Hire a stationary engineer in Greater Montreal
Hiring a stationary engineer starts with one document: your plant’s classification notice. It sets the certificate class to require and the supervision mode, and therefore the shifts. This page gives a job description to copy, the requirements the law actually imposes, and eight questions that separate a certificate holder from an engineer who knows your type of plant.
Job description to copy
Replace what is in brackets, then post it as is.
Stationary engineer
Location: [city], Greater Montreal · Schedule: [day / evening / night], [number] h per week
Pay: [to be set] (benchmark: median $37.50/h in Quebec, $34.35/h in Montreal (Job Bank))
Responsibilities
- Supervise the stationary machinery plant according to the mode stated on the classification notice
- Start up, adjust and shut down boilers, refrigeration systems and auxiliary equipment
- Read the instruments and keep the plant log, available to the inspector at all times
- Test and treat boiler water and the fluids in heating and refrigeration circuits
- Maintain pumps, fans, air compressors, piping and fittings
- Check that protective devices work: pressure limiters, water level limiters and flame failure devices
- Use the building automation software and the preventive maintenance software
- Diagnose breakdowns, make minor repairs and coordinate major repairs with contractors
- Follow energy consumption and propose settings that reduce it
- Supervise the work of apprentices registered for the matching class
Requirements
- Certificate of qualification in stationary engine mechanics in the class and category required by your classification notice, valid and renewed every four years
- Refrigeration category (class B or A) if your plant includes refrigeration
- DEP en mécanique de machines fixes or equivalent experience recognized by the ministry
- Availability for the rotation the supervision mode imposes: days, evenings, nights and weekends where applicable
- Care in keeping the log and in applying health and safety procedures
- Reading building plans and piping diagrams
Assets
- A certificate of a higher class than required, useful for relief and for backing up the chief engineer
- Certificates in both categories, energy production and refrigeration
- Experience with the building automation software you use
- Simple brazing, welding and oxy-fuel cutting
- Experience managing a building’s energy efficiency
- Functional English if your equipment manuals or suppliers are in English
What we offer
[benefits, insurance, shift premiums, training]
Stationary engineer pay benchmark
| Region | Median | Offered in postings |
|---|---|---|
| All of Quebec | $37.50/h | — |
| Montérégie | $35.28/h | — |
| Montréal | $34.35/h | $35 (11) |
| Laval | $35.52/h | — |
| Lanaudière | $37.42/h | — |
| Laurentides | $35.29/h | — |
Median published by Job Bank (NOC 92100) and median offered in job postings (6 months, February to August 2026); in brackets, the number of hourly postings.
Eight interview questions
- Which certificate class and category do you hold, and on what type of plant did you log your hours?
- Walk me through your start-of-shift round: which instruments do you read, and what goes in the log?
- The low-water cutoff on a boiler has just shut the burner down: what do you do, and in what order?
- How do you treat boiler feedwater, and which test results make you act?
- You are on continuous supervision and need to leave the room: who can relieve you, and why?
- Tell me about a fault you caught in the building automation software before it shut the plant down.
- Which repair did you refuse to do alone, and who did you hand it to?
- What setting change did you make to cut a building’s energy use, and how did you measure the result?
Timelines and difficulties
Three things lengthen the hiring of a stationary engineer. The first is the class. The certificate you must require depends on your plant, and the higher the class, the thinner the pool: class 1 takes at least 7,500 hours of apprenticeship and an exam of about seven hours, class 4 takes 1,000. A class 4 candidate cannot direct a class 2 plant; they can, however, do their apprenticeship there under a certificate holder’s supervision, if you attach your classification notice to their registration. The second is continuous supervision. Quebec’s Regulation respecting stationary enginemen forbids the engineer to leave the room without being relieved by a colleague whose class is no more than one degree below the class required of the chief engineer: vacations, sick leave and departures must be covered by certified staff, not by any maintenance employee. The same regulation requires you to notify the board of examiners as soon as a stationary engineer resigns or is dismissed. The third is training: across the five Greater Montreal regions, Inforoute FPT lists only three schools that offer the DEP. State the class, the category and the supervision mode in the job ad.
We run this search for employers in Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore and the South Shore. Our recruitment service: skilled trades
If the placement does not hold six months, we replace it.
The replacement is on us. You do not pay twice for the same role.
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