How To Become A Welding Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a welding engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

As a welding engineer, you will work on industrial projects and probably work in the airplane, car manufacturer world, construction companies, or in shipyards. You will develop procedures for the welders you supervise to follow. To be a welding engineer, you need to be a trained welder with additional education in math and science.

Welding can be a challenging job, and you will need to supervise welders who are permanently fusing two pieces of metal together through arch, gas, or resistance welding techniques. Your job is to train other welders on new techniques plus changes in design and processes. You will need a degree as an engineer, which means you must be good at solving problems. You need analytical skills, communication skills, and be self-motivated. You are also the creative end of the welding department.

To become certified, you will need to take the AWS Certified Welding Engineer exam, have a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, and at least one year of welding experience. Having a creative mind is also helpful. You can enjoy a beginning salary of $85,000 per year.

ScoreWelding EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $84,923

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.2

Growth Rate 6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.35%

Asian 13.32%

Black or African American 2.78%

Hispanic or Latino 8.87%

Unknown 3.55%

White 71.13%

Gender

female 5.66%

male 94.34%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress Level

5.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.6

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.9

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a welding engineer

Explore welding engineer education requirements

Most common welding engineer degrees

Bachelor's

60.4 %

Associate

20.9 %

Master's

7.3 %

Start to develop specific welding engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Arc Welding	8.05%
GMAW	6.83%
GTAW	5.40%
Continuous Improvement	4.79%
CAD	3.60%

Complete relevant welding engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New welding engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a welding engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real welding engineer resumes.

Research welding engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage CWI's to ensure interpretations and directions are follow consistently.
Lead extrusion billet design and specification of hot-and-cold work tooling for press-and-draw bench use.
Operate and train operators on multiple CNC equipment and manage all products produce by the machines.
Manage aluminum structural/pipe fabrication turnaround: cross-country CGIT/IPB megawatt electrical power conductors.

Prepare your welding engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your welding engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a welding engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Welding Engineer Resume templates

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Apply for welding engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a welding engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do welding engineers rate their job?