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Job Description

Overview

Axis Design and Fabrication is seeking a Lead Welder/Fabricator in Valley, Nebraska. This full-time position involves hands-on leadership in custom metalwork fabrication and installation, while also mentoring less-experienced team members.

Responsibilities

  • Fabricate and weld custom architectural and ornamental metalwork.
  • Read and interpret shop drawings, plans, and dimensions.
  • Layout, fit, tack, weld, grind, and finish projects.
  • Work on railings, stairs, gates, architectural metalwork, structural steel, and other custom projects.
  • Determine practical fabrication methods and solutions.
  • Identify potential problems in drawings or designs before they reach the shop floor.
  • Maintain a high standard of quality and craftsmanship.
  • Provide day-to-day direction to two less-experienced fabricators.
  • Answer questions and help troubleshoot fabrication problems.
  • Review work for quality and catch mistakes before they become larger problems.
  • Help keep projects moving and employees productive.
  • Teach good fabrication practices and lead by example.
  • Help develop the skills and independence of the other fabricators.
  • Communicate with management about project progress, problems, and needs.
  • Participate in installation of railings, stairs, gates, architectural metalwork, and other custom projects.
  • Read drawings and understand how fabricated components are intended to fit together.
  • Take field measurements and evaluate actual site conditions.
  • Troubleshoot situations where field conditions don't match the drawings.
  • Determine practical field modifications when necessary.
  • Communicate problems and solutions to management.
  • Ensure the finished product is installed correctly and meets quality standards.

Requirements

  • Several years of hands-on welding and fabrication experience.
  • Experience building custom, one-off projects.
  • Comfortable reading and working from drawings.
  • Understand layout, fit-up, and fabrication processes.
  • Experience with custom metalwork.
  • Installation or construction/job-site experience.
  • Ability to visualize how something will be fabricated and installed.
  • Good problem solver.
  • Comfortable making decisions and taking ownership of a project.
  • Ability to teach and help less-experienced fabricators.
  • Take pride in quality and craftsmanship.
  • Dependable and willing to hold themselves and others accountable.

Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • PTO

Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
PTO
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How this job compares in Valley, NE

Pay in context

At roughly $36/hr, this posting sits about 50% above the $24/hr median for welding jobs across Nebraska — toward the top of a $18–$27/hr middle band drawn from 26 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 96% of the comparable postings we have wage data for. Pay that far above local median usually comes attached to something: a harder cert requirement, travel, night shift, or overtime that isn't really optional. Worth establishing which before you accept.

The local market in Valley, NE

Valley, NE currently has 5 other active welding openings besides this one, spread across 2 employers. None of them were added in the last week, so this is a slower-moving market. Across Nebraska as a whole we're tracking 36 other active welding openings from 27 employers. That's enough local activity to be worth comparing two or three offers before committing. Browse every welding job in Valley, or widen the search to Nebraska.

The most active employers in Nebraska at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are Valmont Industries, Inc. (5), CNH (3), and The Toro Company (2). 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 and TIG 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 lead welder openings if you want to compare this against similar roles.

Similar openings near Valley, NE

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