Panasonic has hired 1,100 employees in De Soto plant so far. These jobs are open

As part of building the multibillion-dollar facility, Panasonic officials said they hoped to hire 4,000 workers to fill the new 4.7 million square foot factory in De Soto.

So far, the company has hired 1,100 employees and anticipates to fill 2,000 positions by next year, all helping build the lithium ion batteries that power electric vehicles.

Beyond next year’s hiring goal, customer demand will determine the number of people added to the team at De Soto, Panasonic officials said. The historically massive incentive deal Kansas gave the company to build the factory in the state did not require Panasonic to create a specific number of jobs or to pay any specific wages.

But for now, 88 positions are open on its career page. From engineering and manufacturing to operations and administration, several full-time positions are readily available for prospective employees to apply.

Engineering jobs

According to the Panasonic website, 10 engineering positions are available at the De Soto site as of July 15.

For those looking to kick off their career, Panasonic is hiring a vision engineer who will support the manufacturing operations by programming, installing and troubleshooting machine vision systems. The role requires at least a bachelor’s degree in electrical, mechanical or computer engineering or a related technical field. Internship experience is accepted.

Of those positions, three are early career manufacturing engineering positions (referred to as Manufacturing Engineer II on the jobs page). These engineers will lead small-scale projects, resolve technical issues, implement sustainable process improvements and mentor junior engineers.

The jobs require at least a bachelor’s degree and two years of experience in a manufacturing environment, among other listed qualifications.

For those looking for more advanced career opportunities, Panasonic is hiring a senior architect, a senior civil engineer, and several higher level mechanical and manufacturing engineer positions. These jobs ask for more than five years experience and typically require more leadership activities than the other positions.

Manufacturing opportunities

Alongside engineering, Panasonic’s manufacturing opportunities take the largest slice of the available jobs at the De Soto facility.

Most of the manufacturing jobs only require a high school diploma or GED, with some of the higher level and leadership roles requiring an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree.

One of the early career opportunities includes a skilled machine technician apprentice, which is part of a Registered Apprenticeship through the Kansas Department of Labor and will be responsible for learning to operate the production equipment and machinery.

Apprentices will attend eight weeks of coursework at Johnson County Community College or Kansas City Kansas Community College — which is paid for as part of the employment. Following coursework, apprentices will complete 2,000 hours of on-the-job training.

Panasonic is hiring two maintenance technician positions – one is an early career position that requires at least three years of experience and the other is a senior level position with leadership roles that requires at least seven-and-a-half years of experience.

Maintenance technicians are responsible for maintaining the production equipment and machinery in proper operating order and for routine maintenance of all machines to prevent mechanical failure. The higher level position acts as a mentor for the team and helps guide lower level technicians.

The manufacturing side is offering several management and supervising positions to help oversee operations and the health and safety components of the factory.

Alongside engineering and manufacturing, Panasonic is hiring finance, IT, human resources and other administrative roles.

Pay

The job descriptions don’t include wage ranges in the descriptions, but the company has said in the past that it intends to have starting wages between $20 and $30 an hour.

However, Panasonic doesn’t have to stick to that salary range since the state did not include specific requirements for the number of jobs or the wages the company will pay in its incentives. However, the overall amount of state money Panasonic can access does depend on the De Soto plant’s total payroll.

You can email talentacquisition@us.panasonic.com with any talent acquisition related questions. Email eeo2@us.panasonic.com for any assistance in filling out the application forms on the Panasonic careers website.

This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 3:38 PM.