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Kerry

Lead Maintenance Mechanic - 3rd Shift - Offering $5,000 Sign on Bonus!

Location

Melrose Park, IL

Wage

$38.18/hr

Employment Type

Full-time

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Posted on September 9, 2026

Job Description

Overview

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries, offering a Lead Maintenance Mechanic position on the 3rd shift at their Melrose Park location with a $5,000 sign-on bonus. This role involves working with the maintenance team to ensure equipment functionality and compliance with safety regulations.

Responsibilities

  • Complete building repairs and equipment installation.
  • Troubleshoot and repair machinery such as extruders, mixers, and conveyors.
  • Install and maintain pipe systems and hydraulic equipment.
  • Repair and replace gauges, valves, and pressure regulators.
  • Perform building maintenance including minor plumbing and welding.
  • Follow good manufacturing practices and ensure compliance with safety laws.

Requirements

  • 5-10 years of maintenance mechanic experience in the food industrial and/or bakery work environment preferred.
  • High school diploma or GED is required; Apprenticeship or applicable certifications preferred.
  • Basic technical knowledge of stainless steel welding/fabrication.
  • Experience in high-speed packaging, refrigeration, and mechanical power transmission.
  • Ability to use all types of welding, cutting, machine, and hand tools.
  • Experience with PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) is a plus.

Benefits

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

Additional Information

  • 3rd Shift Opening: Monday - Friday, 10:00 PM – 6:00 AM.
  • Located just outside of Chicago.

Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
PTO
401k
Apply for This Position

How this job compares in Melrose Park, IL

Pay in context

At roughly $38/hr, this posting lands within a few percent of the $36/hr median for lead welder jobs across Illinois, whose middle half runs $31–$44/hr across 9 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 67% of the comparable postings we have wage data for. In other words it is a market-rate offer, so benefits, overtime, and shift schedule are where the real difference between this and the next posting on the list shows up.

The local market in Melrose Park, IL

Melrose Park, IL currently has 4 other active welding openings besides this one, spread across 4 employers. None of them were added in the last week, so this is a slower-moving market. Across Illinois as a whole we're tracking 340 other active welding openings from 207 employers. That's enough local activity to be worth comparing two or three offers before committing. Browse every welding job in Melrose Park, or widen the search to Illinois.

Kerry 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 Staff on Site (13), Gerber Collision & Glass (11), and S&C Electric Company (9). 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 $38/hr, Addison at $35/hr, and Skokie at $35/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

Similar openings near Melrose Park, IL

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. Lead Maintenance Mechanic - 3rd Shift - Offering $5,000 Sign on Bonus! figures were last recalculated when this page was built.