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Job Description

Overview

As a Metalworking Technician at Caterpillar Pontiac, you will set up and operate metalworking machines to manufacture components and sub-assemblies. Caterpillar Inc. is a global team focused on creating sustainable communities through innovation and teamwork.

Responsibilities

  • Perform operations, including multiple die setups.
  • Use brake presses to form angles or radii.
  • Operate bending machines to perform bending on stainless steel.
  • Perform various operations on sheet metal parts such as marking from templates, shearing, and forming.
  • Cut parts using CNC Laser Cutter by downloading cut lists.

Requirements

  • Previous laser cutter or press brake experience in a manufacturing setting.
  • Ability to follow written instructions.
  • Good communication skills.
  • Strong commitment to safety and teamwork.
  • Willingness to learn.

Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • PTO
  • 401k

Additional Information

  • 2nd Shift: Monday – Friday 3:00PM – 11:00PM.
  • 3rd Shift: Sunday – Thursday 11:00PM – 7:00AM.
  • Starting pay is $23.22 per hour.
  • $1.00 an hour night shift premium.
  • Training is completed on 1st shift hours Monday – Friday.
  • Positions start as supplemental (36 or more hours per week but with no holiday pay and limited benefits).
  • Relocation assistance is not available.

Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
PTO
401k
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How this job compares in Pontiac, IL

Pay in context

At roughly $23/hr, this posting comes in about 20% below the $29/hr median for welding jobs across Illinois, where the middle half runs $23–$35/hr across 142 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.

The local market in Pontiac, IL

This is the only active welding job we're currently tracking in Pontiac, IL, which makes it worth moving on quickly — there is no local competing offer to weigh it against. Across Illinois as a whole we're tracking 237 other active welding openings from 174 employers. Browse welding jobs across Illinois.

The most active employers in Illinois at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are S&C Electric Company (14), Gerber Collision & Glass (9), and Aerotek (7). 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 Chicago at $33/hr and Peoria at $31/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

Similar openings near Pontiac, IL

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. Metalworking Technician - 2nd and 3rd Shifts - Supplemental figures were last recalculated when this page was built.