Robotic field service engineer salary in the US and Canada (and what it really costs a robot startup)
Short answer: Government data puts the median wage for the closest occupations at about $31–36 USD per hour in the US and $37–46 CAD per hour in British Columbia. Add benefits, payroll taxes, a vehicle, travel and tools, and one full-time robot field service engineer costs roughly $139,000–144,000 USD or $124,000–132,000 CAD a year (our estimate, method below). What decides whether that is good value is how many hours a year the engineer actually spends on site fixing robots: at a few hundred hours, each productive hour costs several times the wage, and hourly outsourcing is usually cheaper.
The wage figures below come from official statistics. The fully loaded cost and cost-per-hour figures are our estimates, built from public rates with the method shown in each table. Your numbers will differ by city, seniority and travel. This is not tax, payroll or immigration advice.
Robotic field service engineer salary: the closest official data
Neither the US Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) nor Canada's National Occupational Classification (NOC) has a code for "robotic field service engineer". The work (diagnosing, repairing and commissioning mobile robots, robot arms and other automated equipment at customer sites) sits closest to the occupations below. These are wages paid to employees, not billing rates.
United States: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (USD per hour)
| Occupation (SOC code) | 10th percentile | Median | 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial machinery mechanics (49-9041) | 22.17 | 31.02 | 45.76 |
| Electrical and electronics repairers, commercial and industrial equipment (49-2094) | 22.52 | 35.62 | 50.77 |
| Electro-mechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians (17-3024) | 23.00 | 35.53 | 52.83 |
At 2,080 paid hours a year, those medians work out to about $64,500, $74,100 and $73,900 USD. Location matters a lot. State medians for the same three occupations:
| State | 49-9041 | 49-2094 | 17-3024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 35.77 | 41.86 | 39.21 |
| Washington | 37.12 | 47.69 | 39.05 |
Canada: Job Bank wages, updated 2025-11-19, based on 2023–2024 Labour Force Survey data (CAD per hour)
| Occupation | Region | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction millwrights and industrial mechanics (NOC 72400) | Canada | 24.00 | 37.00 | 52.00 |
| British Columbia | 25.25 | 42.00 | 55.00 | |
| Lower Mainland–Southwest (Greater Vancouver) | 23.00 | 37.00 | 48.08 | |
| Electrical and electronics engineering technologists and technicians (NOC 22310) | British Columbia | 22.00 | 37.96 | 66.00 |
| Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics | British Columbia | 31.00 | 46.00 | 48.50 |
The US figures are May 2025; the Canadian figures cover 2023–2024. Treat the comparison as order of magnitude only. We do not hard-code an exchange rate; convert at the day's rate. Job postings on sites like Glassdoor or Indeed often show higher titles and pay for "robotics field service engineer" roles, but those are self-reported or advertised figures, not official statistics, and we have not used them here.
What goes into the fully loaded cost
The wage is only the first line. A checklist of what a robot company actually pays for one field engineer:
- Wage, plus overtime and on-call pay if robots must be fixed outside business hours.
- Benefits: health and dental insurance, retirement contributions, paid leave.
- Statutory payroll costs: in the US, Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation; in Canada, CPP, CPP2, EI and provincial workers' compensation (WorkSafeBC in BC).
- Vehicle: a van or mileage allowance, insurance, parking.
- Travel: flights, hotels and meals for sites outside the home city.
- Tools and equipment: laptop, phone, diagnostic tools, safety gear.
- Training on your robot: often a trip to the factory or head office.
- Hiring and management: recruiting time or fees, a manager's time, scheduling.
- Legal entity and payroll compliance: a local company or an employer of record (EOR) to employ the person.
- Idle time: every paid hour the engineer is not on a customer site.
US benefits: about 31% of total compensation
The BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation survey (June 2026) puts private-industry employer cost for installation, maintenance and repair occupations at $49.01 per hour worked: $33.61 in wages (68.6%) and $15.41 in benefits (31.4%). The benefits include legally required contributions (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and workers' compensation) of $3.81, insurance of $4.27, retirement of $2.15 and paid leave of $3.29. A quick rule: wage ÷ 0.686 ≈ total employer compensation cost.
BC statutory payroll costs in 2026
Using the BC median of $42 CAD per hour × 2,080 hours (about $87,360 a year):
| Item | 2026 rule | Employer cost per year |
|---|---|---|
| CPP | 5.95%, employer maximum $4,230.45 | $4,230 |
| CPP2 | 4% on earnings between $74,600 and $85,000, employer maximum $416 | $416 |
| EI | Employer rate 2.282%, maximum $1,572.30 | $1,572 |
| WorkSafeBC | Provincial average base rate $1.55 per $100 of payroll (actual rate depends on industry classification) | About $1,354 |
| BC Employer Health Tax | Exempt for BC payroll up to $1 million | $0 for a small team |
| Total | About $7,600 (about 8.7%) |
That is only the statutory part. Private health and dental plans, paid leave above the minimum, overtime and hiring costs are extra.
Fully loaded cost and cost per on-site hour (estimates)
These are worked estimates. Each line shows the basis so you can swap in your own numbers.
| Item | US (USD) | BC (CAD) | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wage | 74,090 | 87,360 | US: 49-2094 median $35.62 × 2,080 h. BC: NOC 72400 median $42 × 2,080 h |
| Benefits and statutory costs | 33,900 | 7,600 + private benefits about 3,000–6,000 | US: ECEC benefits share of 31.4%. BC: table above; private benefits are our estimate |
| Vehicle and mileage | About 19,000 | About 13,700 | US: 25,000 miles × IRS business standard rate of $0.76/mile (July–December 2026; $0.725 in January–June). BC: 20,000 km × 2026 Canadian reasonable allowance rates ($0.73 first 5,000 km, $0.67 after) |
| Travel (hotel and meals) | About 7,200 | About 7,000 | US: 40 nights × GSA FY2027 standard rate (lodging $113 + M&IE $68). BC: similar order of magnitude. Flights extra |
| Tools, laptop, phone, training | 5,000–10,000 | 5,000–10,000 | Our estimate. One training trip to the factory can cost several thousand on its own |
| Total | About 139,000–144,000 | About 124,000–132,000 |
Not included: recruiting time (often months), management time, setting up a local entity or EOR, and the cost of rehiring and retraining if the person leaves.
The number that matters: productive on-site hours
You pay for 2,080 hours, but a field engineer never spends 2,080 hours fixing robots. There is driving, waiting for access, reports, training, vacation and, for a new market, gaps with no work orders at all.
- A 2017 industry survey by The Service Council (2016 data, 42 companies) found average technician utilization of about 73% of available time, with driving taking about 27% of the working day. The data is old and the sample small; use it as a ceiling for a mature, fully booked team.
- A robot maker that has just entered North America usually has few installs spread across many cities, so the real figure is far lower.
Divide the yearly cost by the hours actually spent at customer sites:
| On-site hours per year | Roughly | US cost per on-site hour (at $140,000 USD/yr) | BC cost per on-site hour (at $128,000 CAD/yr) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | 100 jobs × 3 h | About $467 USD | About $427 CAD |
| 600 | 200 jobs × 3 h | About $233 USD | About $213 CAD |
| 1,000 | About 20 h on site per week | About $140 USD | About $128 CAD |
| 1,300 | Close to fully booked | About $108 USD | About $98 CAD |
(Example calculation, rounded.)
Compared with hourly outsourcing
KeepRobots' current published rates, taxes extra: on-site labour $150 CAD per hour in Canada and $150 USD per hour in the US; diagnostic fee $200 CAD per visit in Canada or $200 USD in the US (credited if the repair is approved); call-out fee $100 CAD per visit in our Greater Vancouver core area. Travel outside the core area is quoted separately.
A 3-hour job in our core area, repair approved (so the diagnostic fee is credited): $100 + 3 × $150 = $550 CAD, or about $183 CAD per on-site hour. If the repair is not approved, the $200 CAD diagnostic fee is charged instead.
| Jobs per year (3 h each) | Outsourced labour and call-out (CAD, parts and tax extra) | In-house BC engineer (CAD, estimate) |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | About $55,000 | About $128,000 |
| 200 | About $110,000 | About $128,000 |
| About 233 (699 h) | About $128,000 | About $128,000 |
| 400 | About $220,000 | About $128,000, possibly plus a second person for coverage |
On these example numbers, the rough break-even in one Canadian metro area is around 233 jobs a year, or about 700 on-site hours (233 × 3 h). Below that, outsourcing costs less; above it, hiring starts to make sense, provided the work is concentrated in that city. In the US the arithmetic is similar: at $150 USD per hour, $140,000 buys about 930 on-site hours before travel, so the break-even is higher, but travel to sites far from Vancouver adds to every outsourced job. For distant sites, ask for a quote per job and compare honestly.
Common pitfalls
- Comparing the wage with the outsourced rate. "$35 an hour versus $150 an hour" makes outsourcing look expensive. The wage excludes benefits, the vehicle, travel and idle time. Compare cost per productive on-site hour.
- Assuming full utilization. In year one the installed base rarely keeps one engineer busy. Budget on realistic on-site hours, not 2,080.
- Ignoring geography. One engineer covers one metro area well. Customers in Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles mean three people or one person always on a plane, and flights and hotels go straight onto the cost per hour.
- Underestimating ramp-up on your robot. A good industrial technician still needs training on your hardware, software, error codes and spare parts. Plan for factory training, documentation in English and remote support from your engineering team during the first months.
- Single point of failure and turnover. If your only engineer is on vacation, sick or leaves, service stops, and you start recruiting and training again.
- Flying in staff from the home office without checking work authorization. Both countries allow some after-sales service by business visitors, but the conditions are narrow. Canada's business visitor rules cover repair, servicing, set-up and testing of specialized equipment purchased or leased outside Canada, under a service contract or warranty that was part of the original sale or lease (or an extension of it), and exclude hands-on work typically done by construction or building trades. The US B-1 category for installing, servicing or repairing commercial or industrial equipment purchased from a company outside the US likewise depends on the contract of sale requiring the seller to provide the service, and it does not cover building or construction work. Ongoing field work for many customers generally needs a work permit or visa. Check with an immigration lawyer before anyone travels.
- Misclassifying contractors. Calling a local technician an "independent contractor" does not make them one. The IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship; the CRA looks at the actual working relationship, such as who directs and controls the work and whether the worker can make a profit or suffer a loss. Misclassification can leave you owing the employment taxes you did not withhold or pay.
A practical route
- Year one: remote support from your own team, plus a local field service partner paid per job. Use the year to collect data: visits per robot per year, hours per visit, which parts fail first.
- When one metro area approaches the break-even: hire your first engineer there, and keep the partner for other regions, peaks and backup.
- Always: second-line support from your engineering team, and spare parts stocked locally.
The three service models (in-house, distributor, third-party field service) are compared in How robot makers can offer on-site robot service without hiring a team. If you sell new robot models into the US, also read FCC Covered List and robots: Canada vs the US. A Chinese-language version of this cost analysis is 北美机器人现场工程师一小时多少钱.
What KeepRobots can do
KeepRobots is a robot field service company based in Greater Vancouver, serving Canada and the United States. We only provide service: we do not make or sell robots and are not an exclusive agent for any brand.
- Hourly on-site robot repair, paid only when you need a visit: $150 CAD/hour in Canada, $150 USD/hour in the US, $200 CAD diagnostic fee in Canada or $200 USD in the US (credited if the repair is approved), $100 CAD call-out in the Greater Vancouver core area, taxes extra.
- Deployment and commissioning, preventive maintenance, on-site pre-sales demos, and spare-parts and idle-equipment storage.
- English and Mandarin; our engineers can read your technical documents and work with your home team's hours.
You can start with one customer site or one deployment and use the real work-order data to decide if and where to hire. See third-party robot service for robot manufacturers and North America field service for robot makers, write to [email protected] or use the contact page. If you are comparing the cost of a first North American hire against a field service partner, our robot maker partnership page explains how the work is split.
FAQ
What is the typical robotic field service engineer salary in the US?
There is no official occupation code for robotic field service engineers. The closest US occupations in the BLS May 2025 data have median wages of about $31 to $36 per hour, or roughly $65,000 to $75,000 a year at 2,080 hours. Pay is higher in states such as California and Washington.
What does a robot field technician earn in British Columbia?
Canada's Job Bank (updated November 2025) shows a median of $42 CAD per hour for industrial mechanics and millwrights (NOC 72400) in BC, and $37 CAD per hour in the Lower Mainland–Southwest region. Electrical engineering technologists (NOC 22310) in BC have a median of $37.96 CAD per hour.
What is the fully loaded cost of one robot field service engineer?
Our estimate, using public wage, benefit, payroll tax, mileage and per diem figures, is about $139,000 to $144,000 USD a year in the US and about $124,000 to $132,000 CAD a year in BC. It varies widely with city, seniority and travel.
When does hiring your own robot field engineer cost less than outsourcing?
It depends on billable on-site hours in one metro area. On our example numbers, an in-house BC engineer costs less than outsourcing at $150 CAD per hour plus a $100 CAD call-out per job once they are doing roughly 700 or more on-site hours a year (about 233 three-hour jobs) in one city. Below that, and especially below a few hundred hours, hourly outsourcing usually costs less.
Why is an outsourced hourly rate higher than an engineer's hourly wage?
An outsourced rate is a price, not a wage. It covers the technician's pay, benefits, payroll taxes, vehicle, insurance, tools and the idle time between jobs. Compare it with your in-house cost per productive on-site hour, not with the wage.
Sources (checked 2026-10-10 and 2026-10-11)
- BLS OEWS May 2025, 49-9041: https://www.bls.gov/oes/2025/may/oes499041.htm
- BLS OEWS May 2025, 49-2094: https://www.bls.gov/oes/2025/may/oes492094.htm
- BLS OEWS May 2025, 17-3024: https://www.bls.gov/oes/2025/may/oes173024.htm
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm and Table 4: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t04.htm
- Job Bank, NOC 72400 (BC): https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/marketreport/wages-occupation/14719/BC
- Job Bank, NOC 22310 (BC): https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/marketreport/wages-occupation/18017/BC
- Job Bank, industrial instrument technicians and mechanics (BC): https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/marketreport/wages-occupation/22631/BC
- CRA 2026 CPP rates: canada.ca CPP contribution rates
- CRA 2026 CPP2 rates: canada.ca CPP2 contribution rates
- CRA 2026 EI rates: canada.ca EI premium rates
- WorkSafeBC 2026 average base premium rate: worksafebc.com news release
- BC Employer Health Tax: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/employer-health-tax/employer-health-tax-overview
- IRS standard mileage rates: https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/standard-mileage-rates
- Department of Finance Canada, 2026 automobile expense benefit rates: canada.ca 2026 automobile rates
- GSA FY2027 per diem bulletin (FTR 27-01): gsa.gov FTR 27-01
- The Service Council 2017 field service survey (73% utilization): servicecouncil.com summary findings; driving time 27%: servicecouncil.com KPI benchmark
- IRCC, business visitors and after-sales service: canada.ca business visitors [R186(a)]
- US Department of State, B-1 business visa fact sheet: travel.state.gov B-1 fact sheet
- IRS, independent contractor or employee: irs.gov worker classification
- CRA, employment status (employee or self-employed): canada.ca employee or self-employed
Wage data is from official statistics; cost totals, cost per hour and break-even points are our estimates. Nothing here is tax, payroll or immigration advice. Check visa and worker-classification questions with a qualified lawyer or accountant.