come work with us
because life's too short to not enjoy what you do for a living
we're going places - join us.
while we don't pretend to fully understand why people keep coming to us from all over New England asking us to build them custom touring, bikepacking, gravel, mountain, fatbikes and tandems, we truly love being known as the go-to shop for those looking for something other than the stack-em high, sell-em low experience to be found at more traditional bike shops.
with that in mind, we have big plans and we're on the lookout for a friendly, positive-down-to-their-DNA, people people who wants to join us on the ride that comes with wearing one of MBW's pink staff shirts and getting to post pics to #our IG page and #MaineBikeWoksHasTheBestCustomers.
read through the open position(s) below and if you have any questions, send me (Jason) an email at
WHAT POSTION(S) ARE WE HIRING FOR?
Experienced Bike Mechanic / Sales Person who loves the style of nerdy bikes we build
Think you'd dig talking about, building and servicing the nerdy touring, bikepacking and gravel bikes we show off on our social media feeds? If so, get in touch as we're looking for someone who has lots of previous experience getting greasy in bikeshops and is looking to take their creative skills to the next level. This isn't a first-time-working-in-a-shop role as you'll be working alongside us at a high level from day one. Since the pay commensurate with experience, shoot an email introducing yourself and telling us about your shop experiences and we can give you a ballpark hourly rate for your current skills to help you decide if you want to formally apply. In the meantime, here's some brass-tacks benefits you'll get in exchange for talents, experience and life energies:
- 4 day work week - We've done Wed to Sat 10 to 5 for past 8 years (3 day weekends!), but more hours can be found outside of our normal showroom times if you have a burning desire for them and your skills are high enough where you can work in the shop by yourself outside of our normal showroom hours.
- Pay commensurate with experience - The more skills and potential you bring to the table on day one, the more we pay.
- Year-round consistent employment - With our specialist emphasis we tend to stay consistently steady business-wise throughout the year which means we're rarely rushed off our feet or yawning twiddling our thumbs.
- Pick a company vehicle - Choose a new bike to ride for the next year on every annual anniversary of your hire.
- Paid-time-off - One week annual Paid-Time-Off starting each Jan 1st & additional Unpaid-Time-Off readily available on day 1.
- Predictable schedule - We aim to give everyone the same schedule week after week, after week, after week to allow employees to plan their days off as far in advance as possible.
- Snowdays - We often like taking these random events off when other retail shops don't.
- Specialist products - We advertise we focus on bikes which cost $2k and up. We don't say that to be snobby, but because our low-volume, high-attention, customer-focused model wouldn't work otherwise.
- All bikes, all the time - We keep busy enough talking about building adventure bicycles that we're able to leave clothing, footwear, rentals, skis, snowboards and kids bikes to the regional chains and other more traditional shops.
- Never box or ship a bike again! - Hallelujah, amiright? Since we don't love doing either one of those tasks, we don't offer them as a service and unless something weird happens, you won't have to either.
- No obligation - If we offer you a position you can test it out if you'll enjoy working here long term. Don't dig it? Not a good fit? Decide you'd rather ride across the country on your bike instead? No hard feelings. We get it - while it's a kick for me, Prince Music Fridays aren't for everyone :)
- Health and dental insurance options - Available to new hires after 1 year's employment for those who prefer the addition of these benefits in exchange for a modified pay rate - if you want them, let's chat.
- Paid 2 week MBW-RADICAL-SABBATICAL: - After 3 years employment, go on an awesome bicycle adventure or do something else our customers would find interesting to see you give a presentation about here at the shop and get paid for the time you were away.
- $5k MBW-DREAM BIG SCHOLARSHIP: - After 5 years of employment, have some $ to push the boat out a little as a thank you for all your efforts.
a little about us and what it's like working here:
We've worked hard over the past 8 almost 9 years to establish a non-snobby, no-attitude-allowed culture with both our customers and between us colleagues, so whomever joins us will have to understand that we are aiming to be a different type of shop than pretty much anywhere else on the planet.
All of us love building, selling and working on bikes, but we love helping people more. From day one, we've aimed to be a very low volume shop that doesn't over extend itself and try to be all things to all people. There are 20+ traditional shops with 25 miles of MBW who are better able to cater to the general cycling enthusiast - but don't go thinking that gives us any reason to be snobby or elitist in how we help folks. We're lower volume by design, NOT less inclusive by design. So if you're the type of person who enjoys showing beginning tourist how to change a flat just as much as building up an experienced cyclists dream $10k bikepacking bike, then you'll probably dig working here.
Work / Life Balance is EXTREMELY important to us and we've built the business around trying to find that sweet spot where we're busy enough to have enjoyable and interesting work coming through our doors daily, but not so big and in debt to a bank or our vendors that we're pressured to take on projects that aren't in the best interests of our customers or pressured to sell and build bikes we ourselves wouldn't be excited to ride. By design, we aim to average only 5 to 6 people a day in the shop and that's how we like it - busy enough so we always have projects on our plate, but not so much that we don't enjoy ourselves. In case you're wondering how we stay in business with such an anti-business business plan - the easiest way to sum it up would be to say, 'we aim to make money, we just don't aim to make all the money'.
You also won't find the typical stack-em-high, sell-em-low, sales-focused atmosphere so pervasive in the regional chains either. If you're a positive, friendly, people-focused person down to your DNA, you may just find starting work at MBW to be as comfortable as putting on your favorite pair of shearling lined slippers.
Unlike most shops, we operate with a fairly equitable pay structure, so a highly talented person who is performing in the role of a combined mechanic /sales person will probably be making similar to someone who is overseeing the general admin of the shop and doesn't get quite as greasy.
If you really enjoy the cycling industry and you prioritize the amount of enjoyment your job gives you then you will be hard pressed to find a place with more long term potential than the little retail store we've built down here in Saco. As lifelong bike shop nerds ourselves, we've consciously sought to maximizes all the fun aspects about working in a bike shop and have sought to minimize all the unnecessary things which can make working in a traditional retail shop a grind.
We've set this shop up to be centered around making MBW an enjoyable place to spin wrenches / talk bikes and as a lifelong bike mechanic and retail worker myself, it's always on my mind to find ways to better compensate our employees for the business's continued success. The showroom is open Wed to Sat 10 to 5, so plan on circa 30 hours a week to start, though once you are comfortable with the way we do biz here, extra hours are usually available if you need more $ on the regular. At some point we may officially end up adding a few extra days to the showroom opening times which will mean circa 40ish hours a week, but I've successfully resisted this for 8 years so far. The successful candidate will need to work at least one day on the weekends (this is retail after all), but for the past 8 years, I've done everything I could to keep from needing to open on Sundays to give us 3 straight days off to spend time with our families.
Unlike most shops, we spend 80% of our day chatting with folks by e-mail and phone about their bike projects so, not only will you need to have kick-butt bike mechanic skills (ideally at a level where you can teach Theron and myself a thing or two), the ideal candidate will also need to have a deep knowledge of all things bikey, a real fire within to learn about the various brands we represent as well a desire to nerd out on all the fun custom types of bikes we build for folks. An interest in touring, bikepacking and adventure biking is a real plus. The ability for communicate this knowledge in writing and in a timely manner using email is also super important so Windows computer and typing skills are at the top of our priority lists alongside the ability to navigate the various supplier b2b's we work with daily.
I always like to mention that all of the above is a two way street. New hire are encouraged to give MBW a trial period as we want you to be happy where you work and if at any time it isn't working out, just let us know - no hard feelings. Life is a heck of a lot easier when you surround yourself with folks enjoy being around.
what's the closing date for the positions listed above (if any)?
Whenever we find the perfect match for our customers and shop. If we're advertising for a position, we'd can start the right applicant as soon as tomorrow, historically however, we've been very picky about who we'll ask to represent Maine Bike Works so we are willing to wait until we can ensure a good fit for all.
How to apply for a position listed above:
If you think you'd fit the bill to one of the positions above, applying is as easy as reaching out right now.
TO APPLY. Send me (Jason) an email at
TOP TIP #1: This is your opportunity to sell yourself and it's the only resource we'll have to judge your communication skills as the role will have a lot of interaction with remote customers over the phone and by email, so it's worth putting a little effort in it.
TOP TIP #2: As this role requires someone who can hit the ground running, you'll definitely need to have have recent experience getting paid to work on bikes in a bike shop for us to consider your application and as much as people would like to think that their time spent working on cars / motorcycles / trains (real story) equates to having the specialist skills us bike mechanics have learned, with all due respect, they are not. Same goes for advanced degrees in electrical and / or mechanical engineering and those summers you spent working on bikes as a kid (once again with all respect). So please keep this half-tongue-in-cheek in advice in mind before applying as this is an advanced position and not a first-time-working-in-a-bike-shop position.
TOP TIP #3: This role probably won't make sense money and life energy-wise if you don't live within 25 miles of the shop. While we know folks who enjoy 100 mile round trip commutes, that's a terrible way to spend your limited time on this planet. Fortunately, for those of you who live more than a quick drive or a long bike ride away there are tons and tons of other awesome bike shops here in Maine who are also undoubtedly looking for good people as well so save yourself the burn out and investigate all the local options.
If you want to chat more about the job before you apply, just reach out by email. Just make sure you tell me a little about yourself in your introduction, so I know you have the minimum experience listed above.
Cheers!
Jason