything on site. You'll receive, count and restock, log refrigerant cylinders in and out, and process warranty returns.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Receive parts and equipment, check them against purchase orders, and put them away in the right bin.
Restock service trucks from their stock lists and record what each truck used.
Log refrigerant cylinders in and out by type, cylinder number and weight, and track recovery cylinders sent for reclaim.
Run cycle counts and fix differences in [your inventory software].
Process warranty returns, such as failed compressors and motors, with the paperwork each supplier requires.
Order common parts when stock hits reorder points.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Check in morning deliveries from supply houses.
Pull parts for scheduled repairs and label them by job.
Restock trucks from their usage reports.
Count one section of the warehouse.
Update the cylinder log.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Count accuracy: [your target].
Time to fill truck restock requests: [your target].
Warranty returns submitted on time: [your target].
Cylinder log errors: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[1+] years of warehouse, parts counter or inventory work.
Accurate counting and data entry.
Comfort with inventory or field service software.
Valid driver's license, insurable on a company vehicle.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience at an HVACR or refrigeration supply house.
Forklift operator training.
Knows refrigeration parts: contactors, fan motors, expansion valves and filter driers.
7. Physical Requirements
Lift and carry boxes, coils and refrigerant cylinders up to [50] pounds.
Stand, walk, bend and climb shelving ladders throughout the shift.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Warehouse-based at [branch], [your hours].
Some early starts to restock trucks before technicians leave.
Warehouse temperatures follow the season.
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 inventory specialist 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
The shelves here hold refrigerant, recovery cylinders and parts for display cases and walk-ins. Four things change how that stock is counted and handled.
Read the label, not the color
Refrigerant containers used to be painted by gas. Under AHRI's Guideline N, changes that began in January 2020 give all of them the same paint color, RAL 7044, and the label is the primary way to tell what's inside. Flammable refrigerants still carry a red band on the shoulder or top. The change didn't apply to product already packaged, so older stock may still wear the old colors. Log every cylinder from its label. Source: AHRI: Guideline N updates remove paint color assignments for refrigerant containers.
Recovery cylinders carry a test date
A refillable recovery cylinder built to a DOT specification is stamped with its type and a test date. Under 49 CFR 180.209, cylinders of the 4B, 4BA and 4BW types are requalified every 5, 7, 10 or 12 years, depending on the cylinder and its service. Check the stamped type and date when you log a cylinder in, and pull any that are due before they go back out on a truck. Source: eCFR: 49 CFR 180.209, requirements for requalification of specification cylinders.
Case parts go by maker and model
A fan motor, light or door gasket for one brand of reach-in often won't fit another brand's case. Shelve case parts by maker and model, and ask technicians to send the model and serial number from the case's data tag with each request, so the right part goes in the bag the first time.
Keep driers and oil sealed
Treat filter driers and compressor oil as sealed goods. Keep caps on driers, don't take an opened can of oil back into stock, and date anything that has been opened. Ask your technicians which oils your systems use, so the right ones sit on the shelf.
How much commercial refrigeration inventory specialists make
The closest BLS group for commercial refrigeration inventory specialists is shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks. Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $23.38 an hour ($48,630 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $45,260 median for shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks in all industries. About 3,570 of the 816,870 shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks in that survey work for HVAC and plumbing contractors.
Usually hourly. Say in the ad how early starts and any overtime are paid.
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$48,630$48,630 median Middle half $41,500–$60,320 10th–90th $36,490–$72,960
All industries
$45,260$45,260 median Middle half $38,200–$51,570 10th–90th $34,650–$62,190
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k
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
$36,490
$41,500
$48,630
$60,320
$72,960
All industries
$34,650
$38,200
$45,260
$51,570
$62,190
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
Careful counting and clean data entry, even late in a busy receiving day
Checks a packing slip against the purchase order line by line
Uses inventory or field service software without hand-holding
Keeps a cylinder log that matches what's on the floor
Asks a technician before guessing which part they meant
Teach these on the job
Refrigeration parts such as contactors, fan motors, expansion valves and filter driers
Each supplier's warranty return steps
Reorder points for the shelves and each truck
Reading cylinder markings and test dates
Forklift operation, through formal training
The job lives in inventory or field service software, with a barcode scanner and a refrigerant scale close at hand. List your software by name, and mention any forklift work or supply runs in a company vehicle.
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 · Recovery cylinder handling
You find a recovery cylinder that a technician labeled with two different refrigerants. What do you do?
A strong answer: Labels and keeps it separate as mixed, tells the Warehouse Manager so it goes to the reclaimer correctly, and finds out how it happened.
Behavioral · Tracking special-order parts
Tell me about a time special-order parts kept going missing between receiving and the technician's return visit.
A strong answer: Traced the handoffs (not tagged to a job at receiving, put into general stock, no notice to dispatch), set up a tagged shelf by job with a notice to dispatch, and checked it held.
The targets in the template are placeholders. Pick yours after a few weeks of counts show where the misses are.
Count accuracy
Compare each cycle count with the system before any fixes, both by item and by the value of the difference, and track it by section of the warehouse.
Time to fill truck restock requests
Time from when a technician's restock request or usage report reaches the warehouse to when the parts are pulled, bagged and waiting for that truck.
Warranty returns submitted on time
Count failed parts sent back inside each supplier's return window with complete paperwork, against all warranty parts that came back from the field.
Cylinder log errors
Spot-check the log against the floor each week: cylinder number, refrigerant type, weight and location. Count every line that doesn't match what you find.
Career path
Parts runner or receiving clerkLearns the supply houses and the stock.
Inventory specialistKeeps counts, cylinders and truck stock right.
Warehouse managerLeads the branch's stock, staff and supplier accounts.
How do you count refrigerant in a partly used cylinder?
Weigh it. Put the cylinder on a refrigerant scale and subtract the tare weight marked on it to get the pounds left. Write down net pounds, never a guess by eye, since a tank that looks low may still cover a repair. Do the same with recovery tanks, so nobody carries a nearly full one to a job that needs room to recover a whole charge.
How much does a commercial refrigeration inventory specialist make?
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $23.38 an hour ($48,630 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $41,500 and $60,320 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What happens when a technician takes parts from the warehouse at night?
Night calls don't wait for the warehouse to open. Set a simple rule: the on-call technician writes the part, quantity and job on a sign-out sheet or in the app before leaving, and the inventory specialist matches it to the ticket first thing in the morning. Without that step, the count is off before the day starts and the part may never be billed.
Can a refrigeration inventory specialist move into a technician job?
Some do. Handling contactors, valves and failed compressors every day teaches the parts, and deliveries to job sites show where they go. If you're open to that path, say so in the ad. The move means starting as an apprentice under your normal training, with a technician who will teach.
What physical tasks does a refrigeration inventory job include?
The template's lines cover tasks like these: carrying boxes, coils and refrigerant cylinders up to the weight in your ad; moving between shelves and the dock all shift; bending to low bins; and climbing shelving ladders to top racks. Say which happen most, list any lift aids you have, such as carts or a forklift, and note that you'll consider reasonable accommodations.
