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Lead Operator Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Developer Experience Lead

Sunnyvale, CA · On-site

$158.88 - $220/hr

Define the standards, processes, and operating rhythms that let a small team eventually support ... Lead Bank benefits are designed to support culture and principles to foster an efficient and ...

Perform the duties of Lead Operator and related duties as needed. Work Environment: * Requires working in outdoor and indoor environments with varying noise levels and all temperatures and climatic ...

Machine Operator - 2nd Shift

Tracy, CA · On-site

$18.25 - $21.75/hr

Receives instructions on specific job task by Lead Operator or Supervisor. Assistance is furnished on unusual problems and work is reviewed for application of sound professional judgment. * Other ...

Lead Operating Engineer

Costa Mesa, CA

$110K - $144K/yr

Lead Operating Engineer Facility Operations What this role involves This position leads engineering operations within a large commercial facility, overseeing building systems performance, maintenance ...

Lead Operating Engineer

San Diego, CA

$109K - $143K/yr

Job Title Lead Operating Engineer Summary *LAB OR HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED* Responsible to ensure the proper efficient operations and maintenance of the mechanical electrical and plumbing systems ...

Lead Operating Engineer

San Jose, CA

$120K - $158K/yr

Job Title Lead Operating Engineer Summary Responsible to ensure the proper efficient operations and maintenance of the mechanical electrical and plumbing systems for the assigned facility. The ...

EDM Lead

Carson, CA · On-site

$22 - $29.70/hr

Job Overview The Wire EDM Lead Operator is responsible for set-up, programming, operation, and optimization of wire EDM machines while leading and supporting operators to ensure parts are produced ...

Showing results 41-60

Lead Operator information

See California salary details

$14

$24

$34

How much do lead operator jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 24, 2026, the average hourly pay for lead operator in California is $24.22, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $19.90 and $27.50 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a lead operator?

Lead Operators are experienced professionals who oversee the daily operations of a team or process within a manufacturing plant, industrial site, or similar setting. They are responsible for ensuring production runs smoothly, maintaining safety standards, and providing guidance to other operators. In addition to monitoring equipment and processes, Lead Operators often train new employees, troubleshoot issues, and communicate with management about production goals and challenges. Their leadership helps ensure efficiency, quality, and safety in the workplace.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a lead operator?

To thrive as a Lead Operator, you need strong technical expertise in machine operation, process control, and a solid understanding of safety protocols, often supported by relevant industry certifications or vocational training. Familiarity with manufacturing software systems, SCADA, and maintenance management tools is typically required. Leadership, effective communication, and problem-solving abilities help you coordinate teams and manage production challenges efficiently. These skills are crucial for ensuring safe, efficient operations and motivating teams to meet production targets.

How does a lead operator typically collaborate with other departments to ensure smooth production processes?

Lead Operators play a crucial role in cross-departmental collaboration by coordinating with maintenance, quality assurance, and logistics teams to address production issues promptly and maintain workflow efficiency. They often facilitate communication between operators and management, relay production targets, and help resolve bottlenecks. Regular meetings and shift handovers are common practices to keep all stakeholders aligned, ensuring that production goals are met while maintaining safety and quality standards.

What is the difference between Lead Operator vs Machine Operator?

AspectLead OperatorMachine Operator
CredentialsHigh school diploma or equivalent; often some technical trainingHigh school diploma or equivalent; technical training may be required
Work EnvironmentSupervises team, oversees operations, ensures safetyOperates machinery, follows operational procedures
Industry UsageCommon in manufacturing, oil & gas, and processing plantsCommon in manufacturing, construction, and production facilities

The main difference between a Lead Operator and a Machine Operator is that the Lead Operator typically supervises and coordinates the work of Machine Operators, ensuring safety and efficiency, while Machine Operators focus on operating specific machinery. Lead Operators often have additional responsibilities such as training team members and troubleshooting issues, making their role more supervisory within the same work environment.

Infographic showing various Lead Operator job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 72% Full Time, 17% Part Time, and 11% Nights. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $50,379 per year, or $24.2 per hour.

Developer Experience Lead

Lead

Sunnyvale, CA • On-site

$158.88 - $220/hr

Other

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 5 days ago


Job description

About Lead Bank

Lead is a banking infrastructure platform trusted by the most innovative companies to power complex financial products. We enable fintechs to offer compliant, programmable services like payments, lending, and digital assets at scale. Banking has moved beyond traditional institutions and is now embedded directly into everyday experiences, meaning companies need modern infrastructure that is safe, secure, and operationally sound.

Today, Lead is one of the only API-first, developer-focused partner banks with the financial, regulatory, and legal expertise required to help fintechs succeed. We operate offices in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and New York City, and an FDIC-insured bank in Kansas City.

Role Description

At Lead, we believe the developer experience is part of the product. As our platform grows, the quality of that experience — how partners learn what’s changing, integrate, and build with confidence — will become one of our greatest competitive advantages. This role exists to make building on Lead as intuitive and enjoyable as using the products we build.

We’re looking for a Developer Experience Lead to own two connected surfaces end to end: our developer documentation, and the communications partners rely on to understand and prepare for platform change. From API references, guides, and changelogs to feature-rollout notices, deprecation timelines, and upcoming-changes announcements, you’ll shape every touchpoint developers encounter as they build on and grow with Lead.

This is a senior individual-contributor role with real autonomy. You’ll operate independently, own your roadmap, and be the single accountable owner for how partners experience documentation and change communication. It’s also a role with runway: as the surface and volume grow, we expect this person to define the standards, processes, and — over time — the team that scales developer experience across the company.

If you’re passionate about reducing complexity, treating documentation and communication as products rather than afterthoughts, and giving developers an experience they’ll rave about, we’d love to talk.

Responsibilities
  • Developer Documentation

  • Own the strategy, roadmap, and day-to-day management of docs.lead.bank

  • Treat documentation as a product by continuously improving usability, discoverability, information architecture, and developer workflows.

  • Build implementation guides, tutorials, diagrams, quickstarts, and reference documentation that reduce time-to-first-success for developers.

  • Develop and maintain documentation standards, style guides, and editorial processes, including stewardship of the API Style Guide.

  • Measure documentation effectiveness using search analytics, user feedback, and adoption metrics, and close the loop on what you learn.

  • Collaborate with Product and Engineering early in feature development so documentation ships alongside releases, not after.

Partner & Release Communications

  • Own the partner-facing communication surface for planned platform change: feature rollouts, deprecations, and breaking changes.

  • Own the Changelog and Upcoming Changes page as the single source of truth for what’s changing and when, keeping timelines current as they firm up.

  • Steward the notice-period discipline for breaking changes — clear expectations, consistent lead times, explicit required actions.

  • Run the intake-to-publish workflow: partner with Product and Engineering to capture the technical details, then edit for clarity, customer impact, and a single consistent voice before publishing.

  • Ensure every partner communication answers, in order: what changed, why it matters to the partner, what they need to do, and where to learn more.

Technical Content & Developer Education

  • Partner with engineers and product managers to translate complex technical concepts — including our object model and API design — into clear, developer-friendly content.

  • Create onboarding guides, implementation playbooks, architecture diagrams, sample applications, and migration guides that help developers succeed faster.

  • Support Product Marketing with technical thought leadership and educational content, and identify opportunities for guides, videos, and developer showcases.

AI & Documentation Operations

  • Leverage AI to improve documentation creation, maintenance, quality assurance, and content operations.

  • Build repeatable workflows that let Engineering and Product contribute documentation efficiently.

  • Continuously improve the systems behind documentation and communications, not just the content itself.

  • Evaluate emerging AI tools and documentation technologies to keep the developer experience ahead of the curve.

Building the Function

  • Define the standards, processes, and operating rhythms that let a small team eventually support this surface without fragmenting quality or voice.

Qualifications
  • 6+ years across developer experience, developer education, technical writing, developer-facing product marketing, or related disciplines.

  • Exceptional written communication with an obsession for clarity and usability, and the judgment to write calmly and precisely about change that affects partners in production.

  • Able to read an API specification and reason about an object model — you understand the systems you’re documenting, not just how to phrase them.

  • Experience working closely with engineering teams and technical, API-first products.

  • Strong product instincts and genuine empathy for developers.

  • Experience with documentation platforms such as Mintlify, ReadMe, GitBook, or Docusaurus, and comfort with docs-as-code workflows and GitHub.

  • Comfortable using AI tools to improve documentation and content workflows.

  • A track record of setting standards and operating independently — evidence you can own a surface end to end.

Bonus if you’ve…

  • Built documentation as a product and measured its quality through analytics.

  • Owned developer or partner communications for platform change.

  • Designed developer onboarding experiences or created reference architectures.

  • Written SDK documentation or worked on API-first platforms.

  • Worked in fintech, payments, or another regulated, high-trust domain.

Success In This Role Looks Like
  • Developers integrate faster, with fewer support requests.

  • Documentation becomes a competitive differentiator for Lead.

  • Partners always know what’s changing before it ships, and trust the Upcoming Changes page as part of their workflow.

  • Product launches and breaking changes ship with complete, consistent, high-quality documentation and communication.

  • Engineering and Product treat documentation and partner communication as an integral part of the development lifecycle.

What we offer:

Lead Bank benefits are designed to support culture and principles to foster an efficient and inspiring work environment. This section describes typical programs and offerings; actual benefits may vary by location and role.

  • Competitive compensation based on experience, geographic location, and role

  • Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, 401k Matching, and other wellness benefits, including FSA, HSA and HRA

  • Paid parental leave

  • Flexible vacation policy, including PTO and paid holidays

  • A fun and challenging team environment in a dynamic industry with ample opportunities for career growth

Lead Bank is proud to have an inclusive culture committed to ensuring equal employment opportunity in all employment decisions regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, veteran status or any other legally protected status. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. Pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on geographical market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Zone 1: $185,000 - $220,000 (SF/Bay Area, NYC, Seattle)

Zone 2: $163,000 - $190,000 (Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Denver, Boston, Washington DC, San Diego, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, Miami)

Zone 3: $158,880 - $182,000 (Other US Metros)

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