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Job Description

Overview

A structural welder fabricates, assembles, and joins metal components to create and maintain the framework of buildings, bridges, and other infrastructure, ensuring structural integrity and safety.

Responsibilities

  • Cut, shape, and join metal parts such as beams, columns, and plates to form complete structures using MIG, TIG, or stick welding techniques.
  • Interpret blueprints, schematics, and welding procedure specifications to determine the layout and sequence of welding operations.
  • Perform fit-up checks, tack welding, and final weld passes, ensuring alignment and compliance with structural standards.
  • Maintain welding equipment and tools, and clean and prepare metal surfaces.

Requirements

  • Manual dexterity and precision in welding.
  • Knowledge of metallurgy to ensure welds can withstand stress and environmental factors.
  • Proficiency in operating welding machines, power saws, grinders, and lifting equipment like cranes and forklifts.
  • Ability to perform visual inspections and non-destructive testing to verify weld quality and structural integrity.
  • Strong problem-solving skills and adherence to safety protocols.
  • Completion of apprenticeships, vocational training, or formal welding programs.
  • Certifications such as AWS D1.1 Structural Welding Code, ASME, or International Welding Specialist (IWS) credentials.
  • Experience in large-scale construction projects and familiarity with various welding techniques.

Benefits

Additional Information

  • Work in diverse environments, including fabrication shops, construction sites, and outdoor locations.
  • Fieldwork may involve overhead welding, vertical positions, confined spaces, and exposure to weather conditions.
  • Safety is paramount, and welders must follow strict health and safety regulations.
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How this job compares in Franklin, LA

Pay in context

This employer didn't publish a rate. For reference, welding jobs across Louisiana currently run a median of $30/hr in our index, with the middle half of them falling between $25–$37/hr across 33 postings with published pay. That median is a reasonable floor to anchor on when a recruiter asks what you're looking for.

The local market in Franklin, LA

Franklin, LA is a small market in our index: 2 other active welding openings alongside this one, from 2 employers. Across Louisiana as a whole we're tracking 121 other active welding openings from 71 employers. With this few local postings, most welders here end up either commuting or looking at travel work. Browse welding jobs across Louisiana.

The most active employers in Louisiana at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are Worley (9), PALA Interstate (8), and The Shaw Group (6). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

What you'll be running

This posting calls for MIG, TIG, and Stick 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.

See all structural welder openings if you want to compare this against similar roles.

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.
  • ASME Section IX — the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code qualification. It covers welding on pressure-retaining equipment — boilers, vessels, and process piping — where a failed weld is a safety incident rather than a rework ticket.

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 Franklin, LA

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