Vocational.uk The route, drawn out

Engineering & Manufacturing

Maintenance Engineering Technician

Keep production plant running — mechanical, electrical and control systems, planned and reactive.

High demand Level 3 apprenticeship
Typical pay once qualified
£35,000 – £52,000
Training length
3.5 years
Apprenticeship standard
Maintenance and operations engineering technician
Where to train
356 providers listed

The route, drawn out

DWG 3B8A · 5 stops · 3.5 years to qualify
  1. Day one Start as an apprentice from £15.6k
  2. Year 2 Training continues, pay rises min. £21.2k+
  3. 3.5 years Fully qualified around £35k
  4. +3–5 years Experienced up to £52k
  5. Then Level 4 engineering technician and HNC/HND next step

The first figures are legal minimums: the apprentice rate (£8.00/hr) and the National Minimum Wage for 18–20s and 21+ from April 2026, on a 37.5-hour week. Qualified and experienced pay are indicative UK ranges — most employers pay apprentices above the minimum.

What the job is

Multi-skilled maintenance technicians are the people a factory cannot operate without. You will carry out planned maintenance, diagnose breakdowns under pressure, and improve reliability so the same fault does not recur.

The job combines mechanical fitting, electrical work, PLCs and instrumentation, which is why it is one of the best-paid technician roles in manufacturing. Shift premiums and callout add substantially to base pay.

A typical day

  • Carry out planned preventive maintenance to schedule
  • Diagnose and repair mechanical, electrical and control faults
  • Work with PLCs, sensors, drives and instrumentation
  • Follow isolation, permit-to-work and lock-off procedures
  • Record work and suggest reliability improvements

How you get in

  • Usually GCSE grade 4 (C) or above in maths, English and a science
  • Genuine interest in how machines work and fail
  • Calm under pressure — production is stopped while you fix it
  • Aptitude and mechanical comprehension tests are common

Where it leads

  • Level 4 engineering technician and HNC/HND
  • Controls, automation and PLC programming specialisms
  • Maintenance supervisor, then engineering manager
  • Reliability engineering and continuous improvement roles

Where to train for this

356 colleges and training providers on our list cover Maintenance Engineering Technician training. Open your region to see them, then check current intakes with the provider directly.

East Midlands 17
East of England 20
London 19
North East 19
North West 32
South East 29
South West 23
UK-wide 88
West Midlands 29
Yorkshire and the Humber 23
East Scotland 6
North Scotland 8
West Scotland 9
North Wales 3
South Wales 11
West Wales 2
Northern Ireland 15
Channel Islands 2
Isle of Man 1

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