Support during a re-tool of an automotive body shop, a material-handling application: assist with the tooling change and verify the robot paths once it's done.

$72.00/hr ST/OT/DT, plus $32.00/hr travel time (4 travel hours per round trip), a $176/day per diem (no receipts), and a $51 travel-day per diem; travel expenses for well-qualified candidates outside the 50-mile local radius.

The Weekend the Line Goes Dark: A KUKA Re-Tool Contract in Greer, SC

Q: What KUKA experience is required?

KUKA is mandatory, on the KRC4 controller — able to test programs, touch up points if needed, and verify robot paths after the tooling change.

Q: When does it run, and how long?

July 31 through August 2, 2026 — a short planned downtime window; variable shift, 10-hour days, one person.

Quick answer: An automotive body shop in Greer, South Carolina needs a KUKA robot programmer to support a re-tool. The required skill is KUKA (mandatory), on the KRC4 controller — you'll test programs, touch up points where needed, and verify the robot paths after the tooling change is done. It's a material-handling application, and it runs a tight window: July 31 through August 2, 2026, variable shift, 10-hour days, one person. It pays $72.00 an hour straight, overtime, and double time, plus $32.00/hr travel time (four travel hours per round trip) and a $176/day per diem with no receipts required, plus a $51 travel-day per diem. You can view and apply on the contract page free, or, if you're hiring, post your own work free or search the marketplace and request a professional directly.

What a re-tool actually is

Picture the plant on a Friday night. The line that runs all week is stopped on purpose. Fixtures come off, new tooling goes on, and for a day or two the body shop is a quiet floor full of robots frozen mid-reach. Everything that was true about where a part sat, how a gripper approached it, and where the robot handed it off is now slightly — or completely — different. A re-tool is that planned window: change the tooling, then make sure every robot still does exactly what it's supposed to before the plant powers back up and the parts start moving again.

That "make sure" is the whole job here. After the tooling change, the programmer verifies the paths — walks the robot through its motion, confirms it clears the new fixtures, picks and places to the new geometry, and touches up points where the change moved them. On a KUKA cell that means working in KRC4, testing programs, nudging taught positions, and signing off that the cell is clean. No drama if it's done right. A very expensive Monday if it isn't.

The contract

Role: Robot Programmer — 1 needed
Location: Greer, South Carolina (Greenville-Spartanburg, Upstate SC)
Application: Automotive body shop — material handling
Must know: KUKA (mandatory) · KRC4 · test programs and touch up points · verify paths after the tooling change
Runs: July 31 – August 2, 2026 (planned re-tool window)
Schedule: Variable shift · 10-hour days
Rate: $72.00/hr straight, OT and DT · $32.00/hr travel time (4 travel hrs/round trip)
Per diem: $176/day (no receipts) · $51 travel-day per diem · travel expenses for well-qualified candidates outside the 50-mile local radius

Read the shape of it. A hard July 31 start, a two-to-three-day window, and a single seat. That's a downtime job — the kind where the schedule isn't a suggestion, because the plant has already decided when it's coming back online. The pay reflects that: a strong hourly across straight, OT and DT, travel time on the clock, and a per diem that doesn't ask you to keep receipts. Short, sharp, and well paid for the pressure.

Why this is senior work, not filler

Anyone can run a robot through a path when nothing has changed. A re-tool is the opposite of nothing changed — the fixtures are new, the reference geometry moved, and you have a closing clock. The skill is doing the verification fast and clean: knowing which points the tooling change actually affected, touching up only what needs it, and proving the whole cell out so the first production part on Monday runs like the change never happened. KUKA material-handling cells in a body shop are unforgiving about approach angles and clearances, and KRC4 fluency is the difference between a confident sign-off and a nervous one. That's why it's one seat for a qualified programmer, not a crew of hopefuls.

Greer, and why the work is here

Greer sits in the Upstate of South Carolina, in the Greenville-Spartanburg corridor that has quietly become one of the most important automotive-manufacturing regions in the country. Where there's high-volume automotive body work, there are KUKA robots handling and joining metal all day, every day — and there are re-tools, because tooling changes are simply part of how a plant keeps building. This contract is one of those moments: a planned change, a narrow window, and a need for one programmer who can make the robots right again before the line comes back.

Why this fills on Automate America

Automate America is a global marketplace of thousands of skilled professionals across hundreds of occupations, in every industry — industrial, commercial and residential — worldwide. Not a staffing desk. A marketplace, where the company and the professional can see each other directly. It works two ways, both free: a company can post a contract, a job, or an RFQ and let qualified professionals come to it, or search the marketplace and request the exact professional it needs. Professionals can browse open hourly contracts, apply in a couple of clicks, and follow the companies whose work they want to see first. Everyone carries their own record — trusted professionals with completed contracts and customer reviews.

A short-window re-tool with a hard start date is exactly the ask a general job board handles worst and a marketplace handles best: you don't have three weeks to interview, you need the right KUKA programmer available on July 31. Post it, and qualified applicants show up within minutes — or search and request one directly. Need a hand either way? You're one message from info@automateamerica.com. Robot programmers here work alongside the rest of the bench — controls engineers, automation engineers and maintenance technicians — the crew that keeps a body shop running.

If you can make a re-tool look boring

The best outcome of this job is that nobody notices it happened. New tooling goes on over the weekend, the paths get verified, and Monday's first part runs clean — as if the line never went dark. That quiet is the craft. It takes a KUKA programmer who knows KRC4, works fast under a downtime clock, and signs off with confidence.

If that's you, the contract is right here — and it starts July 31, so don't sit on it.

More open work and industry writing lives on the Automate America news and contracts hub.

Frequently asked questions

What KUKA experience is required?
KUKA is mandatory, on the KRC4 controller. You need to be able to test programs, touch up points if needed, and verify robot paths after the tooling change.

What is the work?
Support during a re-tool of an automotive body shop — a material-handling application. You assist with the tooling change and verify the robot paths once the change is done.

When does it run, and how long?
July 31 through August 2, 2026 — a short, planned downtime window. Variable shift, 10-hour days, one person.

What does it pay?
$72.00/hr straight, overtime and double time, plus $32.00/hr travel time (four travel hours per round trip), a $176/day per diem with no receipts required, and a $51 travel-day per diem. Travel expenses are covered for well-qualified candidates outside the 50-mile local radius.

Where is it, and how do I apply?
Greer, South Carolina (Greenville-Spartanburg). View and apply free on the contract page at Automate America; you can also be requested directly by companies searching the marketplace for KUKA re-tool programmers.