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Job Description

Overview

The Day 1st Class Welder position involves welding steel plates and pipes for the repair and construction of marine vessels and industrial components. The role requires understanding welding procedures, interpreting blueprints, and utilizing various welding equipment.

Responsibilities

  • Understand welding procedures and parameters.
  • Comprehend and utilize blueprints, sketches, drawings, and technical manuals.
  • Weld steel plates and pipes in the repair and/or construction of marine vessels and industrial components.
  • Use various types of welding equipment for different types of metal.
  • Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
  • Perform related tasks such as cutting and grinding.
  • Repair broken or cracked parts, fill holes, and increase the size of metal parts.
  • Weld metal parts together using gas welding, brazing, arc welding, wire fed welding, or tig welding processes.
  • Select and set up welding equipment, execute planned welds, and examine welds to ensure they meet standards.

Requirements

  • High School Diploma, some college or technical school certification.
  • Six months to one year of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • Must pass an ABS or ASME weld test.
  • Ability to work under deadlines and schedule pressures.
  • Ability to read and interpret blueprints, sketches, drawings, and technical manuals.
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
  • Strong team player with a commitment to company values and safety.

Additional Information

  • Open-air working conditions such as noisy, hot, cold, etc.
  • Must be able to stand and operate equipment for up to four continuous hours.
  • Wearing hearing, eye, head protection, and proper PPE is required.
  • Some climbing (100 feet or higher) and lifting (50 lbs.) involved.
  • Work on inland and offshore barges or in industrial settings.
  • Enter round manholes with inside diameters of 18 inches and other confined spaces.
  • Traverse gangways and scaffolding at varying heights.
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How this job compares in Galveston, TX

Pay in context

This employer didn't publish a rate. For reference, welding jobs across Texas currently run a median of $28/hr in our index, with the middle half of them falling between $23–$35/hr across 454 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 Galveston, TX

Galveston, TX currently has 3 other active welding openings besides this one, spread across 3 employers. None of them were added in the last week, so this is a slower-moving market. Across Texas as a whole we're tracking 1,288 other active welding openings from 594 employers. That's enough local activity to be worth comparing two or three offers before committing. Browse every welding job in Galveston, or widen the search to Texas.

Gulf Copper currently has 1 other opening live in Texas, which is usually a sign of either steady growth or steady turnover — worth asking which in the interview.

The most active employers in Texas at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are Austin Industries (31), Welding Shop in Austin, TX (27), and Zachry Group (21). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

Within Texas, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are San Angelo at $39/hr, La Porte at $38/hr, and Pasadena at $36/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

What you'll be running

This posting calls for TIG. 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.

Certifications this posting mentions

  • 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 Galveston, TX

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. Day 1st Class Welder figures were last recalculated when this page was built.