Machine Maintenance Engineer / Industrial Mechanic — Observer Programme

Current: v2.0 · Last edited: 2026-03-24

Machine Maintenance Engineer — You Keep Everything Running

Diagnosing faults, stripping gearboxes, aligning bearings — when the line stops, everyone looks at you. That skill has real value.

Industrial machinery mechanics are on the European Commission's official list of critical shortage professions. Your skills are in high demand. Record them. Get paid.

The Observer Programme pays experienced maintenance engineers to record their working day using lightweight smart glasses. You do your normal work — we capture the expertise.

How it works

• Wear smart glasses during your shift
• Record sessions from 30 minutes up — fits around your maintenance schedule
• Spend a few minutes after each session confirming what tasks you performed
• Get paid per recorded minute. The more you record, the more you earn
• All recordings are anonymised — no faces, no voices, no identifying details

What you'll earn

You're paid per minute of accepted footage — on top of your regular income.

€20–€28 per recorded hour

€80–€112 per recording day (based on ~4 hours)

€1,200–€1,800 per month (based on 20 recording days)

First Observers in a specialism or region earn a launch bonus. Extra earnings possible through referral bonuses and specialist recording tasks.

What we're looking for

• 3+ years of experience in industrial maintenance
• Currently working — employed or contract
• Hands-on work: fault diagnosis, mechanical repair, hydraulics, pneumatics, planned preventive maintenance
• Smartphone (iOS or Android)

All specialisms welcome: planned preventive maintenance (PPM) engineer, breakdown/reactive maintenance engineer, hydraulic and pneumatic systems engineer, industrial machinery mechanic.

We provide everything

• Smart glasses — shipped to you, pre-configured
• Full onboarding and support (~30 minutes)

About the Observer Programme

The Observer Programme by Aisthis works with professionals across 100+ trades to document how skilled work actually happens. Maintenance engineering — the diagnostic thinking, the mechanical intuition, the speed under pressure — is expertise worth recording.

Applications are reviewed with the help of AI. We'll be in touch if there's a match.