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Job Description

Overview

Ingalls Shipbuilding, part of HII, is the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi, specializing in designing, building, and maintaining naval vessels for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. The Shipfitter role involves fabricating, assembling, and installing metal structures for ships, offering a hands-on career in a skilled trade.

Responsibilities

  • Fabricate, assemble, and install metal parts and structures used in ship construction.
  • Use tools such as torches, tape measures, hammers, levels, and welding equipment.
  • Apply basic math, measurement, and blueprint reading skills.
  • Work in shipboard environments including heights, confined spaces, and varying weather conditions.
  • Support production needs in a 24/7 manufacturing environment.

Requirements

  • Read and interpret blueprints utilizing both metric and standard measurements.
  • Knowledge of the layout, fit-up and fabrication of steel plate and beam.
  • Experience with various trade specific tools such as grinder, hand torch, hydraulic and ratchet jack, chain fall and/or come-a-long, combination square, framing square, hand level and plumb bob.
  • No prior shipfitting experience required; skills training provided.
  • Tech Master Certification, High School Graduate or Equivalent is nice to have.

Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • 401k
  • Tuition Reimbursement

Additional Information

  • Full-Time position with multiple shifts available.
  • No relocation assistance available.
  • Not eligible for telework.
  • Starting pay of $21.58 per hour with guaranteed pay increases every six months.

Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
401k
Tuition Reimbursement
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How this job compares in Pascagoula, MS

Pay in context

At roughly $22/hr, this posting comes in about 45% below the $39/hr median for welding jobs in Pascagoula, MS, where the middle half runs $28–$53/hr across 12 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 0% 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 Pascagoula, MS

We're tracking 20 other active welding openings in Pascagoula, MS right now, from 9 different employers. 7 of them were added in the last week. Across Mississippi as a whole we're tracking 80 other active welding openings from 46 employers. A metro this active generally means you have real leverage — employers here are competing for the same welders. Browse every welding job in Pascagoula, or widen the search to Mississippi.

HII currently has 3 other openings live in Mississippi, which is usually a sign of either steady growth or steady turnover — worth asking which in the interview.

The most active employers in Mississippi at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are TIC - The Industrial Company (13), Ingalls Shipbuilding, a Division of HII (5), and MOHR Talent (5). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

Similar openings near Pascagoula, MS

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