Most job seekers scroll straight past a university facilities role. If you're an HVAC technician who holds a refrigerant handling licence, that scroll is a mistake.

Queensland University of Technology is hiring a Technical Officer, HVAC Systems. The job is based in Brisbane and sits inside the university's properties and facilities division. It's not an academic posting, and it's not a desk job. You're being hired to keep heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration plant running across a large, complex campus portfolio.

The title underplays the role. QUT's buildings include research laboratories that need stable temperature and humidity, teaching spaces that fill with hundreds of people, offices, libraries, and specialist spaces such as server rooms and cold storage. Each of those spaces depends on HVAC plant that has to be maintained, upgraded, monitored and repaired. That's where you come in.

What the role actually involves

You'll be the technical authority for HVAC and refrigeration systems on campus. That means planned maintenance, reactive breakdowns, contractor management, compliance checks and capital project advice. You'll spend part of the week reviewing building management system data, part of it walking plant rooms, and part of it briefing contractors or campus stakeholders.

Expect to deal with chillers, cooling towers, boilers, air handling units, fan coil units, split systems, variable refrigerant flow systems and refrigeration cabinets. You'll also need to understand controls: set points, schedules, alarms, energy performance. If a laboratory says its space won't hold 21 degrees, you need to work out whether the fault is the chiller, the air handling unit, the control sequence, or something else entirely.

Universities are unusual clients for an HVAC technician. The campus is a mix of old and new building stock, heritage constraints, research-specific environments, and strict safety and environmental obligations. You won't just fix plant; you'll help decide when plant is replaced, what the replacement scope should be, and how disruption to teaching and research is minimised.

Where the role sits at QUT

QUT runs two main campuses in Brisbane: Gardens Point in the city centre and Kelvin Grove near the CBD fringe. QUT also operates other sites, and building services staff work across the portfolio. The university has a substantial building footprint, and HVAC is one of the largest energy loads on any campus.

The role likely reports to a supervisor or manager within the properties, facilities or infrastructure team. You'll work alongside electricians, plumbers, fire services officers, building automation specialists and project managers. The job is not isolated; you're part of a team that keeps critical research and teaching environments running.

Why does this matter for your application? Because QUT is not hiring a contractor to do one job. It's hiring an in-house technical officer who will carry institutional knowledge about campus systems. The selection panel will look for evidence that you can communicate with academics, researchers and administrators, not just with other tradespeople.

Licences, skills and experience

The role title points to HVAC systems, but the selection process will test more than your trade background. You'll need a current Australian Refrigeration Council refrigerant handling licence if the role involves working on refrigeration or air conditioning containing fluorocarbon refrigerant. In Queensland, additional electrical or restricted electrical work licences may be required depending on the plant you'll service.

Relevant qualifications include a Certificate III in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, an electrical trade certificate, or an advanced diploma in mechanical or building services engineering. Some university technical officer roles sit at a higher classification because they combine trade knowledge with asset management, contractor supervision and compliance reporting. AIRAH, the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating, provides professional development that can strengthen this kind of application.

Experience with building management systems matters. QUT's campuses will run a range of controls platforms, and the job will require you to read trends, adjust set points, and diagnose faults from a BMS front end. If you've worked with Schneider, Siemens, Johnson Controls, Honeywell, Delta or Niagara, say so clearly. Panel members want examples of how you used those tools to solve a problem, not a list of brand names.

The application process

QUT uses the NGA.NET recruitment portal for this vacancy. You apply through the external candidate portal, not by emailing a resume to the facilities manager. The AcademicJobs listing for this Technical Officer HVAC Systems role links to the application page and summarises the requirements. Read it before you start writing.

Most university job applications in Australia follow a similar pattern. You'll need a current CV, a short cover letter or statement, and responses to selection criteria. The selection criteria are the real test. Each criterion asks for evidence of a capability, and the panel usually scores answers against the level of the role. Generic statements such as "I have extensive experience in HVAC maintenance" won't score well. A crisp example with the situation, what you did, and the result will.

If the position description asks for experience in contractor management, use an example where you supervised a contractor, checked their induction, managed a permit to work, and signed off the job. If it asks for compliance knowledge, refer to Australian Standards, work health and safety legislation, and any site-specific environmental requirements.

Five moves that make you a stronger candidate

• Put your licence numbers at the top of your CV, not buried on page three. ARCtick, electrical, restricted electrical, white card, working at heights, confined space. If it's current, list it.
• Match each selection criterion with one specific example from the past five years. Use numbers: plant capacity, budget, downtime reduced, number of contractors supervised.
• Mention your experience with BMS platforms by name, and give one fault you diagnosed from the front end rather than from the plant room floor.
• Show you understand university environments. Mention work in labs, hospitals, data centres, or other critical environments where temperature and humidity were tightly controlled.
• Write your cover letter for a non-technical reader. The first person to screen your application may not be an HVAC specialist. Plain language wins.

The skills shortage across Australia's HVAC and refrigeration trades is not easing. Jobs and Skills Australia continues to identify airconditioning and refrigeration occupations among trades with persistent shortage pressure. That gives skilled candidates some negotiating room, but it also means good university roles attract strong internal applicants. Apply early and apply carefully.

What to check before you submit

Read the position description twice. Check the closing date and time, because university portals close at the advertised moment, not when you get around to it. Confirm your documents are in the requested format. If the portal asks for a statement against selection criteria, don't just attach it as part of your resume. Upload it as a separate document if that's what the form requires.

If you're shortlisted, expect a panel interview that includes technical questions and probably a practical exercise or site walk. You may be asked to describe how you would prioritise a chiller fault in a research lab against a noisy fan in a lecture theatre. The panel wants judgement, not just trade knowledge.

The role is what you make of it. University pay and conditions sit inside enterprise agreements, with set classification levels and annual increments. The work is steady and the site is complex. The equipment variety is broader than most commercial portfolios, which keeps the problem-solving interesting. If you've spent years chasing breakdowns for a contractor, this is the kind of move that gets you off the tools full-time without leaving the plant room behind.