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Job Description

Overview

Astro Mechanica is an aerospace company focused on democratizing high-speed flight through innovative technologies. They are seeking a Fabrication Specialist to contribute to engine component fabrication and prototyping, emphasizing precision welding and fabrication skills.

Responsibilities

  • Fabricate aviation engine components and assemblies for prototyping and testing.
  • Partner with design and test teams to ensure hardware meets specifications.
  • Provide feedback to engineering on design feasibility and manufacturing input.
  • Perform precision welding using TIG, MIG, and laser welding as needed.

Requirements

  • Proficiency in TIG welding; experience with MIG and laser welding is a plus.
  • Experience welding steel, stainless steel, and aluminum.
  • Preferred experience with Hastelloy, Inconel, or other exotic materials.
  • Basic manual machining skills, including operating a lathe and mill.
  • Experience shaping and welding thin sheet metal (.063" and under) is preferred.
  • Experience welding thick and thin plumbing fittings.
  • Strong attention to detail.

Benefits

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

Additional Information

  • In-office work is highly valued to foster collaboration and strengthen company culture.
  • Working in the office five days a week is considered essential.

Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
401k
PTO
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How this job compares in San Francisco, CA

Pay in context

This employer didn't publish a rate. For reference, welder fabricator jobs across California currently run a median of $33/hr in our index, with the middle half of them falling between $26–$40/hr across 55 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 San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, CA currently has 3 other active welding openings besides this one, spread across 3 employers. None of them were added in the last week, so this is a slower-moving market. Across California as a whole we're tracking 596 other active welding openings from 293 employers. That's enough local activity to be worth comparing two or three offers before committing. Browse every welding job in San Francisco, or widen the search to California.

The most active employers in California at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are SpaceX (34), Aerotek (16), and Volt (16). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

Within California, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Redondo Beach at $65/hr, Long Beach at $49/hr, and Santa Ana at $48/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.

Similar openings near San Francisco, CA

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