How to hire a maintenance welder

How to hire a maintenance welder, step by step

Here's a step-by-step maintenance welder hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a maintenance welder job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new maintenance welder
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a maintenance welder do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a maintenance welder, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect maintenance welder also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of maintenance welder salaries for various roles:

   Type of Maintenance Welder	Description	Hourly rate
   Maintenance Welder	Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers use hand-held or remotely controlled equipment to join or cut metal parts. They also fill holes, indentations, or seams of metal products.	$14-25
   Ship Fitter	Ship fitters are civilian or enlisted people who work on materials like high yield strength steel and high-tensile steel. These people fabricate, assemble, and build structural parts of ships... Show more	$14-30
   Welder Fitter	A Welder Fitter specializes in manipulating steel, aluminum, and other materials into various industries' structural forms. The majority of a welder's responsibilities are mostly manual work, which can have risks as they use torches or lasers for their daily tasks, and there are also instances when they have to climb high structures... Show more	$13-26

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • MIG
   • Arc Welding
   • Hand Tools
   • GMAW
   • SMAW
   • GTAW
   • Safety Procedures
   • Aluminum
   • FCAW
   • Preventative Maintenance
   • Gearboxes
   • Stainless Steel
   • TIG
   • Safety Rules

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage and run production parts through the brake.
   • Experience in welding pressure tanks, stainless pipes and aluminum tanks using GMAW, FCAW, GTAW.
   • Perform rework utilizing SMAW and FCAW welding skills.
   • Perform TIG welding of stainless pipe and equipment repairs.
   • Certify students in weld processes SMAW, GMAW, GTAW.OAW, and both ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
   • Install duct work, blowers, dampers, flow boxes, and the structure the components set on.

   More maintenance welder duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the maintenance welder job description is a good way to get more applicants. A maintenance welder salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a maintenance welder in South Carolina may be lower than in Washington, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level maintenance welder. Additionally, a maintenance welder with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average maintenance welder salary

   $40,659yearly

   $19.55 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level maintenance welder salary

   $30,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 22, 2026

   Average maintenance welder salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Washington	$58,213	$28
   2	California	$50,261	$24
   3	Oregon	$46,792	$23
   4	North Dakota	$46,777	$22
   5	Virginia	$45,724	$22
   6	Oklahoma	$45,534	$22
   7	Wisconsin	$45,090	$22
   8	Colorado	$43,545	$21
   9	Texas	$43,042	$21
   10	Pennsylvania	$41,775	$20
   11	New York	$41,241	$20
   12	Florida	$38,376	$18
   13	South Carolina	$35,915	$17
   14	Ohio	$35,103	$17
   15	North Carolina	$34,462	$17
   16	Georgia	$34,061	$16
   17	Michigan	$33,537	$16

   Average maintenance welder salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	BNSF Railway	$57,004	$27.41
   2	Volvo Trucks	$54,169	$26.04	4
   3	Morgan Olson	$51,882	$24.94
   4	Systems	$51,777	$24.89
   5	Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania	$51,295	$24.66	3
   6	BD	$51,102	$24.57	3
   7	ROC Service	$50,629	$24.34
   8	Lehigh Hanson	$48,802	$23.46
   9	State of Colorado	$48,429	$23.28	5
   10	Dana Incorporated	$48,317	$23.23	4
   11	Jamestown Community College	$48,091	$23.12
   12	Oldcastle Infrastructure	$47,220	$22.70	138
   13	Martin Marietta	$47,209	$22.70	20
   14	Research Foundation of The City University of New York	$47,005	$22.60
   15	COMPASS ROSE FOUNDATION	$46,742	$22.47
   16	H&K Group	$46,536	$22.37	3
   17	Thor Motor Coach Inc	$46,148	$22.19	3
   18	Kern Community College District	$45,922	$22.08
   19	Brunswick	$45,582	$21.91	28
   20	Barrick Gold	$45,017	$21.64	19

4. Writing a maintenance welder job description

   A good maintenance welder job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a maintenance welder job description:

   Maintenance welder job description example

   Are you technically-minded and at home around heavy machinery? If so, consider joining U-Haul as our newest Robotic Weld Operator! In this role you will be responsible for operating and troubleshooting the welding robot, working with a dedicated team to make the production line as efficient as possible. In exchange U-Haul offers excellent benefits and a supportive work environment.
   U-Haul offers its Robotic Weld Operators:
   Career stability Opportunities for advancement Health insurance & Prescription plans if eligible Paid holidays, vacation, and sick days if eligible Life insurance MetLaw Legal program MetLife auto and home insurance Discounts on Apple products, Dell computers, cell phone plans, hotels, and more 401k and stock options 24-hour physician available for kids Dental & Vision Plans Subsidized gym/fitness membership if eligible Business and travel insurance YouMatter EAP LifeLock Identity Theft Protection Critical Illness/Group Accident Insurance
   Robotic Weld Operator Primary Responsibilities:
   Access programs, set tools, and operate welding robot Interpret and carry out work orders, blueprints, sketches, and verbal instructions Perform daily preventative maintenance on robotic weld machine Perform quality checks on parts using inspection tools such as tape measures Assemble materials Load and unload welding robot Clean and organize workstation
   
   Robotic Weld Operator Minimum Qualifications:
   High degree of mechanical aptitude Ability to read and interpret blueprints Familiarity with robotic welding machines (training available) Able to pass print reading, measurement, and fraction/decimal conversion tests Able to responsibly handle confidential information
   Work Environment:
   
   The work involves moderate risks or discomforts which require special safety precautions, e.g. working around moving parts, machines, fumes, or irritant chemicals. May be required to use protective clothing, or gear such as masks, goggles, gloves, or shields.
   
   Physical Demands:
   
   The work requires some physical exertion such as long periods both indoors and outdoors of remaining stationary, traversing spaces, repositioning to reach and use tools, and moving a minimum of 50 lbs assisted or unassisted.
   
   AMERCO and its family of companies, including U-Haul, have strived to create a culture of health and wellness. As of February 1, 2020, and consistent with applicable state law, no AMERCO or U-Haul company will hire individuals in states where it may lawfully decline to hire individuals who use nicotine products. By continuing with this application, you are indicating that, if hired, you consent to nicotine screening in the future. This policy will not apply to team members hired before February 1, 2020.
   
   U-Haul is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants for employment will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental disability, veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, provincial, state or local law. Individual accommodations are available on requests for applicants taking part in all aspects of the selection process. Information obtained during this process will only be shared on a need to know basis.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find maintenance welders for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any maintenance welders they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level maintenance welders with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your maintenance welder job on Zippia to find and recruit maintenance welder candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting maintenance welders requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new maintenance welder

   Once you've decided on a perfect maintenance welder candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new maintenance welder. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a maintenance welder?