Field Service Technician

Why This Role Matters

"We are definitely willing to pay more for technicians with experience and talent, you know, that have experience as a mechanic. They understand tight tolerances, they understand rotating assemblies. Those are the kind of people we need, and we're having a hell of a time finding folks with that in their background."

SIEBTECHNIK Tema builds and services high-speed centrifuges that dewater product inside plants that run 24/7. When one goes down, the plant calls Cincinnati. The person in this seat is the one who answers, in the shop or on site, and keeps a customer's production line alive. Buck put it plainly in the original Conversation: "We're not selling widgets here. We're selling customized process equipment that's tailored to their specific requirements."

The seat is open again because the first attempt did not take. SIEBTECHNIK hired at the entry-level band, gave it a real shot, and it did not work out. Buck's words: "I think we wanted to make it work, and we gave him a shot, and it didn't end up working out. And that's okay." The lesson he took from it was not about the person. It was about the level. The shop needs someone who already knows what a bad bearing fit feels like, not someone learning what a bearing is. At the same time, one of the senior technicians is retiring at the end of this year and two others are being groomed to succeed Gary. The knowledge in that shop has to be passed to someone who can carry it, and that someone has to be hired now.

The Mission

In the first 12 months, become the Cincinnati technician Gary can send anywhere. Tear down, inspect, quote and rebuild centrifuge gearboxes in the shop when you are home. Travel to customer plants when there is field work and come back with the machine running and the customer's phone number in yours. Learn SIEBTECHNIK's equipment on top of the mechanical foundation you already have, because the company trains "as many times as it takes" but it is no longer hiring someone who needs the foundation taught.

Buck described the person in one breath: "willing to travel, team player, good in front of customers, can be out on their own." The technical side is just as specific: tight tolerance rotating equipment, stack-ups, clutches, planetary gears, transmissions. Someone who has rebuilt a diesel engine, kept a power plant running, or torn down and rebuilt transmissions already speaks the language. This mission is to take that language and apply it to equipment few people in the country have mastered, inside a shop where people stay 35 years.

Performance Objectives

Buck and Gary described the outcomes. The timeframes below are VHS-proposed for an experienced-mechanic hire and have not been confirmed by the client; the original entry-level order ran 30, 60 and 90 day shop milestones. Confirm with Buck before the first submission.

1. Complete a full in-house gearbox rebuild cycle within 90 days: teardown, full inspection, parts list for the customer quote, and reassembly after approval, with the same technician on both ends. Measured by Gary signing off on your first unassisted rebuild.
   

2. Diagnose root cause on high-speed rotating equipment within 90 days: vibration traced to clearance, bearing fit, out-of-balance or out-of-round parts, worked "as a whole" rather than part by part. Measured by senior tech review of your inspection reports.
   

3. Run customer site calls alongside a senior field technician by day 90 and on your own by month 6: scheduled rebuilds and breakdowns, typically three to five days including travel. Measured by Gary dispatching you solo.
   

4. Be the technician Gary can call when a plant goes down within 6 months. Gary does not run a rotation; he calls cell phones and sends who is available. Measured by being on that list and answering.
   

5. Reach first-name status with the customers you serve within 12 months, so they call you directly for help the way they call the current senior techs. Measured by inbound customer calls routed to you.
   

6. Absorb the equipment knowledge of the retiring senior technician and the two successors through 2027, so the shop's capacity does not drop when the retirement lands. Measured by Gary's shop coverage plan.
   

Fit Traits

Tolerance Discipline: Treats a thousandth as a thousandth and understands how stack-ups decide whether a rotating assembly runs or shakes. Signal from the Conversation: "They've got a deep appreciation, understanding of how important that is and how stack ups work, and how things need to go together to operate properly, and how tolerancing can affect that."

Gear and Drivetrain Fluency: Has actually had clutches, planetary gears and transmissions apart on a bench, not just on a drawing. Signal: "I think transmission mechanics are ideal. They've worked on transmissions, rebuilding them, tearing them apart, or manufacturing them."

Can Be Out On Their Own: Walks into a customer plant alone, represents the company, and solves the problem without a supervisor on the line. Signal: "Willing to travel, team player, good in front of customers, can be out on their own."

Team Player in a Six-Person Shop: Asks questions, shares the bench, and respects the people who have been there 35 years. Signal from Gary: "We do have many people here with many years of experience that you can contact and work with and ask questions."

Stays: Treats this as a career destination, not a stop. Signal from Gary: "Everyone that has come here pretty much stays here, and that's what we're looking for."

Who You'll Work For

Buck Evers, Vice President. Army ROTC commission, seven years active duty, 15 years in the Guard as an M-Day soldier, then a civilian career in food and manufacturing at mostly publicly traded companies. SIEBTECHNIK is his first privately owned employer and he chose it on purpose. He described what drew him: "their commitment and investment in their people." He runs a five-year, board-approved growth plan and talks about technicians as the reason customers stay. On the November 5 call he took the failed first hire on himself, not on the candidate or the recruiter.

"This is a place where someone can come and be here and serve for 40 years."

Gary Helsley, Service Shop Manager. Cincinnati native, two years of auto and truck mechanic schooling, three years as a car mechanic, then 35 years at this company starting when the shop was three people. He is the one who looks at the schedule, knows who is where, and starts calling cell phones when a plant goes down. He does not give speeches. He trains until it sticks and expects you to ask when you do not know. Two of his senior technicians will succeed him and they will sit in on your interviews.

Why Veterans Succeed Here

If you spent your service with a torque wrench and a feeler gauge in your hands, you have the foundation this shop is paying for. A 91B who has pulled and rebuilt transmissions, a Machinist's Mate who has kept a main propulsion plant turning, a Machinery Repairman who has cut a bearing journal to spec: Buck named every one of those backgrounds without using the MOS code. "They've rebuilt diesel engines, or they've worked on power plants." "Transmission mechanics are ideal." "Machinists." That is the Army motor pool, the Navy engine room and the depot machine shop in civilian words.

The operating rhythm will feel familiar. Scheduled trips run Monday to Friday. When a plant goes down on a Saturday, Gary works the roster and calls whoever is available. Justin said it on camera: "That hits well in the military. We've been there, done that." A three to five day trip to a customer site, with a machine that has to run before you leave, is a mission with a clear end state.

The leadership structure will feel familiar too. Buck is a retired officer with 22 years of service who chose this company because it invests in people for the long term. Gary is the senior NCO equivalent: 35 years, every answer short and exact, trains until it sticks, no patience for shortcuts. The two senior techs in line to succeed him are the staff sergeants you learn from on the bench.

VHS matched this role because the technical requirements (tolerances, rotating assemblies, gear trains, field troubleshooting alone), the operating tempo (scheduled travel plus emergency response), and the leadership culture (long tenure, train-until-it-sticks, family unit) align with mid-career mechanical and engineering NCOs and petty officers from vehicle, aviation, propulsion and machinist ratings. This is a seat for someone leaving the service with the hands, not someone leaving with the ambition to get them.
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Requirements

Minimums only. Military equivalents are the translations VHS applies on the first screen; they are not a guarantee of client acceptance.

Benefits

Compensation and Benefits

Base salary: $70,000 to $90,000, re-benchmarked by SIEBTECHNIK in 2026. How Buck broke the bands down on the November 5 call: