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Job Description

Overview

HII is seeking a Mastertradesperson Welder to support submarine alterations and installations for fleet modernization. The role involves working closely with skilled trades teams on active class surface ships, utilizing various welding processes and mechanical techniques.

Responsibilities

  • Support trades team by working on active class surface ships to assist with alterations and installations for fleet modernization.
  • Perform all work in accordance with established quality and safety procedures.
  • Execute a variety of tasks related to shipboard maintenance to meet standards on various contracts.
  • Work from blueprints, engineering sketches, charts, or work orders.
  • Fabricate, maintain, repair, and modify structural elements and equipment.
  • Lay out and mark points and lines on parts or subassemblies using tools.
  • Cut, fit, assemble, and position pieces to be welded into jigs and existing structures.
  • Apply welding processes (SMAW, FCAW, GMAW) to join and repair metal parts.
  • Maintain effective communications and provide reports to team and senior management.

Requirements

  • Must be a U.S. citizen.
  • Must have a High School education or Trade School equivalent, and 4 years of related experience welding aboard naval vessels.
  • Must be able to obtain medical clearance to wear a half-face respirator.
  • Must have welding experience with stick welding (SMAW), Flux Core (FCAW), and Aluminum MIG (GMAW) processes in all positions.
  • Must have experience reading and interpreting drawings, blueprints, and technical manuals.
  • Must be able to accurately read and follow welding symbols.
  • Must be able to accurately read measuring devices to 1/16 of an inch.
  • Must demonstrate applied comprehensive knowledge of quality control procedures.
  • Must be able to follow and enforce safety procedures.
  • Must have experience working in a team environment and communicate effectively.

Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • PTO
  • 401k

Additional Information

  • Required travel is 76 - 100%.
  • Per Diem provided based on location when on travel.
  • Travel and lodging expenses are covered by the company.

Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
PTO
401k
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How this job compares in Chesapeake, VA

Pay in context

At roughly $27/hr, this posting lands within a few percent of the $28/hr median for welding jobs across Virginia, whose middle half runs $24–$34/hr across 70 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 44% of the comparable postings we have wage data for. In other words it is a market-rate offer, so benefits, overtime, and shift schedule are where the real difference between this and the next posting on the list shows up.

The local market in Chesapeake, VA

Chesapeake, VA currently has 7 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 Virginia as a whole we're tracking 131 other active welding openings from 65 employers. That's enough local activity to be worth comparing two or three offers before committing. Browse every welding job in Chesapeake, or widen the search to Virginia.

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

The most active employers in Virginia at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are Innovative Refrigeration Systems, Inc. (12), General Dynamics NASSCO (10), and RailWorks (6). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

Within Virginia, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Newport News at $34/hr, Norfolk at $30/hr, and Richmond at $28/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

What you'll be running

This posting calls for MIG, 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. Stick (SMAW) burns a flux-coated consumable rod and needs no shielding gas, so it works in wind, rain, and on dirty or rusted steel. That tolerance for bad conditions keeps it the default for field, structural, and repair work.

Similar openings near Chesapeake, VA

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. (Welder) Mastertradesperson 4- 30148 figures were last recalculated when this page was built.