How to become a Senior Technician, Mechanical and Cooling in Australia
Mechanical and Cooling
The site’s cooling specialist on shift: chillers, air handlers, pumps and cooling towers, refrigerants, and restarting cooling after a failure.
What the role does
The site’s cooling specialist on shift: chillers, air handlers, pumps and towers, refrigerants and the emergency restart.
What a shift looks like
Shifts on a roster. Chiller and air handler checks, water treatment and tower rounds, refrigerant work, maintenance with vendors, and the response when cooling falters.
What employers call it
- Critical Facilities Engineer (HVAC) (colocation and wholesale)
Skills
The level the role needs in each, on FacilityVR’s five levels from Aware to Authority.
Safe isolation
- Isolate mechanical and stored energy Leads others
- Isolate and lock out a single energy source Independent
- Isolate plant with several energy sources Independent
Cooling plant
- Operate air handlers and respond to their faults Leads others
- Operate chilled water pumps and valves Leads others
- Psychrometrics and the thermal envelope Leads others
- Respond to rising temperatures Leads others
- Restart cooling in an emergency Leads others
- Start, stop and change over chillers Leads others
- Operate cooling towers Independent
- Operate dry coolers and closed-loop heat rejection Independent
- Operate in-row and close-coupled cooling Independent
Refrigerant handling
- Check for refrigerant leaks Independent
- Evacuate and charge a system Independent
- Recover refrigerant Independent
- Refrigerant safety and law Independent
Procedures and documents
- Carry out a method of procedure (MOP) Leads others
- Write and review a MOP Independent
Leadership
- Coach and assess others Independent
Liquid cooling
- Liquid-cooled IT and its loops Leads others
- Maintain filtration Leads others
- Operate and monitor a CDU Leads others
- Respond to a coolant leak or a CDU failure Leads others
- Sample and test coolant Leads others
- Fill, flush and vent a TCS loop Independent
- Pressure-test a loop and verify its materials Independent
Emergency response
- Recognise and report a suspected cyber incident Assisted
Licences and credentials
-
Refrigerant handling licence (ARCtick)
Required · Australian Refrigeration Council
-
Provide First Aid (HLTAID011)
Usually asked for · A registered training organisation
-
The licence of the state or territory where the site is · Preferred
- NSW Qualified supervisor certificate (electrical wiring work), NSW · Building Commission NSW
- VIC Electrician’s licence (A Grade), Victoria · Energy Safe Victoria
- QLD Electrical work licence (electrical mechanic), Queensland · Electrical Safety Office (Office of Industrial Relations)
- WA Electrician’s licence, Western Australia · Building and Energy (Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety)
- SA Electrical worker registration, South Australia · Consumer and Business Services
- TAS Electrical practitioner licence (electrician), Tasmania · Consumer Affairs Tasmania
- ACT Electrician licence (unrestricted), ACT · Construction Occupations Registrar (Access Canberra)
- NT Electrical work licence (unrestricted electrical mechanic), NT · Electrical Safety Regulator, NT WorkSafe
Not legal advice: check with the regulator for your state.
Ways in and ways on
From outside the industry
From another data centre role
Where it leads
- Shift Lead, typically 2 years
- Chief Engineer, typically 3 years
- Facilities Assurance Lead (a sideways move)
Jobs open now
None right now. See every open job.
Questions about data centre careers? Ask about data centre careers
Sources and licences
Occupation codes: 382131 Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technician.
- Critical Facilities reference framework © Facility Labs. (CC BY 4.0)
- Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, OSCA – Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0, and its correspondence to ISCO-08. CC BY 4.0. (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)