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Job Description

Overview

The Auto Body Technician role involves performing automotive structural repairs and cosmetic enhancements to restore vehicles' appearance and functionality. The position requires skilled craftsmanship in various repair techniques and a commitment to customer satisfaction.

Responsibilities

  • Perform automotive structural repairs, including frame straightening and sheet metal work using welding techniques.
  • Conduct auto body repairs including dent removal, panel replacement, sanding, and cosmetic repair.
  • Utilize fabrication skills to modify or create parts using sheet metal and assembly processes.
  • Apply auto painting and refinishing techniques to achieve high-quality finishes.
  • Install automotive parts such as auto glass, bumpers, and trim pieces with precision.
  • Use hand tools, power tools, soldering equipment, and welding equipment safely during repairs.
  • Assist in auto restoration projects to bring vehicles back to showroom condition.
  • Maintain excellent customer service by communicating progress and ensuring satisfaction.

Requirements

  • Proven experience as an automotive body technician in a dealership or collision center.
  • Strong knowledge of auto body repair procedures including MIG welding and structural repair.
  • Hands-on experience with fabrication techniques, auto painting, and automotive parts installation.
  • Mechanical knowledge related to vehicle maintenance and repair processes.
  • Proficiency with hand tools, power tools, airless paint sprayers, and welding equipment.
  • Ability to perform heavy lifting safely during vehicle repairs.
  • Excellent attention to detail with a focus on quality workmanship and safety standards.
  • Strong customer service skills with the ability to communicate clearly.

Benefits

  • 401k
  • Health Insurance
  • Dental
  • PTO

Additional Info

  • Work Location: In person

Benefits

401k
Health Insurance
Dental
PTO
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How this job compares in Suffolk, VA

Pay in context

At roughly $46/hr, this posting sits about 47% above the $31/hr median for welding jobs across Virginia — toward the top of a $25–$41/hr middle band drawn from 94 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 85% 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 Suffolk, VA

Suffolk, VA is a small market in our index: 2 other active welding openings alongside this one, from 1 employer. Across Virginia as a whole we're tracking 163 other active welding openings from 82 employers. With this few local postings, most welders here end up either commuting or looking at travel work. Browse welding jobs across Virginia.

The most active employers in Virginia at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are Innovative Refrigeration Systems, Inc. (14), General Dynamics NASSCO (10), and Atlantic Constructors, Inc. (8). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

Within Virginia, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Newport News at $40/hr, Norfolk at $30/hr, and Chesapeake at $27/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

What you'll be running

This posting calls for MIG. 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.

Similar openings near Suffolk, VA

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