Career Profile: First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers

Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 544,700 people employed as first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers in the United States. The median annual salary is $71,260. Entry level employees earn approximately $43,800 per year and senior employees earn approximately $105,910 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Inspect and monitor work areas, examine tools and equipment, and provide employee safety training to prevent, detect, and correct unsafe conditions or violations of procedures and safety rules.
• Inspect, test, and measure completed work, using devices such as hand tools or gauges to verify conformance to standards or repair requirements.
• Develop, implement, or evaluate maintenance policies and procedures.
• Meet with vendors or suppliers to discuss products used in repair work.
• Participate in budget preparation and administration, coordinating purchasing and documentation and monitoring departmental expenditures.
• Review, evaluate, accept, and coordinate completion of work bid from contractors.
• Interpret specifications, blueprints, or job orders to construct templates and lay out reference points for workers.
• Monitor employees' work levels and review work performance.
• Perform skilled repair or maintenance operations, using equipment such as hand or power tools, hydraulic presses or shears, or welding equipment.
• Compute estimates and actual costs of factors such as materials, labor, or outside contractors.
• Monitor tool and part inventories and the condition and maintenance of shops to ensure adequate working conditions.
• Requisition materials and supplies, such as tools, equipment, or replacement parts.
• Confer with personnel, such as management, engineering, quality control, customer, or union workers' representatives, to coordinate work activities, resolve employee grievances, or identify and review resource needs.
• Determine schedules, sequences, and assignments for work activities, based on work priority, quantity of equipment, and skill of personnel.
• Examine objects, systems, or facilities and analyze information to determine needed installations, services, or repairs.
• Counsel employees about work-related issues and assist employees to correct job-skill deficiencies.
• Recommend or initiate personnel actions, such as hires, promotions, transfers, discharges, or disciplinary measures.
• Investigate accidents or injuries and prepare reports of findings.
• Conduct or arrange for worker training in safety, repair, or maintenance techniques, operational procedures, or equipment use.
• Compile operational or personnel records, such as time and production records, inventory data, repair or maintenance statistics, or test results.
• Develop or implement electronic maintenance programs or computer information management systems.
• Design equipment configurations to meet personnel needs.

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