Welding Team Leader

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

Job summary

LJ Recruitment is seeking a Welding Team Leader for a busy manufacturing site in Mid-Essex. You will lead a skilled welders' team, ensuring safe, efficient production and adherence to high quality standards.

You will interpret drawings, set workloads, provide coaching, and drive continuous improvement initiatives such as Lean, 5S and Kaizen.

The role requires MIG/TIG/Laser welding experience and mentoring of staff, with a focus on safety and problem solving.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a professional welder with MIG, TIG and/or laser joining.
• Experience leading, mentoring or supervising others.
• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings.
• Knowledge of CI principles (5S, Lean, Kaizen) is beneficial.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Skills

MIG welding

TIG welding

Laser welding

Team leadership

Continuous improvement

Reading drawings

Welding symbols

Problem solving

Education

Welding qualifications

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, organisation 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