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Lead welder skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
5 min read
Quoted experts
Ryan Houtcooper,
Ryan Houtcooper
Lead welder example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical lead welder skills. We ranked the top skills for lead welders based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 7.4% of lead welder resumes contained aluminum as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a lead welder needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 lead welder skills for your resume and career

1. Aluminum

Aluminum is the most common nonferrous metal and the most prevalent metallic material in the Earth's crust. Aluminum is never found in its metallic form in nature, but its compounds can be found in varying degrees in nearly all minerals, vegetation, and animals. Cans, foils, cooking utensils, door frames, kegs, and aeroplane pieces are all made of aluminum.

Here's how lead welders use aluminum:
  • Tacked and welded aluminum tankers * Detected faulty operation of equipment or materials and notified supervisor
  • Lead welder for a commercial window manufacturer, welding, grinding, and repair of Steel, Brass and Aluminum windows.

2. Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is an alloy of iron, chromium, carbon, and some other metals with corrosion-resistant properties. The components of steel include less than 1% carbon, 1% manganese, and small quantities of other elements such as phosphorus, silicon, sulfur, and oxygen. Iron and carbon are the two essential components of steel. Stainless steel is resistant to tarnishing and rust.

Here's how lead welders use stainless steel:
  • Fabricated welds on stainless steel water pump casings according to stringent factory specifications.
  • Cleaned, assembled and welded milled (a solid piece of stainless steel) parts for the orthopedic and medical industry.

3. Safety Equipment

Here's how lead welders use safety equipment:
  • Inventory and requisition parts needed for production runs, order gasses, wires, consumables, safety equipment, ect.
  • manage company welding supply purchase orders and inventory of all welding and safety equipment.

4. Blueprint Specifications

Blueprints are layouts or designs about the construction of a building or structure. It consists of accurate engineering drawing on light-sensitive sheets allowing to create copies easily.

Here's how lead welders use blueprint specifications:
  • Assembled boilers, tanks, vats and pressure vessels according to blueprint specifications, using power tools and hand tools.
  • Fit and assemble pipeline to blueprint specifications.

5. GMAW

Here's how lead welders use gmaw:
  • Weld with solid wire(GMAW), flux core(FCAW) and stick(SMAW).
  • Certified in GMAW, and GTAW.

6. Tig Welding

Here's how lead welders use tig welding:
  • Train other students in TIG welding and fabrication.
  • Utilize both MIG and TIG welding on various materials and gages.

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7. Jigs

Here's how lead welders use jigs:
  • Job tasks- Welding, fabrication, field fitting, fixture and jig fabrication, team leader of 100- man crew.
  • Welded all structural in house fixtures such as jigs, test fixtures and conveyor stands etc.

8. Arc Welding

Here's how lead welders use arc welding:
  • Experienced in shielded metal arc welding involving transformer lid applications.
  • Tack welded using hand, submerged and gas shielded arc welding equipment and also used a portable spot-welding gun.

9. Air Arc

Air carbon arc cutting, metal arc gouging, or, more commonly, Air Arc is a term referring to a process in which metal material is cut and melted through the heat of a carbon arc, after which the molten metal is removed via an air jet. Carbon arc is a process and method in which a gaseous form of carbon is broken down and produces heat and light.

Here's how lead welders use air arc:
  • Experienced with vertical welder, robotic welding arm, plasma cutters, cutting torches, air arcs, and overhead cranes.
  • Trained on removal of transformer lids using air arc gouger.

10. Mig

Here's how lead welders use mig:
  • Supervised team of 4 to 5 skilled TIG and MIG welders, helping them fabricate weld fixtures to dimensional tolerances.
  • Hand MIG & TIG Welder * Layout & Material Finisher * Quality Control, Assembly & Material Handling * Lean Manufacturing

11. Tig

Here's how lead welders use tig:
  • Trained welders in the art of Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding.
  • Utilized multiple welding techniques; short arc, tig and dual shield on structures and skid units for offshore.

12. GTAW

Here's how lead welders use gtaw:
  • Qualified restricted all positions in SMAW, GTAW and BRAZING processes.
  • Manufactured 22 gun lockers using GTAW, SMAW and FCAW process.

13. Safety Rules

Principles or regulations that ensure the protection of people, objects, or the environment are called safety rules. These rules can be governing actions, devices, or procedures that help in minimizing the risks of loss, injury, or damage.

Here's how lead welders use safety rules:
  • Followed all safety rules, regulations, wore all protective clothing, equipment necessary for jobs performing.
  • Utilize safety practices and procedures, and complies with safety rules and regulations.

14. FCAW

Here's how lead welders use fcaw:
  • Utilized SMAW and FCAW welding processes to build four new Babcock and Wilcox pulse jet fabric filter bag houses.
  • Performed FCAW and SMAW welding processes on of various types and thickness of Structural Steels.

15. SMAW

Here's how lead welders use smaw:
  • Cut lead bin covers off in MBT tanks using CARBON ARC process and replaced using SMAW process.
  • Welded using level one 11018 filler material with the SMAW process.
top-skills

What skills help Lead Welders find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on lead welder resumes?

Ryan Houtcooper

Professor of Welding, University of Alaska Southeast

The skills that stand out most depend a great deal on the geographic location of the individual. For example, if I were to have someone approach me for a job here in Ketchikan, I would look for two things. Is the person capable of welding aluminum and stainless steel? Now, if I were still down in the midwest chasing pipelines and someone came to me for a job, I would be looking for two different things. Is the person capable and efficient at fitting and welding pipes? However, should a person who has a magnitude of experience and is well rounded in most welding processes ever approach for a job, then that person would supersede anyone who has just one or two capabilities.

What soft skills should all lead welders possess?

Ryan Houtcooper

Professor of Welding, University of Alaska Southeast

For a welder, having PATIENCE is the biggest attribute. But there are a few other key factors that go into the success of a welder's career, such as having good communication skills, both written and oral. Having the knowledge and ability to do mathematical problem solving, along with the ability to read blueprints/shop drawings. These are the most critical aspects to the welder.

What hard/technical skills are most important for lead welders?

Ryan Houtcooper

Professor of Welding, University of Alaska Southeast

Knowing how to troubleshoot welding equipment, setting up and taking down equipment related to the trade (pan breaks, plate rollers, plate shears, torch sets, overhead cranes, forklifts, CNC machines, etc...). Rigging heavy objects for crane picks is also an important factor for big outfits.

List of lead welder skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a lead welder resume and required skills for a lead welder to have include:

  • Aluminum
  • Stainless Steel
  • Safety Equipment
  • Blueprint Specifications
  • GMAW
  • Tig Welding
  • Jigs
  • Arc Welding
  • Air Arc
  • Mig
  • Tig
  • GTAW
  • Safety Rules
  • FCAW
  • SMAW
  • AWS
  • Carbon Steel
  • Tack
  • Flux Core
  • Torches
  • Engineering Drawings
  • Overhead Cranes
  • NDE
  • CNC
  • Mild Steel
  • Plasma Cutters
  • Preventative Maintenance
  • Structural Steel
  • Overhead Positions
  • Drill Press
  • API
  • Cutting Torches
  • Brazing
  • Safety Standards
  • Inconel
  • QC
  • Resistance Welding
  • Spot Welding
  • Hoists
  • PPE
  • Production Schedules
  • Titanium
  • Rough Spots
  • NDT
  • Pressure Vessels
  • WPS
  • Safety Guidelines
  • Press Brake
  • Faulty Operation

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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