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Job Description

Overview

Peteresen Industries is seeking a Welder for its facility in Lake Wales, FL. The MIG Welder will fabricate and weld steel components for grapple trucks and loaders, ensuring compliance with engineering specifications and quality standards.

Responsibilities

  • Perform MIG (GMAW) welding on carbon steel and structural components used in heavy equipment manufacturing.
  • Weld structural assemblies including truck frames, loader arms, mounting plates, outriggers, and grapple support structures.
  • Interpret and follow engineering drawings, blueprints, fractions, decimals, welding symbols, and work instructions.
  • Prepare materials for welding by cutting, grinding, beveling, and cleaning metal surfaces.
  • Set up and operate welding machines and related fabrication equipment.
  • Inspect welds visually and with measuring tools to verify compliance with specifications.
  • Maintain proper weld penetration, bead consistency, and structural integrity of assemblies.
  • Operate shop tools such as grinders, torches, saws, clamps, and fixtures.
  • Follow all safety procedures, PPE requirements, and welding safety standards.
  • Fit, tack and align parts prior to final welding.
  • Perform rework, grinding, and finishing of welds as required.
  • Maintain a clean and organized work area consistent with 5S and lean manufacturing practices.
  • Work collaboratively with fitters, assemblers, and quality personnel.
  • Meet production schedules and quality standards.

Requirements

  • High school diploma or GED.
  • Minimum 3 years of MIG welding experience in a manufacturing or heavy equipment environment.
  • Demonstrated ability to read and follow engineering drawings, blueprints, fractions, decimals, welding symbols, and work instructions.
  • Minimum 3 years of experience welding structural steel components.
  • Ability to operate welding equipment safely and effectively.
  • Basic math skills for measurements and layout.
  • Ability to pass a AWS D1.1 Weld Test in the Flat (1G), Horizontal (2G), Vertical (3G), or Overhead (4G) position.
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How this job compares in Babson Park, FL

Pay in context

At roughly $20/hr, this posting comes in about 18% below the $25/hr median for welding jobs across Florida, where the middle half runs $22–$30/hr across 117 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 13% of the comparable postings we have wage data for. That gap is worth raising directly — in a market this size there is normally room to negotiate toward the median, particularly if you already hold the certifications the posting asks for.

The local market in Babson Park, FL

This is the only active welding job we're currently tracking in Babson Park, FL, which makes it worth moving on quickly — there is no local competing offer to weigh it against. Across Florida as a whole we're tracking 228 other active welding openings from 152 employers. Browse welding jobs across Florida.

The most active employers in Florida at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are Welding Shop in Miami, FL (15), Welding Shop in Tampa, FL (9), and Aerotek (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 Florida, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Tampa at $36/hr, Jacksonville at $30/hr, and Cocoa at $24/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

What you'll be running

This posting calls for MIG and Flux-Core work. 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. Flux-cored (FCAW) runs a hollow wire filled with flux, combining MIG-like deposition rates with the outdoor tolerance of stick. It is the workhorse on heavy structural steel and shipbuilding, where thick sections and long welds reward speed.

Certifications this posting mentions

  • AWS D1.1 — the American Welding Society's Structural Welding Code for steel. It governs almost all building and structural steel work in the US, so a D1.1 qualification is the baseline credential for construction and ironworking.
  • 3G / 4G — plate position tests — 3G is welded vertically, 4G overhead. Together they demonstrate you can hold a puddle against gravity, and they are the common entry qualifications for structural and production shops.

Read straight from this posting's text. Confirm the exact qualification the employer wants before you test — requirements vary by shop even under the same code.

Similar openings near Babson Park, FL

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