Boilermaker and welder recruitment for regional employers

Structural steel and welding trades workers cut, shape, join and repair iron, steel and other metal structures, boilers, pressure vessels, pipes and vessels. They read blueprints, cut sections with flame torches and machines, bend metal by heating and hammering, join it by welding, bolting and riveting, and examine welds for bead width and penetration.⁵

The group has three occupations. Metal Fabricator, whose specialisation is boilermaker-welder, marks off and fabricates structural steel and makes or repairs products such as boilers and pressure vessels. Pressure Welder assembles, welds and repairs pressure vessels and pipes to the relevant standards, and Welder (First Class) fabricates and repairs metal products by welding, with special class welder as a specialisation.⁵

The national trade qualification is MEM31925 Certificate III in Engineering - Fabrication Trade, covering metal fabrication, structural steel erection, sheetmetal work, welding and surface finishing.⁶ Boilermakers working on a building or construction site also need the construction induction white card.⁷

In a workshop covered by the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award 2020, a qualified boilermaker or welder at C10, engineering/manufacturing tradesperson level I, earns at least $1,119.10 a week, or $29.45 an hour, from 1 July 2026.²² That award covers employers in manufacturing and associated industries and occupations for employees within its classifications.²³ Metal and engineering construction done on site falls under the building and construction on-site award instead.²⁴

Structural steel and welding trades workers had median full-time earnings of $1,688 a week, or $44 an hour, in May 2025, nationally.⁴ We settle the package with you, including any site, shutdown and shift allowances, before we approach anyone.

Describe the work: workshop fabrication, structural steel erection, pressure vessels and pipework, plant repair or heavy equipment maintenance. Name the welding processes, materials and positions, any welder qualification test the work requires, and whether the person reads drawings and marks out their own jobs.

Then the site details: workshop or field work, shutdowns, the roster, travel, any dogging, rigging or EWP licence the job needs, and the inductions for the sites they will work on.

Tell us whether the work is in the workshop or the field, such as shutdowns or structural steel jobs in other towns, and for site work whether it is residential, drive-in drive-out or fly-in fly-out, with its point of hire and roster. We set out the travel and any camp or accommodation at the start.

We begin with boilermakers and welders who already live near you, then widen the search to those willing to relocate. Tell us about housing or relocation help, and we will make it part of the offer we present.

If the right person needs a visa or sponsorship, our sister business Australian Immigration Agency can advise.

Register with Hire Australia and tell us your welding processes and qualifications, the tickets you hold, whether you prefer the workshop or the field and where you would like to work. We will talk with you about regional roles that fit.