Welder

weServed; West of England; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holiday allowance

Matched pension with life assurance

Digital GP and health check

Employee share scheme

Flexible working options

Be Kind Day

Volunteering leave

Job summary

Babcock is seeking a Welder for its Ashton Vale, Bristol site to produce high-integrity welded assemblies for defence programmes. You will join a skilled team delivering challenging welds on high-strength steels, with opportunities to work across manual, mechanised, and robotic welding processes.

The role requires a time-served welding apprenticeship and the ability to read complex drawings, with full NDT to ensure quality and safety.

Qualifications

• Time served apprenticeship in welding/fabrication.
• Ability to read complex fabrication drawings.
• Experience with FCAW and solid wire pulse MAG welding.

Responsibilities

• Weld large high strength quenched and tempered steel assemblies for defence.
• Weld assemblies used for lifting and handling in defence.
• Welds undergo full NDT including ultrasonic and radiographic tests.
• Welding using manual, mechanised and robotic processes.

Skills

Welding apprenticeship

Reading fabrication drawings

FCAW welding

MAG welding

Robotic welding

Tools

Ultrasonic testing

Radiography

Robotic welding cell

Job description

Job Title: Welder

Location: Ashton Vale, Bristol

Compensation: Competitive Salary + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / Permanent

Role ID: SF77126

Shape the future of defence manufacturing through world-class welding expertise

At Babcock, we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you can play your part as a Welder at Ashton, near Bristol, Gloucestershire. This is an exciting opportunity to join a world-leading team specialising in high-integrity welding, supporting critical defence programmes that help protect national security.

The role

As a Welder, you'll be part of our Mission Systems Production team, delivering complex welding solutions for high-strength steel assemblies used in the defence sector. Working within a highly skilled and supportive team, you'll contribute to the manufacture of specialist equipment where quality, precision and safety are paramount. This is a fantastic opportunity to develop your expertise in advanced welding techniques, work on projects with real-world impact, and build a long-term career within one of the UK's leading engineering and defence organisations.

Day-to-day, you’ll be:

• Welding of large high strength quenched and tempered Steel assemblies for the defence industry.
• Welding of assemblies used for lifting and handling in the defence industry.
• Welds are subject to full NDT including volumetric Ultrasonic and radiographic examination.
• Welding using manual, mechanised and automatic (Robotic) welding processes

This role is full time, 36 hours per week and is based at Aston Vale, Bristol. Shift patterns for this role are 06:15 to 14:15 or 14:00 to 21:00, alternating weekly, with a shift allowance payable.

Essential experience of the Welder

• Time served apprenticeship or similar in welding/fabrication
• Evidence of previously held coding’s to recognised European/American standards and working to high-quality standards.
• Capable of reading complex fabrication drawings.
• Experience of positional welding using FCAW and solid Wire pulse MAG is essential.
• Experience of welding in the defence industry is desirable.

Qualifications for the Welder

We value difference and don’t have a fixed idea when it comes to background or education, provided you can show the required level of experience and/or willingness to learn then we would like to hear from you.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Standard (BPSS) and Security Check (SC) clearance for this role.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What we offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows the majority of employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement
• ‘Be Kind Day’ enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with your chosen organisation or registered charity
• Flexible working - we give people more options to better integrate their work and personal life, whilst ensuring that business needs are met
• A dynamic working environment

Babcock

We’re Babcock - a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 29,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts - not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident, committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email [e-mail] with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working - please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 19/11/2026

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