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Factory Work Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Work Functions:** Hand assembly. Filling and sealing packages. Lifting 50 lb packages. Palletizing finished products, shrink wrap and banding pallets. Forklift driving is a plus. Basic warehouse ...

Factory Simulation Engineer

Torrance, CA ยท On-site

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

  • PTO

Your work will help shape the capabilities of our future factories through hands-on technical execution and cross-functional collaboration. What You'll Do: * Develop and refine low-, mid-, and high ...

Factory IT Technician

Victorville, CA ยท On-site

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Retirement

  • PTO

Work closely with associates of the site to understand and to characterize issues that might occur regarding the Factory OT/IT systems & applications in use. * Collaboration with Mars IT and other ...

Responsibilities : โ€ข Architect and develop software for an advanced, production-scale metal 3D printing factory โ€ข Work with process, control, and mechanical engineers to integrate control ...

Software Engineer

Los Angeles, CA ยท On-site

$115K - $150K/yr

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

  • PTO

Your work will directly impact the performance, reliability, and scalability of our factory systems. The ideal candidate thrives in ambiguity, takes initiative on complex technical problems, and ...

Software Engineer (New Grad December 2026)

Los Angeles, CA ยท On-site

$125K - $150K/yr

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

  • PTO

Your work will directly impact the performance, reliability, and scalability of our factory systems. The ideal candidate thrives in ambiguity, takes initiative on complex technical problems, and ...

Software Engineer

Los Angeles, CA

$115K - $150K/yr

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

  • PTO

Your work will directly impact the performance, reliability, and scalability of our factory systems. The ideal candidate thrives in ambiguity, takes initiative on complex technical problems, and ...

Software Engineer

Los Angeles, CA ยท On-site

$115K - $150K/yr

Your work will directly impact the performance, reliability, and scalability of our factory systems. The ideal candidate thrives in ambiguity, takes initiative on complex technical problems, and ...

Chevrolet Factory-Trained Technician

Madera, CA ยท On-site

$33 - $45/hr

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Retirement

  • PTO

This role requires expertise in engine diagnostics, electrical systems, drivetrain repairs, and warranty work. Key Responsibilities: * Perform factory-approved diagnostics, maintenance, and repairs ...

Showing results 21-40

Factory Work information

See California salary details

$10

$16

$21

How much do factory work jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 14, 2026, the average hourly pay for factory work in California is $16.64, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $15.19 and $17.79 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a factory worker, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Factory Worker, you need strong manual dexterity, attention to detail, and a basic understanding of safety procedures, often with a high school diploma or equivalent. Familiarity with machinery, conveyor systems, and sometimes certifications like OSHA safety training are commonly required. Reliability, teamwork, and the ability to follow instructions are key soft skills in this environment. These skills ensure efficient production, maintain workplace safety, and support smooth operations in a manufacturing setting.

What are some common challenges faced by factory workers, and how can they be managed or overcome?

Factory workers often encounter challenges such as repetitive tasks, physical demands, and working in a fast-paced environment. To manage these, it's important to follow proper ergonomic techniques, take regular breaks, and communicate openly with supervisors about workload or equipment concerns. Many factories also provide safety training and encourage teamwork, which helps in addressing issues efficiently and maintaining a supportive work atmosphere. Adapting to shift work or overtime may be necessary, and building strong time-management and communication skills can aid in overcoming such challenges.

What is the difference between Factory Work vs Machine Operator?

AspectFactory WorkMachine Operator
CredentialsHigh school diploma or equivalentHigh school diploma; certification may be required
Work EnvironmentFactories, assembly lines, production floorsFactories, manufacturing plants, equipment-focused areas
Industry UsageGeneral manufacturing and assembly rolesOperating specific machinery and equipment
Job FocusGeneral tasks in productionMonitoring, operating, and maintaining machinery

Factory work encompasses a broad range of roles in manufacturing environments, often involving assembly, packaging, or general labor. Machine operators focus specifically on operating and maintaining machinery. While both roles are found in similar settings and may require comparable credentials, machine operators have specialized responsibilities related to machinery operation, making their roles more technical within the factory environment.

What is factory work?

Factory work refers to jobs performed in manufacturing plants where goods are produced or assembled. Workers may be involved in operating machinery, assembling products, inspecting quality, packaging items, or maintaining equipment. These jobs often require attention to detail, physical stamina, and the ability to follow safety protocols. Factory work can be found in various industries, such as automotive, electronics, food processing, and textiles.

What jobs are there in a factory work?

Factory work includes roles such as assembly line worker, machine operator, quality control inspector, forklift driver, and maintenance technician. These jobs often require physical stamina, attention to safety protocols, and familiarity with tools or machinery. Opportunities may also include supervisory or specialized technical positions depending on the factory's size and industry.

What cities in California are hiring for Factory Work jobs?

Cities in California with the most Factory Work job openings:

Infographic showing various Factory Work job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 69% Full Time, 25% Part Time, 2% Temporary, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 91% Physical, 1% Hybrid, and 8% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $34,615 per year, or $16.6 per hour.

Senior Data Engineer - Data Lead

Foundry Robotics Inc

San Francisco, CA โ€ข On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, PTO

Re-posted 12 hours ago


Job description

About Us
Foundry Robotics is building an AI-native robotics manufacturing company focused on deploying advanced assembly and production capability for leading robotics companies and national-security-critical hardware. Basically, we're building robots that build robots.
We are reimagining manufacturing through advanced robotics. Our mission is to rebuild the American manufacturing industry as an AI-first, assembly-focused, dual-use contract manufacturer. We aim to empower manufacturers with intelligent, efficient, and adaptable robotic systems that redefine productivity and quality.
The Role
We are hiring a Sr Data Engineer / Data Lead to own the data layer that powers Factory OS. You will design and operate petabyte-scale data pipelines that ingest visual, telemetry, and manufacturing data from the factory floor, move it reliably across edge, on-prem, and cloud environments, and make it available for ML training, analytics, and operational decision-making. You will define the data roadmap-architecture, governance, lifecycle, and tooling-and be the person the rest of the engineering org depends on for clean, reliable, well-modeled data. You will also contribute to backend services where data meets application logic. This is a hands-on engineering role. You will ship.
Key Responsibilities
Petabyte-Scale Data Pipelines
  • Design, build, and operate PB-scale data pipelines for ingesting, curating, indexing, and preparing manufacturing, visual, and telemetry data
  • Implement reliable data movement across embedded, edge, on-prem, and cloud compute environments
  • Build streaming and batch processing systems that handle high-throughput factory-floor data in real time
  • Implement data lifecycle management: retention, archival, compaction, and cost optimization at scale

Data Architecture + Roadmap
  • Define and own the Factory OS data roadmap-architecture, governance, quality, and tooling strategy
  • Design data models, schemas, and contracts that serve application, ML, and analytics consumers
  • Establish data cataloging, lineage tracking, and discoverability across the platform
  • Drive data quality standards: validation, monitoring, alerting, and anomaly detection
  • Evaluate and adopt data technologies (warehouses, lakehouses, streaming platforms) as the platform scales

Backend Services + Integration
  • Contribute to backend services where data pipelines meet application logic (APIs, event-driven systems, database layers)
  • Partner with ML engineers to ensure training and inference pipelines have access to clean, well-prepared datasets
  • Collaborate with full-stack developers, robotics teams, and operations to translate data needs into reliable infrastructure
  • Implement observability: metrics, logging, and tracing across data systems
What We're Looking For
  • Between 5-7 years of experience in data engineering, with demonstrated work at terabyte-to-petabyte scale
  • Deep hands-on experience with data pipeline frameworks (Spark, Flink, Kafka, Airflow, dbt, or similar)
  • Strong proficiency in Python and SQL; backend experience in Go, Java, or TypeScript is a plus
  • Experience designing data architectures spanning streaming, batch, lakehouse, and warehouse patterns
  • Solid understanding of distributed systems, storage engines, and data modeling (relational and NoSQL)
  • Experience with cloud data services (AWS S3/Glue/Redshift, GCP BigQuery/Dataflow, or Azure equivalents)
  • Comfortable defining roadmaps, making architectural decisions, and driving alignment across teams
  • Comfortable operating independently and owning complex systems end-to-end
Nice to Have (Not Required)
  • Experience with visual or image data pipelines at scale (video ingestion, frame extraction, annotation workflows)
  • Background in manufacturing, robotics, or industrial IoT data systems
  • Familiarity with ML data preparation workflows (feature stores, dataset versioning, labeling pipelines)
  • Experience with edge-to-cloud data architectures and intermittent connectivity patterns
  • Exposure to infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Pulumi) and container orchestration (Kubernetes)
Growth Opportunities
  • Define the entire data architecture and roadmap for an AI-native factory
  • Work with petabyte-scale visual, telemetry, and manufacturing data in a real production environment
  • Grow into a data leadership role as the team and platform scale
  • Direct influence on how data drives quality, throughput, and cost improvements in physical manufacturing
Why Join Us?
This is one of the only places where world-class manufacturing operators, mechanical engineers, robotics researchers, and software engineers sit in the same room - building production systems together.
We are committed to being deeply embedded in the U.S. industrial base. Our focus is simple: build adaptive robotic assembly systems that make American manufacturing scalable, resilient, and competitive again.
If you want to run a mature, well-defined commercial org, this may not be the role.
If you want to build the commercial engine that brings AI-driven manufacturing to every industrial and energy customer in America - this is it.
The base salary range for this full-time position in the location of San Francisco is:
$150,000-$250,000 USD
Compensation packages at Foundry Robotics for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position, determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Foundry Robotics employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, and generous PTO.