A lead welder heads a team of welders on a specific project. Welders design, cut, and join metal parts to create new structures and tools. Their jobs are invaluable to any project that requires metal, either it's an apartment complex or a steel gate. Welders use specialized equipment that converts electricity to heat, bonding metal pieces. The job is potentially dangerous and requires skill.
A lead welder's day-to-day may change, depending on the project and team size. He or she may create a work plan for the day, supervise team members' work, and meet with clients. Lead welders may also be involved in finding new contracts for the welding team and hiring or firing welders.
Welding is a technical profession, so you need to attend a school of vocation. Skills necessary for the position of lead welder include physical strength, communication and precision
Lead Welder Overview
Working as a Lead Welder
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a lead welder. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.45 an hour? That's $50,851 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 14,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Lead Welder Do
There are certain skills that many lead welders have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed detail oriented, manual dexterity and physical strength.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a lead welder, we found that a lot of resumes listed 10.1% of lead welders included safety rules, while 8.9% of resumes included stainless steel, and 8.3% of resumes included aluminum. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the lead welder job title. But what industry to start with? Most lead welders actually find jobs in the manufacturing and construction industries.
How To Become a Lead Welder
If you're interested in becoming a lead welder, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 6.9% of lead welders have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.8% of lead welders have master's degrees. Even though some lead welders have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a lead welder. When we researched the most common majors for a lead welder, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on lead welder resumes include diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a lead welder. In fact, many lead welder jobs require experience in a role such as welder. Meanwhile, many lead welders also have previous career experience in roles such as welder fitter or pipe welder.
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Lead Welder Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a lead welder can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as welding supervisor, progress to a title such as supervisor and then eventually end up with the title plant manager.
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Average Salary for a Lead Welder
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Central Carolina Community College Lead Welding Instructor ( Lead Welding Instructor ( | Central Carolina Community College Central Carolina Community College | 07/13/2020 07/13/2020 | $56,50907/13/2020 $56,509 |
Indian Health Service Welder Leader Welder Leader | Indian Health Service Indian Health Service | 06/28/2020 06/28/2020 | $52,17506/28/2020 $52,175 |
Indian Health Service Welder Leader Welder Leader | Indian Health Service Indian Health Service | 06/28/2020 06/28/2020 | $52,17506/28/2020 $52,175 |
Indian Health Service Welder Leader Welder Leader | Indian Health Service Indian Health Service | 06/28/2020 06/28/2020 | $54,26206/28/2020 $54,262 |
Spherion Lead Welder Lead Welder | Spherion Spherion | 01/21/2020 01/21/2020 | $41,74001/21/2020 $41,740 |
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Lead Welder Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Lead Welder. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Lead Welder Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Lead Welder resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Lead Welder
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.1% of lead welders listed safety rules on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and manual dexterity are important as well.
- Safety Rules, 10.1%
- Stainless Steel, 8.9%
- Aluminum, 8.3%
- Blueprint Specifications, 6.1%
- Gmaw, 5.6%
- Other Skills, 61.0% See All Lead Welder Skills
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