HVAC Field Instructor

Stoneforge Academy • Part-time • Melrose, Massachusetts, United States • $60 / hour • 19h ago

Position Summary

You’re the person who turns classroom credentials into real, documented field skill.

Every technician you supervise already holds EPA Section 608, NATE, and OSHA 10 before their first client visit. Your job is to take that paper and convert it into verified competence: how to properly assess a unit and how to perform basic maintenance correctly and safely.

You are the trust anchor of Stoneforge’s verified experience transcript program. Your inspection and countersignature on each job record is what makes a student’s field experience credible to future employers and defensible as a factual, supervised record.

The work is strictly limited to assessment and basic maintenance. In scope: inspection, testing, measurement, photo documentation, and tune-up-level maintenance (filters, coil cleaning, condensate drains, burner/flame-sensor cleaning, lubrication, and safety-control tests). Out of scope, no matter what the client asks: repairs, installations, component replacement beyond filters and batteries, opening refrigerant circuits, gas piping, or anything that requires a permit.

Essential Duties

Teach the procedures. Demonstrate the assessment and basic maintenance tasks, then supervise technicians as they progress from watching → assisting → performing under observation.
Lead every assessment visit. Run a short pre-job briefing (scope, safety, roles), supervise 1–4 technicians on site, and stay for the entire job.
Enforce safety without exception. Verify PPE, lockout/tagout and power-off discipline, safe ladder/attic/basement/roof practices, and electrical safety on every job. Stop work the moment something is unsafe.
Hold the scope line hard. Assessment and basic maintenance only. When a client wants repair work, decline politely, document the condition, and refer them to licensed contractors. If you find a hazardous condition (gas leak, electrical hazard, CO risk), make the equipment as safe as possible without performing a repair, document it, notify the client in writing, and tell them to call a licensed contractor immediately.
Inspect everything before it leaves the site. Review each technician’s findings, measurements, photos, and completed tasks. Nothing reaches a client unchecked.
Complete the competency record the same day. For every technician on every job, fill out the structured verification: specific observable work processes (“measured static pressure and recorded readings,” not “checked the system”), competency checklist with mastery levels, safety-practice check, and the co-op-style ratings (dependability, job knowledge, quality, initiative, communication). Sign every record.
Review the evaluation with the technician before the day ends. Program rule: nothing in a technician’s record should ever surprise them.
Represent the school. Be the professional in clients’ homes and businesses—punctual, courteous, and able to explain findings in plain language.
Communicate early. Flag equipment, curriculum, scheduling, or student-readiness issues to the Director as soon as they appear.

Supervisory Responsibility

You directly supervise 1–4 entry-level technicians per assessment day. All of them are current students or recent graduates of Stoneforge and already hold the required certifications. You do not hire, discipline, or dismiss students, but you have full authority to remove a technician from a job site for safety or conduct reasons.

Required Qualifications

10+ years of actual field experience in HVAC/R or major appliance service
Active Massachusetts refrigeration technician or contractor license (or recently lapsed and reactivated before start date)—status verified on ePLACE
EPA Section 608 certification (Universal preferred)
Successful CORI and SORI checks (state requirement for occupational school instructors)
Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation
Ability to write clear, specific, factual field notes
Patience and a genuine teaching temperament

Nice to Haves (genuinely optional)

Experience mentoring apprentices or supervising junior techs
Prior instruction, training, or field-evaluation experience
Willingness to lead hands-on lab sessions for the HVAC program
Comfort capturing photos and filling simple digital forms on a phone or tablet

Physical Requirements & Working Conditions

This is field work. You’ll be in attics, basements, crawl spaces, and on rooftops (light commercial). Expect ladders, kneeling, reaching, lifting up to 50 lbs, weather exposure while traveling between sites, and driving a route of batched jobs.

Success Measures

100% of jobs have a completed, signed competency record for every technician, same day
Zero safety incidents and zero scope violations
Same-day evaluation reviews held on 100% of jobs
Client rating average and response rate on the jobs you supervise
Clear competency progression for technicians across the checklist over the cohort

Stoneforge Academy is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates with criminal records are evaluated individually under Massachusetts CORI regulations; a record is not an automatic disqualification.

Pay: $60.00 per hour

Benefits:

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