Industrial Electrician
An Industrial Electrician installs, maintains, and repairs electrical systems, machinery, and control equipment in manufacturing plants, factories, and large industrial facilities.
What this job is
An Industrial Electrician installs, maintains, and repairs electrical systems, machinery, and control equipment in manufacturing plants, factories, and large industrial facilities. They diagnose electrical faults using test equipment, perform preventive maintenance to minimise downtime, and ensure all work complies with the Electrical Safety Act and relevant Australian Standards (AS/NZS 3000). They work both on high-voltage distribution systems and low-voltage control circuits, often under shift patterns to support continuous production operations.
Are employers advertising this role?
Rising, up 24.4% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Install electrical switchboards, circuit breakers, transformers, and distribution panels according to architectural and electrical drawings and Australian Standards AS/NZS 3000. Test and commission electrical equipment using multimeters, insulation testers, and power analysers to verify safe operation before handover. Diagnose electrical faults in motors, generators, and industrial machinery using circuit diagrams and diagnostic equipment to identify root causes. Perform planned preventive maintenance on switchboards, substations, and control systems to detect wear and degradation before failure. Repair or replace faulty electrical components including contactors, relays, overload protection devices, and cable connections. Terminate and test power and control cables to specification, including proper earthing and safety labelling in accordance with AS/NZS standards. Maintain detailed maintenance records and work logs to track equipment history, defects, and remedial actions for compliance audits. Conduct lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures and work safely at heights or in confined spaces when servicing plant equipment.
Who does this now
About 4,800 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3)
Registration or licensing is required.
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation had trouble finding suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Jobs and Skills Australia defines an occupation-ready qualification as:
Completing this qualification will provide the skills and knowledge to undertake this occupation. Further training and experience may be required to meet specific industry requirements including licensing and registration.
Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
You'll need a Certificate III or IV in electrotechnology, which takes 3 to 4 years if you're starting from scratch. Manufacturing is contracting in Australia, so steady full-time jobs are getting harder to find. Shift work (nights, weekends) is common because factories run 24/7. Pay plateaus after you're qualified: there's no quick jump to high earnings like some trades offer.
Where the jobs are
Most jobs are on-site at factories: remote work doesn't apply.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 3411, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Attention to Detailcore
- Continuous Learning and Upskillingcore
- Incident Reportingcore
- Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
- Problem Solvingcore
- Process Documentationcore
- Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
- Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Team Collaborationcore
- Time Management and Prioritisationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Written Communicationcore
- Active Listening
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracy
- Digital Literacy
- Process Improvement Identification
- Record Management
- Stakeholder Communication
- Workload Self-Management
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
What Industrial Electrician workers move into, from ten years of tax records.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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