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Job Description

Overview

A growing industrial manufacturing company in Schaumburg, IL is seeking an experienced Certified Weld Inspector (CWI) to join its quality team. This hands-on shop-floor role involves inspecting welds, ensuring compliance, training welders, and conducting weld tests.

Responsibilities

  • Perform visual, in-process, and final inspection of welded components and assemblies.
  • Verify welds meet customer specifications, engineering drawings, WPS/PQR requirements, and applicable AWS standards.
  • Read and interpret blueprints, weld symbols, specifications, and GD&T.
  • Identify weld defects, document non-conformances, and work with Production to determine corrective actions.
  • Conduct weld tests for prospective new welders and evaluate their qualifications.
  • Train and mentor new and existing welders on proper welding techniques and quality expectations.
  • Maintain welder qualification and testing records.
  • Review and maintain WPS, PQR, and related welding documentation.
  • Work closely with Welding, Production, Engineering, and Quality teams to improve welding quality and consistency.
  • Support customer and third-party inspections.
  • Assist with NDT activities and quality audits as needed.
  • Participate in root-cause analysis and continuous improvement initiatives.
  • Help reduce weld rework, scrap, and customer quality issues.

Requirements

  • AWS Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) certification.
  • 3+ years of welding inspection experience in a manufacturing, fabrication, or industrial environment.
  • Strong understanding of AWS D1.1 and applicable welding standards.
  • Ability to read and interpret complex drawings and weld symbols.
  • Knowledge of MIG/GMAW, TIG/GTAW, FCAW and/or SMAW welding processes.
  • Understanding of WPS, PQR, and welder qualification requirements.
  • Strong communication skills and the ability to work directly with welders and production leadership.
  • Someone comfortable being hands-on and visible on the shop floor.
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How this job compares in Elk Grove Village, IL

Pay in context

This employer didn't publish a rate. For reference, welding jobs across Illinois currently run a median of $29/hr in our index, with the middle half of them falling between $23–$35/hr across 143 postings with published pay. That median is a reasonable floor to anchor on when a recruiter asks what you're looking for.

The local market in Elk Grove Village, IL

This is the only active welding job we're currently tracking in Elk Grove Village, 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 175 employers. Browse welding jobs across Illinois.

gpac currently has 3 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 (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.

What you'll be running

This posting calls for MIG, TIG, Stick, and Flux-Core work. MIG (GMAW) feeds a continuous wire electrode through a shielding-gas nozzle. It lays down metal fast and is forgiving on clean material, which is why it dominates production and light fabrication work. TIG (GTAW) uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode with filler added by hand, giving the operator the most control of any process. It is slow, demanding, and the standard for stainless, aluminum, and anything where the bead has to look as good as it holds.

Certifications this posting mentions

  • AWS D1.1 — the American Welding Society's Structural Welding Code for steel. It governs almost all building and structural steel work in the US, so a D1.1 qualification is the baseline credential for construction and ironworking.
  • CWI — the AWS Certified Welding Inspector credential. It is an inspection qualification rather than a welding one, requiring documented experience plus a three-part exam, and it is the usual route off the torch into QC.

Read straight from this posting's text. Confirm the exact qualification the employer wants before you test — requirements vary by shop even under the same code.

Similar openings near Elk Grove Village, IL

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. Certified Weld Inspector (CWI) figures were last recalculated when this page was built.