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Job Description

Overview

SpaceX is actively developing technologies to enable human life on Mars. The TIG Welder position focuses on welding, assembling, and fabricating components for Starship booster structures.

Responsibilities

  • Weld, assemble, and fabricate various fluid systems and sub-assembly components.
  • Use precision calibrated tools such as torque wrenches, micrometers, and calipers.
  • Perform work according to procedures, specifications, and test instructions.
  • Read and interpret technical drawings and follow detailed work instructions.
  • Use various mechanical tools without instruction.
  • Perform other related duties as assigned to ensure an efficient work environment.
  • Operate forklifts, cranes, and heavy equipment.
  • Perform blending, filing, and shearing of sheet metal piece parts.

Requirements

  • High school diploma or equivalency certificate.
  • 1+ years of experience with TIG welding or certificate of completion for welding from an accredited program.
  • 5+ years of experience in welding with materials such as stainless steel, carbon steel, Inconel, aluminum, or titanium (preferred).
  • Experience with aerospace TIG welding (preferred).
  • Highly proficient in tube cutting, grinding, and fabrication (preferred).
  • Proficient in blueprint reading and layout (preferred).
  • Knowledge and experience completing welds that pass visual inspection before being X-rayed or dye penned (preferred).
  • AWS D17.1 and D1.2 certification (preferred).
  • Experience with overhead cranes and forklifts (preferred).

Benefits

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

Additional Information

  • Must be willing to work all shifts, overtime, and/or weekends as needed.
  • Able to lift a minimum of 25 lbs unassisted.
  • Able to stand for extended periods – 8 hours minimum.
  • Able to stoop, bend, crawl, and maneuver in tight spaces.

Benefits

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

Pay in context

At roughly $31/hr, this posting comes in about 13% below the $35/hr median for welding jobs in Hawthorne, CA, where the middle half runs $31–$60/hr across 42 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 5% 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 Hawthorne, CA

We're tracking 43 other active welding openings in Hawthorne, CA right now, from 7 different employers. 8 of them were added in the last week. Across California as a whole we're tracking 559 other active welding openings from 267 employers. A metro this active generally means you have real leverage — employers here are competing for the same welders. Browse every welding job in Hawthorne, or widen the search to California.

SpaceX currently has 35 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 (35), Relativity Space (21), and Welding Shop in Los Angeles, CA (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, Pasadena at $61/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 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 manufacturing welder openings if you want to compare this against similar roles.

Similar openings near Hawthorne, CA

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. TIG Welder (Starship Booster Structures Manufacturing) figures were last recalculated when this page was built.