Engineering Build Supervisor

GTI Fabrication; South Dakota; On-site; USD 106,000 - 142,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid Time Off (PTO) and holidays

Life insurance and disability coverage

Career advancement opportunities

Job summary

GTI Fabrication in South Dakota seeks an Engineering Build Supervisor to lead welding, fabrication, and assembly activities in our engineering build, prototype, FOK, and pre-production environment.

You will supervise welders, fabricators, fitters, and other skilled trades, ensuring safety, workmanship, and on-time delivery while coordinating with engineering and quality. A strong background in welding and drawing interpretation is required.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required; trade-school credential or welding certification preferred.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in welding, fabrication, or related manufacturing environment.
• 3+ years in lead, foreman, or supervisory role over welders, fabricators, or skilled trades.

Responsibilities

• Supervise daily prototype, FOK, and pre-production builds.
• Translate priorities into clear daily assignments and sequence activities.
• Monitor progress and adjust labor to changing priorities and constraints.
• Ensure adherence to drawings, specifications, and weld requirements.
• Identify and escalate issues with engineering, tooling, or materials.

Skills

Leadership

Welding supervision

Drawing interpretation

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

Welding equipment

Job description

Position Overview

The Engineering Build Supervisor is responsible for the day-to-day supervision and execution of work within GTI’s engineering build, prototype, First-of-Kind (FOK), and pre-production fabrication environment. Reporting to the Engineering Build Manager, this position directly supervises welders, fabricators, fitters, assemblers, and other skilled trades personnel assigned to engineering build activities to ensure build safety, accuracy, and efficiency.

This is a hands-on shop-floor leadership role. The Engineering Build Supervisor maintains close visibility to active work, translates build priorities into daily assignments, enforces safety and workmanship standards, and immediately escalates design, documentation, material, tooling, or configuration problems .

Key Responsibilities

Daily Build Execution

• Supervise daily execution of prototype, FOK, engineering validation, and other designated pre-production builds

• Translate priorities established by the Engineering Build Manager into clear daily work assignments and sequence activities across welders, fabricators, fitters, assemblers, and other assigned personnel

• Monitor progress throughout the shift and adjust labor assignments to address changing priorities, constraints, and build conditions

• Ensure employees understand the work scope, current engineering requirements, sequence, and acceptance criteria before beginning work

• Maintain accurate visibility to work completed, work in process, constraints, rework, and outstanding issues and elevate schedule or execution risks promptly

Welding & Fabrication Supervision

• Provide practical oversight of welding, fitting, fabrication, metalworking, assembly, and related build activities

• Ensure fabrication work is performed in accordance with approved drawings, specifications, weld requirements, tolerances, and procedures

• Verify personnel use the correct materials, components, consumables, tooling, fixtures, and equipment

• Monitor fit-up, alignment, dimensional condition, weld preparation, workmanship, distortion, and assembly quality

• Identify conditions that may create excessive rework, poor fit, unsafe work, or quality defects and engage the appropriate technical owner

• Ensure personnel do not independently alter geometry, dimensions, materials, weld requirements, or design intent without engineering approval

Drawing Compliance & Issue Escalation

• Ensure build personnel work from the latest approved drawings, redlines, specifications, BOM information, and authorized instructions

• Review drawings and build documentation with employees to clarify execution requirements and verify understanding

• Stop work and elevate when drawings, dimensions, specifications, materials, or instructions are unclear, conflicting, incomplete, or impractical

• Identify fabrication, fit-up, assembly, material, tooling, and documentation problems as they occur and ensure they are communicated to the Engineering Build Manager

• Prevent undocumented make-it-fit corrections, unauthorized modifications, obsolete documentation, and permanent workarounds

Safety, Quality & Shop Discipline

• Maintain direct accountability for safe work practices within the engineering build area and stop unsafe work immediately

• Enforce applicable PPE, hot-work, LOTO, machine guarding, lifting, material-handling, housekeeping, and other safety requirements

• Ensure work meets GTI workmanship and quality expectations and coordinate required inspections and hold points with Quality

• Identify nonconforming work promptly and prevent continuation when additional work could compound the issue

• Support approved containment, rework, repair, and corrective-action activities and verify work is executed to disposition

• Maintain a clean, organized, controlled, and professional engineering build environment that supports safe and efficient execution

Workforce Leadership & Development

• Provide direct frontline leadership to skilled trades personnel assigned to the engineering build area, establishing clear expectations and accountability

• Monitor attendance, productivity, workmanship, performance, and adherence to established procedures

• Coach employees on safe and effective work practices and address performance issues in coordination with the Engineering Build Manager and Human Resources as appropriate

• Develop technical capability through coaching and training in drawing interpretation, fit-up, fabrication practices, quality requirements, and disciplined problem identification

• Encourage experienced tradespeople to provide constructive feedback on manufacturability, access, assembly sequence, tolerances, tooling, and product design

Material, Tooling & Build Area Control

• Confirm required materials, consumables, hardware, tools, fixtures, and equipment are available before planned work begins

• Identify shortages, incorrect materials, damaged components, or equipment constraints early and elevate them to the appropriate owner

• Prevent unapproved material substitutions and maintain appropriate identification and control of work-in-process, rework, scrap, and engineering-build material

• Support 5S, visual management, tool control, equipment condition, and continuous improvement of shop organization and build efficiency

Cross-Functional Support

• Support Design Engineering in physically evaluating design intent, fit, access, and proposed corrections

• Coordinate with Welding Engineering on weld procedures, joint design, distortion, weld quality, and fabrication concerns

• Coordinate with Quality on inspection, nonconformance control, rework verification, and workmanship expectations

• Communicate fabrication and assembly observations to Manufacturing Engineering that may affect eventual production methods and tooling

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required; trade-school credential, apprenticeship, welding certification, or other technical training strongly preferred

• 7+ years of progressive experience in welding, fabrication, metalworking, assembly, industrial manufacturing, prototype fabrication, or a related environment

• 3+ years of lead, foreman, or supervisory experience over welders, fabricators, fitters, assemblers, or other skilled trades personnel

• Strong practical knowledge of welding and metal-fabrication processes; experience with large welded structures, fabricated enclosures, skids, modular equipment, or similar products strongly preferred

• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, fabrication drawings, dimensions, tolerances, weld symbols, and specifications

• Demonstrated ability to coordinate daily labor assignments, shop priorities, and multiple active work fronts

• Ability to recognize when a condition is a workmanship issue versus a design, drawing, material, tooling, or engineering issue

• Demonstrated commitment to safety, quality, frontline accountability, and effective communication

Benefits & Perks

GTI offers a competitive compensation and benefits package designed to support employees and their families while providing long-term career growth opportunities within a fast-growing manufacturing organization. Benefits may include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match (where applicable)
• Paid Time Off (PTO) and paid holidays
• Sick time in accordance with state and local requirements
• Company-paid life insurance and disability coverage
• Career advancement opportunities within a rapidly growing organization
• Exposure to advanced manufacturing, modular infrastructure, and large-scale industrial projects
• Collaborative, fast-paced environment with strong operational and engineering leadership
• Employee-focused culture centered on safety, quality, accountability, and continuous improvement

Benefits eligibility and offerings may vary based on position, location, and employment classification.

$106,000 - $142,000 a year

GTI promotes a diverse and inclusive workforce and is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, age, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, marital status, or any other Federal or State legally-protected classes. We also value the safety of all employees and work hard to maintain a Drug Free Workplace.