A refrigeration warehouse manager runs the branch warehouse and yard that feed both service trucks and install jobs, from contactors and refrigerant to display cases and condensing units. They receive freight, stage material by job, keep the cylinder log honest and push warranty returns through to credit.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, HVAC and plumbing contractors · BLS, May 2025
Refrigeration Install & Service - Warehouse Manager
Company Name:
[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]
Department:
Operations
Reports to:
Operations Manager
Location:
[INSERT LOCATION HERE]
1. Position Summary
You'll run the branch warehouse and yard that supply both service trucks and install jobs: parts and refrigerant for technicians, and walk-in panels, display cases and condensing units for installs. You'll keep counts accurate, refrigerant cylinders tracked, and the right material on the right truck.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Manage receiving, storage and staging for service parts, refrigerant, copper, insulation and install equipment.
Stage install equipment and materials by job, checking deliveries against the Project Manager & Estimator's orders.
Run refrigerant cylinder tracking: what comes in, what goes out on which truck, and recovered refrigerant returned for reclaim.
Set truck stock lists with the Service Manager and run regular truck audits.
Manage supply house accounts, returns and warranty parts, such as failed compressors sent back for credit.
Lead the Inventory Specialist and keep the warehouse safe: forklift training, cylinder storage and clear aisles.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Check in deliveries and note freight damage before signing, especially on cases and condensing units.
Pull and stage parts for tomorrow's scheduled repairs and installs.
Load or check out material for install crews before early starts.
Review low stock and place orders with supply houses.
[3+] years of warehouse or inventory management, ideally at a contractor or HVACR supply house.
Experience with inventory software and cycle counts.
Forklift operator training, or able to complete it before operating one.
Knows, or can learn, HVACR parts, fittings and refrigerant types.
Valid driver's license for supply runs.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience receiving freight for large equipment, such as display cases or rack systems.
Experience setting up truck stock programs.
Experience managing warranty returns with manufacturers.
7. Physical Requirements
Lift and move parts, boxes and refrigerant cylinders up to [50] pounds.
Operate forklifts, pallet jacks and hand trucks.
Stand and walk for most of the shift.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Warehouse-based at [branch], with an outdoor yard.
Early starts to load install crews: [start time].
Occasional after-hours runs for emergency parts.
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 warehouse manager 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.
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This warehouse ships two kinds of work at once: small parts for service calls and large equipment for installs. That mix shapes receiving, staging and stock control.
Note case damage before the driver leaves
Hillphoenix's case manual says obvious damage must be noted on the freight bill and signed by the carrier's agent, or the carrier may refuse the claim. For damage found after unpacking, keep all the packing and send the carrier a written request for inspection within 15 days of receipt. Claims for missing items go to Hillphoenix within 48 hours. Unpack new cases soon after they arrive, not the week of the install. Source: Hillphoenix: O5DR display case installation and operation manual (receiving cases).
Heavy units stay on their shipping base
Heatcraft's condensing unit manual says not to sign the shipping receipt until every item on the bill of lading is accounted for, and to leave heavy equipment on its shipping base until it reaches its final location. Damaged material is the carrier's problem and shouldn't go back to the maker without approval. Stage units in the yard on their bases, with forklift room around them. Source: Heatcraft: MAC series condensing units installation and operation manual (H-IM-67H).
Install material lives apart from service stock
A contactor staged for Friday's rack job is easy to grab for a Tuesday night call. Keep job-staged material in its own marked area by job number, and make service stock the only shelves technicians pull from. When a staged part gets borrowed anyway, reorder it that day so the install doesn't start short.
Copper goes out against a job
Copper, line sets and insulation move in bulk, which makes them easy to lose track of. Sign them out to a job or a truck, compare the totals with the estimator's material list when the job closes, and walk leftover copper back into stock so it can be counted again.
How much commercial refrigeration warehouse managers make
The closest BLS group for commercial refrigeration warehouse managers is transportation, storage, and distribution managers. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $74,660 a year ($35.89 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $107,230 median for transportation, storage, and distribution managers in all industries. About 960 of the 221,180 transportation, storage, and distribution managers in that survey work for HVAC and plumbing contractors.
Usually salaried. Say who covers after-hours parts runs and how that time is handled.
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$74,660$74,660 median Middle half $58,090–$97,100 10th–90th $46,240–$128,000
All industries
$107,230$107,230 median Middle half $82,440–$146,770 10th–90th $65,120–$194,900
$25k$50k$75k$100k$125k$150k$175k$200k$225k
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
$46,240
$58,090
$74,660
$97,100
$128,000
All industries
$65,120
$82,440
$107,230
$146,770
$194,900
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
Has run cycle counts and fixed what caused the errors
Receives freight for large equipment and documents damage on the spot
Plans tomorrow's staging from the schedule without being asked
Leads a small team and holds them to the cylinder log
Works with supply house reps on returns, credits and backorders
Teach these on the job
HVACR parts, fittings and refrigerant types
Your truck stock lists and audit routine
Each maker's warranty return process
Your inventory software and purchase approval limits
Forklift operation, if not yet trained
The warehouse runs on inventory or field service software, scanners, a refrigerant scale, forklifts, pallet jacks and hand trucks, plus yard space and racks for cases and units. Name the software and the lift equipment in the ad.
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 · Concealed freight damage
A display case arrives fully wrapped, and the driver says there's no time to unwrap it. What do you do?
A strong answer: Inspects what they can, notes possible damage on the receipt, photographs it, unwraps and checks it as soon as the driver leaves, and reports any damage to the carrier right away.
Behavioral · Warranty credits
Tell me about a time you recovered money through warranty claims or supplier returns, like failed compressors and motors.
A strong answer: Explains the process (tagging failed parts, tracking claims, supplier deadlines) and the credits it recovered.
Read the template's targets as a rough first pass. Rewrite them after a summer rush shows your real counts, late jobs and supplier credits.
Inventory accuracy
Compare full counts and cycle counts with the system, both by item and by value, and follow the trend by section and by branch.
Jobs delayed by missing material
Log every install or repair that started late or stopped because material was missing, damaged or staged wrong, with the cause, and go over the list monthly with the operations manager.
Refrigerant cylinders accounted for
Each month, match every cylinder on the log to a shelf, a truck or a reclaim shipment, whether it is full, partly used or holding recovered refrigerant, and chase any you can't place.
Warranty credits received
Track each failed part from the day it comes back to the day the supplier's credit posts, and count claims denied or still open past the supplier's window.
Truck stock audit scores
Audit each service truck against its stock list on a set rotation, scoring missing, extra and wrong items, and share the scores with the service manager.
Career path
Supply house counter clerkLearns refrigeration parts and the people who buy them.
Use one item list in one system for both branches, so a part number means the same thing everywhere. Move stock between branches on a transfer, not on a technician's word, and count it at both ends. Decide ahead of time which branch holds rarely used parts, like compressors for older condensing units, so you don't buy the same costly part twice.
How much does a commercial refrigeration warehouse manager make?
Transportation, storage, and distribution managers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $74,660 a year ($35.89 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $58,090 and $97,100 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
What should the warehouse keep for after-hours store emergencies?
List the failures that put a store's product at risk overnight, such as a dead compressor on a common condensing unit, a failed contactor or a seized fan motor, and keep those parts where the on-call technician can reach them. Agree on who has a key and which supply house opens earliest. Revisit the list after each summer.
Who sets truck stock, the warehouse manager or the service manager?
Both. The service manager knows which repairs each technician handles and which stores sit on each route. The warehouse manager knows which parts get used and which sit for a year. Set the lists together, then let the warehouse manager run the audits and the service manager deal with a technician who keeps coming up short.
What physical work comes with running a refrigeration warehouse?
Day to day, the template's physical lines come down to lifting and moving parts, boxes and cylinders within the weight your ad names; running forklifts, pallet jacks and hand trucks to unload cases and condensing units; and working the racks, dock and yard for most of the shift. Say which equipment you have, and add that you're open to reasonable accommodations.
