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Job Description

Overview

This position serves as a Pipefitter within the Facility Management (Engineering) Service Center of the San Diego VA Medical Center, located in San Diego, California. The primary functions include working with pipes and fittings from a range of high pressure to low pressure steam.

Responsibilities

  • Layout pipe, thread, rough-in and finish bathroom and kitchen.
  • Conduct minor welding repairs and fabrication using oxygen, acetylene, arc welding, and pipe welding.
  • Inspect, adjust, clean, and repair plumbing fixtures and systems, steam operated equipment, heating and water systems, waste lines, kitchen and laundry equipment, air compressors, medical compressed air systems, vacuum systems, oxygen systems, and natural gas distribution systems.
  • Read and interpret blueprints and manufacturers' specifications for installing and repairing equipment.
  • Conduct safety and preventive maintenance inspections of utility systems and equipment in accordance with VA regulations and National Codes.
  • Interpret and apply building plans and blueprints to layout angles, arcs, and circles.
  • Utilize tools and equipment such as sliding squares, measuring tapes, dividers, and chalk lines.
  • Perform other related duties as assigned.

Additional Information

  • Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 5:00am-1:30pm PST
  • Employee will make repairs and installations from ladders, scaffolding and platforms, and where the systems and equipment worked on are in hard-to-reach places.
  • Employee will frequently handle, lift, carry and set up parts and equipment that weigh up to 50 pounds.
  • Work is done inside and outside, and is usually dirty, dusty, greasy, and smelly.
  • There is frequent exposure to the possibility of uncomfortable heat conditions.
  • The employee is exposed to the possibility of strains, cuts, scrapes, bruises, burns, and infections.
  • Employee may be required to work in areas that have asbestos containing materials and will be required to use personal protective equipment (PPE) including respirators.
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How this job compares in San Diego, CA

Pay in context

At roughly $35/hr, this posting lands within a few percent of the $35/hr median for welding jobs in San Diego, CA, whose middle half runs $28–$37/hr across 18 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 50% 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 San Diego, CA

We're tracking 20 other active welding openings in San Diego, CA right now, from 13 different 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 433 other active welding openings from 200 employers. A metro this active generally means you have real leverage — employers here are competing for the same welders. Browse every welding job in San Diego, or widen the search to California.

Veterans Health Administration currently has 3 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 (28), Honeywell Aerospace (17), and Aerotek (17). 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 Long Beach at $43/hr, El Segundo at $43/hr, and Torrance at $43/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

Similar openings near San Diego, CA

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