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gpac

Fabricator/Welder, food manufacturing

Location

Northvale, NJ

Wage

$35 – $45/hr

Employment Type

Full-time

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Posted on August 20, 2026

Job Description

Overview

A growing food manufacturer in Northvale, NJ is seeking an experienced Fabricator / Sanitary Welder to support Engineering and Maintenance. This hands-on role involves independently managing stainless-steel fabrication projects from layout through installation.

Responsibilities

  • Fabricate, modify, install, and repair stainless-steel equipment and components.
  • Perform high-quality TIG and MIG welding on thin-gauge and sanitary stainless applications.
  • Lay out, cut, form, grind, polish, passivate, and finish stainless steel and other metals.
  • Read blueprints, weld symbols, P&IDs, schematics, and engineering drawings.
  • Build components from drawings and field measurements.
  • Support equipment installations, utility tie-ins, capital projects, and equipment upgrades.
  • Fabricate replacement parts to reduce equipment downtime.
  • Apply sanitary design standards using 304/316L stainless and food-grade materials.
  • Support troubleshooting, preventive maintenance, and continuous improvement.
  • Mentor less-experienced fabricators and maintenance technicians.

Requirements

  • 7+ years of hands-on welding and fabrication experience.
  • 3+ years in food, beverage, dairy, pharmaceutical, or another sanitary manufacturing environment.
  • Advanced TIG and MIG stainless-steel welding skills.
  • Experience with sanitary tubing, Tri-Clamp fittings, weld ferrules, and butt welds.
  • Strong stainless-steel layout, fabrication, grinding, polishing, and finishing skills.
  • Ability to independently complete fabrication projects.
  • Ability to read engineering drawings, weld symbols, and P&IDs.
  • Knowledge of sanitary design, GMPs, food safety, and CIP systems.
  • AWS D1.6 or ASME Section IX certification is a strong plus.
  • Orbital welding experience preferred.

Benefits

  • Health Insurance

Additional Information

  • Location: Northvale, NJ
  • Schedule: Monday-Friday, 6:00 AM-3:30 PM
  • Occasional weekend or shutdown work may be required.

Benefits

Health Insurance
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How this job compares in Northvale, NJ

Pay in context

At roughly $40/hr, this posting sits about 14% above the $35/hr median for welding jobs across New Jersey — toward the top of a $29–$40/hr middle band drawn from 78 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 68% of the comparable postings we have wage data for. Pay that far above local median usually comes attached to something: a harder cert requirement, travel, night shift, or overtime that isn't really optional. Worth establishing which before you accept.

The local market in Northvale, NJ

Northvale, NJ is a small market in our index: 1 other active welding opening alongside this one, from 1 employer. Across New Jersey as a whole we're tracking 118 other active welding openings from 72 employers. With this few local postings, most welders here end up either commuting or looking at travel work. Browse welding jobs across New Jersey.

The most active employers in New Jersey at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are Rhoads Industries (13), Gpac (9), and Department of the Navy - Agency Wide (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 New Jersey, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Camden at $41/hr and Somerdale at $27/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

What you'll be running

This posting calls for MIG and TIG 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.

See all manufacturing welder openings if you want to compare this against similar roles.

Certifications this posting mentions

  • ASME Section IX — the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code qualification. It covers welding on pressure-retaining equipment — boilers, vessels, and process piping — where a failed weld is a safety incident rather than a rework ticket.

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 Northvale, NJ

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. Fabricator/Welder, food manufacturing figures were last recalculated when this page was built.