Floater Operator
Location
Chicago, IL
Wage
$27.4/hr
Employment Type
Full-time
Posted on September 5, 2026
Location
Chicago, IL
Wage
$27.4/hr
Employment Type
Full-time
Posted on September 5, 2026
Zekelman Industries is a family of companies and the largest independent steel pipe and tube manufacturer in North America, with a legacy dating back to 1877. As a Floater Operator, you will play a key role in safely operating and maintaining production machinery to support efficient mill operations.
At roughly $27/hr, this posting comes in about 24% below the $36/hr median for welding jobs in Chicago, IL, where the middle half runs $27–$45/hr across 88 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 25% of the comparable postings we have wage data for. That gap is worth raising directly — in a market this size there is normally room to negotiate toward the median, particularly if you already hold the certifications the posting asks for.
We're tracking 107 other active welding openings in Chicago, IL right now, from 59 different employers. 43 of them were added in the last week. Across Illinois as a whole we're tracking 367 other active welding openings from 228 employers. A metro this active generally means you have real leverage — employers here are competing for the same welders. Browse every welding job in Chicago, or widen the search to Illinois.
Zekelman Industries currently has 2 other openings live in Illinois, which is usually a sign of either steady growth or steady turnover — worth asking which in the interview.
The most active employers in Illinois at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are S&C Electric Company (18), Gerber Collision & Glass (14), and Staff on Site (13). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.
Within Illinois, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Downers Grove at $46/hr, Chicago at $36/hr, and Addison at $32/hr. Chicago is among them.
Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. Floater Operator figures were last recalculated when this page was built.