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Job Description

Overview

At Freeport-McMoRan, the 2027 Summer Skilled Trades Internship for Boilermaker Welders offers students and recent graduates the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a collaborative environment, focusing on safety and excellence in skilled trades. This temporary, full-time paid position runs from May through August across various sites in North America.

Responsibilities

  • Assist with a variety of welding processes such as SMAW, FCAW/GMAW, TIG Welding, and Carbon Arc Gouging.
  • Assist Boilermaker Welders with routine welding and maintenance activities, including fabrication to blueprints or field fabrication.
  • Assist with completion of work orders and other maintenance documentation.
  • Perform other duties as required.

Requirements

  • Currently enrolled in an associate degree or certification program in welding, or a recent graduate with an associate degree or certification in welding.
  • Ability to understand, apply and communicate verbal and written work and safety-related instructions in English.
  • Must be able to multi-task, work under pressure, and meet time-sensitive deadlines.
  • Work may involve exposure to extremes in temperature and humidity, moving mechanical parts, and risk of electrical shock.
  • Regularly required to stand, sit, demonstrate manual dexterity, climb stairs and ladders, and work on elevated platforms.
  • Occasionally may be required to lift moderately heavy objects up to fifty pounds.
  • Personal protective equipment is required when performing work in various environments.

Additional Information

  • Interns are placed at sites across Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.
  • Candidates are not eligible for immigration work visa sponsorship.
  • Freeport-McMoRan promotes a drug/alcohol free work environment with mandatory pre-employment drug testing.
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How this job compares in Phoenix, AZ

Pay in context

At roughly $23/hr, this posting comes in about 23% below the $30/hr median for welding jobs in Phoenix, AZ, where the middle half runs $25–$37/hr across 72 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 17% 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 Phoenix, AZ

We're tracking 160 other active welding openings in Phoenix, AZ right now, from 105 different employers. 16 of them were added in the last week. Across Arizona as a whole we're tracking 370 other active welding openings from 195 employers. A metro this active generally means you have real leverage — employers here are competing for the same welders. Browse every welding job in Phoenix, or widen the search to Arizona.

Freeport-McMoRan currently has 2 other openings live in Arizona, which is usually a sign of either steady growth or steady turnover — worth asking which in the interview.

The most active employers in Arizona at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are Sundt Construction (16), EZARC (15), and Welding Shop in Phoenix, AZ (15). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

Within Arizona, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are El Mirage at $38/hr, Phoenix at $30/hr, and Goodyear at $30/hr. Phoenix is among them.

What you'll be running

This posting calls for MIG, TIG, Stick, 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. TIG (GTAW) uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode with filler added by hand, giving the operator the most control of any process. It is slow, demanding, and the standard for stainless, aluminum, and anything where the bead has to look as good as it holds.

Similar openings near Phoenix, AZ

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. 2027 Summer Skilled Trades Internship - Boilermaker Welder figures were last recalculated when this page was built.