HVAC Mechanic

MD Anderson Cancer Center

📍 Houston, TX 💰 Salary not listed 🕐 Full Time 📅 Posted July 28, 2026
License Required

You will be taken to the employer's application page. Listing expires September 5, 2026.

Job Description

Join a Department Where Your Work Directly Fuels Groundbreaking Discoveries in Cancer Research

As part of the Operations & Maintenance (OAM) team, you will support world class researchers—including a Nobel Prize-winning scientist whose work has led to cures for certain types of melanoma. Your expertise will help power research that has the potential to save countless lives. The MDA South Campus is expanding with two cutting edge research buildings, making this an exciting time to join a growing and future focused team. Our department thrives on continuous learning, innovation, and collaboration. We are actively seeking individuals who want to grow their skills, take on new challenges, and evolve alongside our rapidly advancing campus infrastructure. Working here means becoming part of a mission-driven community committed to eliminating cancer. Every system you sustain, optimize, or improve contributes directly to the success of life changing scientific breakthroughs.

Ideal candidate will have a minimum of two years of large commercial HVAC experience and hold an EPA Universal license.

Salary Range: $69,000 - $86,000 - $103,000

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:00am-3:30pm

What's in it for you:

  • Employer-paid medical coverage starting day one for employees working 30 hours/week, plus optional group dental, vision, life, AD&D, and disability insurance.
  • Accruals for Paid Time Off (PTO) and Extended Illness Bank (EIB), plus paid holidays, wellness, childcare, and other leave options.
  • Tuition Assistance Program after six months of service and access to extensive wellness, fitness, and employee resource groups.
  • Defined-benefit pension through the Teachers Retirement System, voluntary retirement plans, and employer-paid life and reduced salary protection programs.

Why Join MD Anderson?

  • Be part of a world-renowned cancer center making an impact across Texas and beyond.
  • Collaborate with top-tier leaders and institutions in academic medicine.
  • Help shape the future of healthcare through bold, system-wide innovation.
  • Work with a Mission-Driven Organization: Be part of MD Anderson's mission to eliminate cancer through integrated patient care, research, and education, contributing to a globally recognized institution with a meaningful purpose.

Summary

The primary purpose of the HVAC Mechanic position is to maintain heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC/R) systems. This position impacts the HVAC/R systems through maintenance and service.

Essential Job Functions

  • Installs, maintains and repairs HVAC systems.
  • Makes initial settings and final adjustments of commercial HVAC systems and modifies existing installations to obtain required results.
  • Monitors and troubleshoots HVAC issues through BAS systems and/or other diagnostic tools.
  • Follows schedule of preventive maintenance and makes recommendations regarding major overhaul of systems.
  • Investigates outages.
  • May order materials and maintain inventory.

Job Specific Competencies

Maintain Facility appearance, Functionality and Safety

  • Knowledge of typical HVAC system control strategies.
  • Assist with the repair/calibrate HVAC systems to include air handling units, fan coil units, terminal boxes, dampers, thermostats, sensors, control valves, and associated HVAC equipment.
  • Read and interpret HVAC, mechanical, electronic, and electrical schematics, blueprints, and floor plans.
  • Quickly respond to client "Dispatch" work order requests for a variety of tasks.
  • Disable malfunctioning equipment.
  • Perform preventive maintenance of all roof top exhaust fans, air handling units for the MDA South Campus.
  • Maintain and repair all exhaust fans, air handling units for the MDA South Campus (chill water and steam valves, filter changes, replacement of motors, bearings, shafts, motor bearings, and squirrel cages).
  • Respond to customers' hot and cold room temperature calls.
  • Perform and maintain air balance of rooms to ensure positive or negative pressures.
  • Maintain and repair all mixing boxes controlling temperatures of labs and offices.
  • Requisition parts and materials to repair air handlers, exhaust fans, and miscellaneous equipment.
  • Install and maintain the air conditioning duct work and grills for proper air distribution.

Reduce Outside Contractor Costs

  • Utilize the CMMS System (Maximo) to document all preventative maintenance and repair work on facilities equipment.
  • Requisition material.
  • Skilled in practices, methods, materials, tools and equipment of electronic technician trade.

Other duties as assigned

  • The employee may be expected to be part of an on-call group and when assigned this responsibility will be compensated for that time. When on-call, the employee must be available and be able to respond in accordance to policy. Periods of alert when Emergency Conditions may be expected are not considered on-call.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Education

  • Required: High School Diploma or Equivalent
  • Preferred: Associate's Degree Air conditioning/refrigeration engineering or technology or mechanical engineering.
  • Preferred: Bachelor's Degree Air conditioning/refrigeration engineering or technology or mechanical engineering.

Work Experience

  • Required: Four years Experience in a mechanical field to include commercial installation, repair and maintenance of HVAC, refrigeration, control systems or other mechanical environments. or
  • Required: Three years Experience required with preferred Associates degree, as referenced by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR). or
  • Required: 2 years Experience required with preferred Bachelors degree, as referenced by the TDLR.

Licenses and Certifications

  • Required: UC-EPA - Universal Certification Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Upon Hire
  • Preferred: TDL - Texas Drivers License Valid and current Texas driver's license with a minimum of three year's history of verifiable driving history. With less than three years of driving history, but with a minimum of one year of driving history, a waiver may be requested. Upon Hire
  • Preferred: ACRC - A/C & Refrigeration Contractor Registered Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (ACR) Technician issued by the State of Texas Upon Hire

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center offers excellent retirement programs, tuition benefits, educational opportunities, and individual and team recognition. This position may be responsible for maintaining the security and integrity of critical infrastructure, as defined in Section 113.001(2) of the Texas Business and Commerce Code and therefore may require routine reviews and screening. The ability to satisfy and maintain all requirements necessary to ensure the continued security and integrity of such infrastructure is a condition of hire and continued employment. It is the policy of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state, or local laws unless such distinction is required by law.

Additional Information

  • Requisition ID: 182054
  • Employment Status: Full-Time
  • Employee Status: Regular
  • Work Week: Days
  • Minimum Salary US Dollar (USD): 69,000
  • Midpoint Salary US Dollar (USD): 86,000
  • Maximum: 103,000

What Most AC & HVAC Job Listings Don't Tell You

General overview for this role type; specifics vary by employer.

HVAC in Texas requires a state license at the company level, and technicians who handle refrigerant need EPA Section 608 certification. Many shops also want NATE certification for higher pay. You can start as an installer helper or entry technician and grow into diagnostics and system design. Pay is often hourly with strong overtime in summer, and service techs frequently earn commission or spiffs on repairs and system sales.

Seasonality drives this trade in Houston. Summer is brutal and busy, with long days, attic heat, and heavy on-call rotations when systems fail. Winter shifts toward heating checks, maintenance plans, and install backlog. New hires underestimate the physical toll of attic and rooftop work in extreme heat. You drive a stocked truck, carry gauges and recovery gear, and stay ready for after-hours emergencies. Steady demand and a shortage of skilled techs keep the field open to anyone who shows up and learns fast.

What to Expect Day-to-Day

General overview for this role type; specifics vary by employer.

A service tech starts with a dispatch list and a truck loaded with common parts. You roll to no-cool calls, check the thermostat, measure refrigerant pressures, test the compressor and capacitor, and inspect the coil and blower. You explain the fault, quote the fix, and get approval before the repair.

Maintenance visits fill much of the shoulder seasons. You clean coils, change filters, flush drain lines, and check amperage so a system does not fail in the next heat wave. Install crews spend the day setting condensers and air handlers, running line sets and ductwork, and brazing connections. Customer trust matters because many repairs are invisible to the homeowner. You document readings, photograph the work, and close the ticket in the field. Expect heat, ladders, tight attics, and a lot of driving between calls, balanced by the satisfaction of restoring cool air on a hundred degree day.

What AC & HVAC Jobs Pay in Houston

Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area (HVAC Mechanics and Installers).

This listing does not state a wage. Here is the typical range for ac & hvac roles in Houston so you know what to expect.
$38,792 Median $58,947 $83,117
Entry (10th)
$38,792
25th
$47,029
Median
$58,947
Experienced (90th)
$83,117

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area. Median is about $28.34/hr.

Becoming a Licensed HVAC Technician in Texas

HVAC contracting is licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and the license is held at the company level by a certified technician. Anyone who handles refrigerant needs federal EPA Section 608 certification. Many employers also value NATE certification, which raises pay. You can start as an installer helper with no license, earn your EPA card early, and build toward the ACR technician and then contractor license through documented experience and exams. Summer overtime is common while you climb.

Career Ladder and Pay

  1. 1
    Install Helper / Entry Tech $47,029/yr

    Assist installs and maintenance while earning EPA 608 certification.

  2. 2
    Service Technician $58,947/yr

    Diagnose and repair systems solo. NATE certification lifts pay.

  3. 3
    Lead Tech / Comfort Advisor $73,902/yr

    Handle complex diagnostics, system design, and replacement sales.

  4. 4
    Install Foreman / Estimator $73,902/yr

    Run install crews and bid residential and commercial systems.

  5. 5
    HVAC Contractor $83,117/yr

    Hold the state license and run your own heating and cooling company.

Licensing paths and timelines are general guidance for this trade in Texas. Confirm current requirements with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation or the relevant state agency.

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