Boilermaker Job Description: Duties, Requirements, Template & Pay (2026)
A boilermaker builds, installs, maintains and repairs boilers, pressure vessels and tanks — heavy plate work, code welding, confined space and a great deal of travel. It is a small, well-paid, apprenticeship-led trade of about 10,400 people, which makes hiring one an entirely different exercise from hiring a welder. This page has a boilermaker job description template you can copy, what the trade pays, and why the travel and shutdown schedule is the whole recruiting conversation.
What a boilermaker does
O*NET describes the occupation as constructing, assembling, maintaining and repairing stationary steam boilers and boiler house auxiliaries — studying blueprints, inspecting vessels for defects, welding pressure vessel structures, testing assembled equipment, and using hand and power tools to align structural components and repair fittings such as safety valves and regulators.
In practice the work divides four ways.
Fabrication and erection. Reading drawings, laying out, rigging and setting heavy plate and sections, fitting and aligning to tolerance, and bolting or welding the vessel together — frequently inside it.
Code welding. Much of the welding is to ASME code on pressure-retaining parts, with procedure qualification, welder qualification and inspection to match. This is the requirement that most narrows the candidate pool and it should be stated exactly.
Maintenance, inspection and repair. Tube replacement, refractory, valve and fitting repair, hydrostatic testing, and internal inspection for corrosion, cracking and scale.
Outage work. Most boiler work happens when the plant is down, which means turnarounds, shutdowns, long shifts, night work and travel. This is the defining feature of the trade and the thing a posting has to be honest about.
Boilermaker job description template
Copy this into your ATS or job board, replace the bracketed fields, and delete what does not apply. It is written for a contractor boilermaker on outage work; the customization section covers plant-based roles, shop fabrication, marine and apprentices.
Job title
Boilermaker — [Field / Shop / Outage], [Company name], [Base location or territory, ST]
Summary
[Company name] is hiring boilermakers for [work type: power plant outages, refinery turnarounds, industrial boiler maintenance] across [territory]. Crews are [0] strong under a [foreman]. Expect [00] hours a week during outages, [0]-day weeks, with [night shift rotation]. Travel is [00]% with per diem of [$000] a day plus lodging [and travel pay]. Base is [$00.00–$00.00] an hour [per the [Local 000] agreement], with overtime after [8/40] and double time on [Sundays and holidays]. [All tools, PPE and FR clothing supplied.] [Weld test on arrival — we pay for your test time.]
Responsibilities
- Read and work from fabrication and erection drawings, weld maps and procedures
- Lay out, fit and align plate, tube, headers and structural components to tolerance
- Weld pressure-retaining parts to [ASME Section I / VIII / B31.1] procedures and pass inspection
- Rig and set heavy sections safely with the crew and the crane
- Replace and repair tubes, valves, fittings, refractory and safety devices
- Inspect vessels internally for corrosion, cracking, scale and defects and report findings
- Support hydrostatic and other tests and correct what the test finds
- Work safely in confined spaces, at height and in hot environments under permit
- Complete weld logs, permits and turnover documentation accurately
Requirements
- [Completed boilermaker apprenticeship and journeyman status / [00] years of field boilermaker experience]
- Able to pass a [6G / structural / ASME Section IX] weld test [on arrival]
- Confined space and [OSHA 10/30] training; able to pass a respirator fit test
- Able to travel [00]% and work extended outage shifts including nights and weekends
- Able to climb, work at height, lift [50] lbs and work in hot, confined and dusty conditions
- Valid driver's licence; able to pass a background check, [drug screen] and physical
Preferred
- [Boilermakers Local 000] membership and travel card
- [TWIC card] and site-specific safety councils [e.g. refinery basic orientation]
- Experience on [power boilers, HRSGs, process vessels, tanks, marine boilers]
- Rigging, NCCCO or crane signalling certification
- [Additional weld processes and positions: SMAW, GTAW, FCAW]
Pay and benefits
- [$00.00–$00.00] an hour [per the collective agreement], overtime after [8/40], double time [Sundays and holidays]
- [Per diem of [$000] a day plus lodging, paid [weekly]], [travel and mobilisation pay]
- [Weld test paid], [all tools, PPE and FR clothing supplied], [boot allowance]
- [Health, dental and vision], [pension or 401(k) with match]
- [Steady outage schedule — we can tell you the next [00] months of work]
How to apply
[Apply here / text BOILER to 00000 / call [name] at [number]]. We reply within [24] hours and can tell you the schedule, the per diem and the weld test on the first call.
Requirements: what is required, what is preferred, and what costs you applicants
This is a trade of about 10,400 people with roughly 800 openings a year. That is the smallest pool of any role in this library by a wide margin. You are not running a funnel; you are contacting a known population, and the posting's job is to give them the three or four facts they use to compare contracts.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| Journeyman status or apprenticeship | The real gate. O*NET reports the typical path as a high school diploma or equivalent with some roles requiring a post-secondary certificate, and the trade is overwhelmingly apprenticeship-trained. If you will take a senior apprentice, say so — it materially widens a very narrow pool. |
| Weld test | The single most important line in the posting. Say the test — position, process, code — say whether it happens on arrival, and say whether test time is paid. Boilermakers plan around weld tests, and a posting that hides one is assumed to have a hard one. |
| Travel percentage | Not a detail, the whole job. State the percentage, the typical trip length, the per diem as a number, whether lodging is booked or reimbursed, and whether travel days are paid. This is what candidates compare between contractors. |
| Certifications and site access | TWIC, confined space, OSHA 10 or 30, refinery safety councils, respirator fit. Say which you require and which you will pay for — several are quick and cheap and offering them widens the pool. |
| Union or non-union | Say it plainly, and name the Local if applicable. It determines the scale, the benefits and whether the candidate can take the work at all. |
| Physical and environmental demands | Be concrete: confined space, height, heat, dust, respirator use, extended shifts. This trade self-selects hard and honesty here costs you nothing. |
| Schedule visibility | The most underused recruiting asset a contractor has. "We can tell you the next nine months of outages" is worth more than a rate increase to somebody deciding whether to leave a steady employer. |
Boilermaker duties, written for a posting
Describe the work by equipment and code. Power boilers, HRSGs, process vessels, tanks, marine — and the code the welding is to. A boilermaker reads that and knows immediately whether their qualifications transfer, which is the first thing they need to know.
Then describe the schedule as a year, not a week. How many outages, when, how long, where, and what the between-outage work looks like. A trade that lives on turnarounds plans its life around that calendar, and a contractor who publishes it is answering the question everybody asks on the phone.
Keep the list to eight or nine lines and give confined space, permits and documentation their own lines. On pressure work the paperwork is part of the craft, and a posting that treats it as an afterthought reads as a shop that will have trouble at inspection.
How to customize it by employer
Contractor field work and outages
The dominant model. Lead with the schedule visibility, the per diem and the hours. Say which sites and which clients if you can, because reputation travels in a trade this small and a named refinery or station tells candidates a lot.
Plant-based and utility boilermakers
Rarer and highly sought: a fixed site, no travel, regular hours between outages, and usually benefits and a pension. If that is your role, that stability is the advertisement — put "no travel" in the first line, because it is the opposite of what the trade expects.
Shop fabrication
Vessel and tank fabrication in a controlled environment: layout, rolling, fitting, code welding, and no travel. Say the shift, the products and the code. Shop work attracts boilermakers who are done with the road, which is a real and underserved segment.
Marine and shipyard
Different vessels, different access, often clearance or citizenship requirements and site-specific safety orientation. Name all of it; candidates who have shipyard experience screen for it.
Apprentices
With roughly 800 openings a year against 10,400 workers and a projected slight decline, this trade renews itself almost entirely through apprenticeship. If you sponsor or run a programme, advertise it as its own role — entry requirements, length, pay steps, and what topping out is worth — and be honest about the travel and the physical demands.
What it costs to reach boilermakers on social
Skilled trades are among the more expensive audiences we buy: in our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark the skilled trades role family — 35 campaigns — ran a median cost per applicant of $14.14, a middle half of $7.58 to $21.49, a blended figure of $10.74, a 15% apply rate and a 1.07% click-through rate. The wider Skilled Trades and Field Service sector, 335 campaigns, ran an $11.89 median at 18%.
Boilermakers sit at the hard end of that range, for a reason no campaign setting can fix: there are about 10,400 of them nationally. Two things follow. Geography has to be wide. A radius campaign around one plant will exhaust its audience in days — past three impressions a month the median cost per applicant roughly doubles — whereas a trade that already travels for work can be recruited across several states. And specificity beats budget. Across all 891 campaigns, apply rates under 10% cost $53.77 an applicant and over 20% cost $4.41; for a trade this small the difference between those bands is entirely whether the ad names the rate, the per diem, the hours and the weld test.
Hiring across the pressure and structural trades? See the welder, millwright and machinist job descriptions, and skilled trades recruiting for the hiring side.
Writing the ad version
The description is the document. The advertisement is read on a phone, probably by somebody on an outage somewhere else, deciding what to do when it ends. It needs the rate and scale, the per diem, the hours, the weld test and the location — and it can be short, because this audience knows the trade. Our campaign data puts the best-converting length at 201–400 words.
Three questions on the form: journeyman or apprentice step, what weld tests you hold, and when you are available. Everything else is a phone call, and in a trade this size the phone call happens immediately.
What boilermakers earn
The median was $36.74 an hour, $76,410 a year in 2025 — and for a trade that works heavy outage hours, the annual figure at median hours understates what a travelling boilermaker actually earns in a busy year. Overtime, double time and per diem are a large part of the compensation and belong in the posting as numbers.
| Trade | Median pay (2025) | Employed | Openings per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boilermakers | $36.74/hr · $76,410 | 10,400 | ~800 |
| Millwrights | — · $65,700 | (group 547,300) | ~51,900 |
| Electrical power-line installers | $45.83/hr · $95,320 | 131,900 | ~10,900 |
Employment is projected to decline slightly through 2034, which makes this the one trade in this library where the pool is shrinking rather than merely flat. The work is not disappearing — boilers, vessels and tanks still need building and repairing — but the trade is small, ageing and renewed almost entirely through apprenticeship.
For an employer, that has one clear implication. You cannot out-recruit this problem at scale; there is no large reservoir of untapped boilermakers to reach. What you can do is be the contractor people want to come back to: publish the schedule, pay the per diem properly, supply the tools and FR clothing, pay for the weld test, and sponsor apprentices. In a trade of ten thousand, reputation is the recruiting channel and the posting is just where it gets stated.
Frequently asked questions
What does a boilermaker do?
A boilermaker constructs, assembles, maintains and repairs stationary steam boilers, pressure vessels, tanks and boiler house auxiliaries. That means working from blueprints, laying out and fitting heavy plate and tube, welding pressure-retaining parts to code, rigging and setting sections, replacing tubes, valves and refractory, inspecting vessels for corrosion and cracking, and supporting hydrostatic and other tests.
How much do boilermakers make?
The median was $36.74 an hour, or $76,410 a year, in 2025. For travelling boilermakers the annual figure understates actual earnings, because outage work brings substantial overtime and double time plus per diem — which is why those should be stated as numbers in any job posting rather than described as competitive.
What qualifications does a boilermaker need?
The trade is overwhelmingly apprenticeship-trained, with a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical starting point and some roles requiring a post-secondary certificate. The binding practical requirement is usually a weld test to the relevant code, along with confined space and OSHA training, a respirator fit test, and site access credentials such as a TWIC card for some facilities.
What is the difference between a boilermaker and a welder?
Welding is one of a boilermaker's skills, not the whole trade. A boilermaker also lays out and fits heavy plate and tube, rigs and sets sections, inspects and repairs pressure equipment, and works to pressure-vessel codes inside confined spaces. It is also a far smaller occupation — about 10,400 boilermakers against a much larger welding workforce — which changes how you recruit for it entirely.
What should a boilermaker job description include?
The equipment and code the work is to, the travel percentage with per diem stated as a number, outage hours and shift pattern, the weld test including whether test time is paid, the rate and whose scale it is on, required certifications and site access credentials, what tools, PPE and FR clothing you supply, and ideally the forward schedule of work.
Do boilermakers travel a lot?
Most do. Boiler and pressure-vessel work largely happens during plant outages and turnarounds, which means travelling to the site, working extended shifts for the duration and moving on. Plant-based and shop roles without travel exist and are highly sought after — if you have one, saying "no travel" in the first line is the strongest thing your posting can do.
Is boilermaking a good trade to get into?
It pays well — a $76,410 median before outage overtime — and it is skilled, code-governed work. It is also small, projected to decline slightly, physically demanding, and built around travel and confined-space work. Entry is almost entirely through apprenticeship, so the realistic route in is a sponsored programme rather than a direct hire.
Why is it so hard to hire boilermakers?
Because there are only about 10,400 in the country and roughly 800 openings a year, in a trade that is not growing. There is no large untapped pool to advertise into. Employers who fill reliably do it on reputation and specifics — published schedules, a properly paid per diem, tools and FR clothing supplied, paid weld tests — and by sponsoring apprentices, because the trade renews itself almost entirely that way.
Other job description templates
Hiring boilermakers?
The description is the document. Reaching a trade of ten thousand people, across several states, is the job. That is what we run.
Wage, employment, projection and task descriptions for boilermakers (SOC 47-2011): O*NET OnLine, republishing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 OEWS wage data and BLS employment projections. Cost-per-applicant, apply-rate and frequency figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, 891 campaigns and 1,334 campaign-months.