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Job Description

Overview

A well-established food manufacturer is seeking a Senior Stainless-Steel Fabricator to join its Engineering and Maintenance team. This hands-on position involves designing, fabricating, modifying, and installing stainless-steel equipment and components used in food production.

Responsibilities

  • Fabricate, modify, install, and repair stainless-steel equipment and components.
  • Perform high-quality TIG and MIG welding, including thin-gauge stainless steel.
  • Produce smooth, continuous, crevice-free welds suitable for food-contact environments.
  • Complete projects from concept through field measurement, layout, cutting, forming, welding, polishing, installation, and final turnover.
  • Read and interpret blueprints, engineering drawings, weld symbols, schematics, and P&IDs.
  • Create shop sketches and as-built documentation from field measurements.
  • Cut, form, drill, grind, polish, passivate, and finish stainless steel, aluminum, and carbon steel.
  • Work with Engineering and Maintenance on equipment modifications and production improvements.
  • Support equipment installations, relocations, utility connections, and capital improvement projects.
  • Fabricate replacement parts and wear components to minimize equipment downtime.
  • Troubleshoot and repair fabricated production equipment as needed.
  • Enter completed work, labor, and materials into the CMMS.
  • Mentor junior fabricators and maintenance technicians.

Requirements

  • High school diploma or GED required.
  • Welding certificate, trade-school education, or completed fabrication apprenticeship preferred.
  • At least seven years of hands-on welding and fabrication experience.
  • At least three years of experience in a sanitary manufacturing environment.
  • Advanced TIG and MIG welding skills, particularly with stainless steel.
  • Strong knowledge of sanitary welding and hygienic equipment design.
  • Experience with layout, cutting, forming, grinding, polishing, and finishing stainless steel.
  • Ability to read blueprints, weld symbols, schematics, and P&IDs.
  • Experience with sanitary piping and Tri-Clamp fittings.
  • AWS D1.6 or ASME Section IX certification is a plus.
  • Orbital welding experience is a plus.
  • Familiarity with compressed air, steam, water, glycol, and natural-gas systems is preferred.
  • Ability to work independently and manage multiple projects.
  • Strong communication, organization, and problem-solving skills.

Additional Information

  • Consistent weekday schedule from 6:00 AM to 3:30 PM.
  • Direct-hire opportunity with an established food manufacturer.
  • Mentorship opportunities for junior fabricators and maintenance technicians.
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How this job compares in Rockleigh, NJ

Pay in context

At roughly $35/hr, this posting comes in about 12% below the $40/hr median for welder fabricator jobs across New Jersey, where the middle half runs $31–$40/hr across 15 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 27% 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 Rockleigh, NJ

This is the only active welding job we're currently tracking in Rockleigh, NJ, which makes it worth moving on quickly — there is no local competing offer to weigh it against. Across New Jersey as a whole we're tracking 215 other active welding openings from 134 employers. 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), MillenniumSoft Inc (11), and Gpac (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 New Jersey, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Newark at $38/hr, Camden at $37/hr, and Cinnaminson at $30/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 welder fabricator 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 Rockleigh, NJ

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