MRO stands for Maintenance, Repair and Operations. Most of the MRO jobs are being outsourced from the United States to countries like Singapore, Malaysia, India and Pakistan. These countries have man power and are competent, though they still lack the expertise. Most of them are trained and then imparted on the job.

The jobs that are being outsourced are mainly for starter positions.  However, this has created a dearth in project managers who essentially have to be from the parent company and employed in the United States.

These managers are given the responsibility of training and handling offshore teams. They are also required to have MRO knowledge and experience in the industry to train people under them. Every business dealing with any kind of machinery and networks need a in-house team or tie up with the MRO company.

Most of the MRO consist of parts and machinery that are primarily used in maintenance. The role of IT in this arena comes in Information systems integration. This integration is a very important process in the MRO industry, and all aerospace companies invest in this department. Software and management experts are required to work in this department.  Airports, aerospace companies, aircraft manufacturers, and Defense are few of the domains where career options are available for MRO candidates.

Education

To work in the MRO department, one has to be an Engineering graduate or hold a degree of any order. For the Aerospace industry, it is required that the person should have an engineering degree in mechanical or electrical to understand the product processes. The job revolves around manufactured products, and the person could have varied responsibilities related to the products.

Though the knowledge from an engineering degree is not applicable to the actual job, it helps in understanding the aerospace industry and its functions. Unless a person understands how the machinery and equipment are used in the industry, it is very difficult to perform the job role. For this, only a professionally qualified engineer can know the internal facets of the job. Aerospace is often referred to as rocket science and is a very difficult course for many students.  However, the careers are very rewarding in the aerospace industry.

There are many dimensions in aerospace industry and each one of them requires an expertise of their own from the people choosing aerospace as their specialization. Candidates can begin their career as a normal engineer and further choose to get a double masters or specialization in aerospace, but they have to choose mechanical or electrical or electronics as a primer before they specialize in it.

Education required

Engineering degree Mechanical/Electrical/Electronics
Software and Information systems knowledge
MBA

Skills

Positions available in the MRO are operations manager, product development manager and similar job roles. The responsibilities include developing or maintaining the operations of the team. The person should use the software provided and strive towards cost reduction and the utilization of resources, work on many saving schemes like turn around time reduction and so on.

Candidates should be able to incorporate the various industry techniques for the benefit of the organization and  requires a fair amount of research and development skills.  Eventually, the job needs management skills like PR skills, team management, interaction and exceptionally good communication skills. Keeping these qualities in view, an MBA degree would be much more desirable.

Expected Salary

Beginner: $$5500
Mid Level: $6600
Expert: $8000