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Job Description

Overview

Valar Atomics is redefining energy with a mission to make clean, high-temperature nuclear power scalable. The Fabrication/Welding Lead will oversee daily operations in the weld shop, ensuring production quality and safety while mentoring a team of welders and fabricators.

Responsibilities

  • Lead, schedule, and mentor a team of welders and fabricators across daily production.
  • Own weld quality standards; review and approve WPS, and troubleshoot process or quality issues on the floor.
  • Partner with Engineering and QC to translate drawings and specifications into repeatable, nuclear-grade fabrication processes.
  • Coordinate production priorities and timelines with the Manufacturing Manager to hit build schedules.
  • Champion shop safety, 5S, and continuous improvement initiatives on the floor.
  • Hire, train, and develop welders as the team scales; conduct performance reviews and skills assessments.
  • Maintain documentation for weld travelers, certifications, and non-conformances per quality procedures.

Requirements

  • 8+ years of professional welding/fabrication experience, including 2+ years in a lead or supervisory role.
  • AWS Certified Welder (or equivalent) with strong GTAW (TIG) proficiency on stainless steel and exotic alloys.
  • Demonstrated ability to read and work from complex engineering drawings, weld symbols, and WPS documentation.
  • Experience with pressure vessel or code welding (ASME Section IX, B31.3, and similar).
  • Proven track record leading, training, or mentoring a team of welders or fabricators.
  • Comfortable operating in a fast-paced startup manufacturing environment with evolving processes.
  • Ability to lift up to 50 lbs, stand for extended periods, and work in a shop-floor setting with appropriate PPE.

Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • PTO

Benefits

Health Insurance
PTO
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How this job compares in Long Beach, CA

Pay in context

At roughly $58/hr, this posting sits about 37% above the $42/hr median for welding jobs in Long Beach, CA — toward the top of a $31–$59/hr middle band drawn from 42 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 71% 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 Long Beach, CA

We're tracking 47 other active welding openings in Long Beach, CA right now, from 18 different employers. 31 of them were added in the last week. Across California as a whole we're tracking 650 other active welding openings from 315 employers. A metro this active generally means you have real leverage — employers here are competing for the same welders. Browse every welding job in Long Beach, or widen the search to California.

Valar Atomics currently has 12 other openings live in California, which is usually a sign of either steady growth or steady turnover — worth asking which in the interview.

The most active employers in California at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are SpaceX (34), Honeywell Aerospace (16), and Aerotek (13). 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 Santa Ana at $53/hr, Redondo Beach at $51/hr, and Long Beach at $42/hr. Long Beach is among them.

What you'll be running

This posting calls for TIG. 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 lead 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 Long Beach, 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/Welding Lead figures were last recalculated when this page was built.