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Job Description

Overview

The Vessel Welder role involves welding storage tanks, spheres, and water towers, ensuring high-quality standards on carbon steel components. This position is with Aerotek, a staffing and services solutions provider.

Responsibilities

  • Weld storage tanks, spheres, and water towers using stick, flux core, and occasional MIG processes on carbon steel up to 3 inches thick.
  • Perform vessel and component welding to x-ray quality standards, including thorough back gouging of welds.
  • Use stick welding approximately 20% of the time and flux core as the primary welding process, with some MIG as required.
  • Fabricate and weld vessel components, including tanks, towers, and related structures.
  • Set up and operate welding equipment and tools in accordance with safety and quality requirements.
  • Operate an overhead crane to move heavy materials and components safely within the shop.
  • Perform layouts, fit ups, and fabrication tasks for storage tanks, vessels, and towers.
  • Read and interpret blueprints and, when applicable, isometric drawings to complete welding and fabrication tasks accurately.
  • Conduct weld tests such as 2G and 3G using stick and flux core processes when required.
  • Maintain a clean and safe work area, following established safety procedures in a heavy equipment environment.
  • Work rotating shifts, including day and night schedules, and be available for Saturday work as needed.

Requirements

  • Minimum of 3 years of experience as a vessel welder.
  • Proficiency in flux core welding on carbon steel vessel components.
  • Proficiency in stick welding, including passing 2G and 3G weld tests.
  • Ability to perform proper back gouging on welds to meet 100% x-ray quality standards.
  • Experience welding on carbon steel material up to 3 inches thick.
  • Ability to operate an overhead crane safely in a busy shop environment.
  • Experience with vessel component welding and fabrication, including tanks and towers.
  • Capability to perform weld tests and demonstrate consistent weld quality using stick and flux core processes.

Benefits

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

Additional Information

  • This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Houston, TX 77041.
  • Work takes place in a large, non-climate-controlled fabrication shop.
  • The position starts on day shift, typically 6:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with Saturdays as needed.
  • After approximately six months, you rotate to a second shift from 4:15 p.m. to 2:45 a.m., Monday through Friday.

Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
401k
PTO
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How this job compares in Galena Park, TX

Pay in context

At roughly $29/hr, this posting lands within a few percent of the $28/hr median for welding jobs across Texas, whose middle half runs $23–$35/hr across 341 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 53% 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 Galena Park, TX

Galena Park, TX is a small market in our index: 2 other active welding openings alongside this one, from 2 employers. Across Texas as a whole we're tracking 953 other active welding openings from 418 employers. With this few local postings, most welders here end up either commuting or looking at travel work. Browse welding jobs across Texas.

Aerotek currently has 9 other openings 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 (34), Zachry Group (24), and Welding Shop in Houston, TX (23). 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 Old Sixth Ward at $40/hr, Dallas at $36/hr, and Channelview at $32/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.

Certifications this posting mentions

  • 3G / 4G — plate position tests — 3G is welded vertically, 4G overhead. Together they demonstrate you can hold a puddle against gravity, and they are the common entry qualifications for structural and production shops.

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 Galena Park, TX

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