Welding Team Leader

LJ Recruitment; Faulkbourne; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

LJ Recruitment is seeking a Welding Team Leader for our busy manufacturing site in Mid-Essex. You will lead a skilled welding team performing MIG, TIG, and laser processes while driving continuous improvement and coaching engineers and welders.

Responsibilities include workload planning, on-the-floor coaching, ensuring safety compliance, and delivering high-quality welds. Experience in lean methods and strong communication are essential for success in this role.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership experience directing weld teams and allocating workload.
• Strong ability to interpret engineering drawings and welding symbols.
• Knowledge of lean and continuous-improvement methods (5S, Kaizen).

Responsibilities

• Lead, motivate and support a team of welders to hit production and quality targets.
• Allocate daily workloads and monitor progress against schedules.
• Provide hands-on coaching and technical support to team members.
• Act as first point of contact for welding-related issues and non-conformances.
• Carry out in-process inspections and final quality checks.
• Ensure welding activities comply with safety, quality and regulatory requirements.
• Promote PPE standards and safe working practices.
• Drive Lean, 5S, Kaizen and other CI initiatives.
• Lead problem-solving and root-cause analysis activities.
• Contribute to SOP improvements.

Skills

Team leadership

Welding expertise (MIG/TIG/Laser)

Reading drawings & welding symbols

CI principles

Communication & problem-solving

Education

Welding/fabrication qualifications

Certified Welding Inspector (CWI)

Tools

Weld inspection equipment

Robotic welding systems

Job description

We're looking for a Welding Team Leader to join a busy manufacturing environment in Mid-Essex. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced MIG/TIG/Laser welder to combine their technical expertise with team leadership and continuous improvement.

You’ll play a key role in keeping the welding operation running safely, efficiently and to the highest possible standards, while coaching and developing a skilled, multi-disciplined team.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead, motivate and support a team of welders to achieve production and quality targets.
• Allocate daily workloads and monitor progress against project schedules.
• Provide hands-on coaching, feedback and technical support to team members.
• Act as the first point of contact for welding-related technical issues.
• Interpret engineering drawings, welding symbols, specifications and procedures.
• Carry out in-process inspections and final quality checks.
• Ensure welding activities comply with safety, quality and regulatory requirements.
• Promote excellent standards of PPE, equipment use and safe working practices.
• Support incident investigations and corrective actions where required.
• Drive Lean, 5S, Kaizen and other continuous improvement initiatives.
• Lead problem-solving and root-cause analysis activities.
• Help standardise processes and contribute to SOP improvements.

What we’re looking for

Essential:

• Proven experience as a professional welder, ideally with MIG, TIG and/or laser joining processes.
• Previous experience of leading, mentoring or supervising others
• Strong understanding of welding symbols and procedures.
• Ability to read and interpret technical engineering drawings.
• Knowledge of continuous improvement principles.
• Excellent communication, organization and problem-solving skills.
• Welding and fabrication qualifications.
• Training in 5S, Lean, Six Sigma or similar CI methodologies.

Desirable:

• Experience with robotic or automated welding systems.
• Knowledge of weld inspection equipment and methodologies.
• Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) qualification.
• First Aid or other relevant H&S certification.

7:00am-4:30pm Monday-Thursday

Salary 35k-40k