Western Welding Academy is on a mission to build a better generation of blue-collar craftsmen. We are forging the next generation of skilled welders through an unwavering commitment to work ethic, accountability, and integrity. By focusing on student outcomes, we provide industry-leading education and hands-on training in a real-world environment, preparing our students to meet and exceed the demands of the welding industry.

At Western Welding Academy, we believe wholeheartedly in our mission because we understand the fundamental role blue-collar tradespeople play in the fabric of America. This country was built on the backs of skilled workers—men and women who put in the hard labor that made our roads, bridges, buildings, and industries possible. Blue-collar men and women are the backbone of our economic system, vital to every sector from manufacturing to infrastructure. However, for too long, our nation has focused predominantly on white-collar jobs and the push to send every young person to college, leaving skilled trades underappreciated and underrepresented. Today, we are facing a monumental shift. A worldwide demographic collapse is causing industry and manufacturing to return to American soil, and yet, we lack the skilled labor force needed to meet the immense demand. Even before this shift, there was a substantial need for skilled tradespeople, but now, with global supply chains crumbling and reshoring becoming a necessity, the demand for welders and other skilled workers is skyrocketing. At Western Welding Academy, we see this as our mission, to equip the next generation with the skills they need to thrive, to build strong careers, and to restore the backbone of America's industrial strength. We are committed to filling this gap, one welder at a time, because we believe that the future of our country depends on the hands of those willing to build it.

Important Eligibility Requirement

Applicants must already be legally authorized to work in the United States. Western Welding Academy does not sponsor work visas or offer employment-based immigration support.

Why Join Western Welding Academy?

If you’re a seasoned welder with a passion for teaching, this is your chance to transform your experience into impact. As a Welding Instructor, you won’t just show students how to weld—you’ll shape the next generation of skilled tradespeople. You’ll be part of a team that values safety, professionalism, and craftsmanship, while working in a supportive environment where your expertise is respected and your growth is encouraged.

Here’s what’s in it for you: Your pay is only part of the picture. As a full-time team member, here's the real value of working at Western Welding Academy:

• More Money. An additional $5,000 per year if you have your Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) certificate.

• Free medical option. Our Cigna HDHP is fully company-paid for you and your family. That's $0 out of your paycheck.

• Money toward your health costs. Choose the HDHP and we add $1,000 a year to your Health Savings Account.

• Company-paid life insurance. $75,000 in coverage at no cost to you.

• 401(k) with a match. We match up to 3.5% of your pay to help you build for the future.

• Dental and vision coverage through Principal at low monthly cost.

• Generous PTO from your very first day.

• Nine paid holidays, including Good Friday, Black Friday, and Christmas Eve.

• A mission that matters. Your work helps put people into life-changing careers and helps rebuild America's skilled workforce, one welder at a time.

What You’ll Do

As a Welding Instructor, you’ll:

• Lead by example with top-notch welding techniques, safety practices, and professionalism.

• Deliver instruction in MIG, TIG, and stick welding, both in the classroom and shop.

• Mentor students, track progress, and prepare them for industry certifications.

• Foster safety, cleanliness, and accountability in the shop.

• Stay sharp with ongoing training in welding processes and industry standards.

• Help produce welders who can tackle any challenge with skill and confidence.

What We’re Looking For

• 5–7 years of professional welding experience (pipe or structural).

• Strong knowledge of welding processes, safety protocols, and industry standards.

• Welding certifications (AWS preferred).

• Experience training or mentoring others (instruction experience is a plus).

• Excellent communication, organizational, and leadership skills.

• Commitment to continuous learning and inspiring the next generation.

Physical Requirements

• Able to stand, walk, and lift up to 50 lbs.

• Willing to work 10-hour shifts, 5 days a week, with flexibility for overtime and occasional evenings/weekends.

• Ability to travel between Western Welding Academy properties in Gillette, WY.

Join Our Mission

At Western Welding Academy, we’re not just teaching skills—we’re shaping futures. If you’re ready to make a lasting impact, keep your hands in the craft, and pass on your expertise to the welders of tomorrow, we’d love to have you on our team.

Apply today and help us build the future of welding.

Before You Start

All offers are contingent upon successful completion of pre-employment Drug Screening and Background check.

Benefits

• 401(k)

• 401(k) matching

• Dental insurance

• Health insurance

• Health savings account

• Life insurance

• Paid time off

• Parental leave

• Referral program

• Retirement plan

• Vision insurance

Work Location

In person

$110,000 – $130,000 per year, plus a benefits package worth $19,000–$24,000 annually. Total target compensation: approximately $129,000 – $154,000

Reports to: VP of Revenue Operations | Location: Gillette, WY (On-site or Hybrid for the right candidate)
Full-time

Job Overview

Western Welding Academy is on a mission to build a better generation of blue-collar craftsmen. We forge the next generation of skilled welders through an unwavering commitment to work ethic, accountability, and integrity — focusing on student outcomes and hands-on training in a real-world environment that prepares them to exceed the demands of the industry.

We believe in this mission because blue-collar tradespeople are the backbone of America. This country was built by skilled workers, and yet for too long we've pushed every young person toward college and left the trades underappreciated. Now manufacturing is returning to American soil and the demand for welders is skyrocketing, while the skilled workforce to meet it doesn't exist. We're filling that gap, one welder at a time, because the future of this country depends on the hands of those willing to build it.

Important Eligibility Requirement

Applicants must already be legally authorized to work in the United States. Western Welding Academy does not sponsor work visas or offer employment-based immigration support.

Why Join Western Welding Academy?

Most brand or marketing leadership roles ask you to defend a number that doesn't actually matter — followers, impressions, views. This one doesn't. We measure content on whether it produces the right students, and you'll be the one who sets that standard and holds the department to it.

We already have a videographer/editor on the floor capturing what happens here every day — a student's first arc, the test they were sure they'd fail, the day they graduate. What we don't have yet is someone who turns that raw material into a system: a defined Avatar, a working KPI scorecard, a hiring bar, and a content engine that compounds instead of starting over every week. That's you!

You'll report to our VP of Revenue Operations, which means the content you build is never disconnected from what Admissions actually needs. You'll be the first hire into a marketing function we are deliberately rebuilding — which means you set the bar for who comes in after you.

Here's what's in it for you: Your pay is only part of the picture. As a full-time team member, here's the real value of working at Western Welding Academy:

• Free medical option. Our Cigna HDHP plan is 100% company-paid for you and your family — $0 premium out of your paycheck. It's a high-deductible plan ($4,000 individual / $8,000 family) paired with an HSA.
• Money toward your health costs. Choose the HDHP and we add $1,000 a year to your Health Savings Account.
• Company-paid life insurance. $75,000 in coverage at no cost to you.
• 401(k) with a match. We match up to 3.5% of your pay to help you build for the future.
• Dental and vision coverage through Principal at a low monthly cost.
• Unlimited PTO from your very first day. No accrual, no waiting period — just plan ahead with your manager.
• Real hiring authority. You're building this department's bar, not filling a seat inside someone else's.
• A mission that matters. Your work helps put people into life-changing careers and helps rebuild America's skilled workforce, one welder at a time.

What You'll Do

• Own the Avatar. Make sure we actually know exactly who we're for — mine sales-call transcripts into a living Why People Buy document, keep it refreshed monthly, and make sure every hook, script and ad traces back to it.
• Run the department on saves, not views. Set and defend the KPI scorecard. Review content against lead quality every month, and adjust the content — not the sales team — when the wrong applicants start showing up.
• Build the organic-to-paid flywheel. Push posting volume, find the outliers that clearly win, and make sure every paid ad is built from proven organic — not new footage shot specifically for ads.
• Architect content around one big idea. Keep everything we publish traceable to the mission and a defined set of supporting reasons — not whatever's trending that week.
• Hire the department's A-players. You're the first hire into this function and you build the bar for everyone who comes in behind you. Screen for critical thinking and coachability, and apply a simple filter: would we hire ten of this person?
• Manage and grow our videographer/editor. Set the shoot calendar, run the lifecycle-ad sequence, and own the monthly batch shoot that feeds the whole content pipeline.
• Partner with Revenue on the lead-scoring loop. Make sure lead quality and source-creative data actually flow back to marketing, and use it to make decisions — not assumptions.
• Own the automation build. Oversee the AI-driven content pipeline — scrape, theme, script, edit, post, learn — so output scales without scaling headcount.
• Steward the brand beyond students. Own our careers page and support our CEO's personal-brand content, because the same engine that attracts students also attracts the A-players we need to hire.

What We're Looking For

• You've already built this somewhere else. You've scaled an organic or paid content function for a real brand and you can point to the number that proves it.
• You already think this way. Creative is the targeting, saves matter more than views, capture-don't-manufacture. If we have to explain why the old playbook stopped working, this isn't the role for you.
• You have a hiring bar, not just a headcount plan. You've hired A-players and let go of people who weren't, and you can tell the difference quickly.
• You're comfortable with data. You can tie a specific piece of content to a specific qualified applicant — not just a view count.
• You're a builder, not a caretaker. You're inheriting a team and a volume target, not a finished machine.

What will make you stand out:

• You've run a brand or content function through the exact constraint we're in now — low posting volume, no written Avatar, ads built from new shoots instead of proven organic.
• You've built or overseen a customer-research pipeline sourced from sales calls or customer interviews.
• You've personally hired multiple A-players into a function you built, and can walk us through how you screened them.
• You've overseen or used AI-driven content automation — scraping, scripting, or automated editing pipelines.
• You've worked in or sold into blue-collar, trade, or workforce-education markets.

Work Environment

• On-site in Gillette, WY.
• Regular presence on the shop floor — you need to see what's being captured and why, even though this isn't a hands-on production role.
• Comfortable in an active training environment: heat, sparks, noise, PPE required in certain areas.
• Some travel between Western Welding Academy properties in Gillette.

How to Apply

Don't just hit Apply and send a resume. Here's exactly what to do:

1. Click Apply and attach your resume.
2. Tell us one specific number you can point to from a brand or content function you've run — and how you got it.
3. Attach or link one example of a hiring bar you've built: a job description you wrote, a candidate scorecard you used, or a specific hire you can walk us through.
4. Answer one question in a few sentences: what's the single biggest constraint holding marketing teams back, how you identify it and overcome it?

Applications that answer the question specifically, with a real example, go to the top of the pile. Generic answers won't be reviewed.

Western Welding Academy is on a mission to build a better generation of blue-collar craftsmen, and we are looking for a steady, people-first HR Manager to help us care for the team that makes that mission possible. This is the one HR seat for our organization, supporting about 50 employees across two related companies. You will own the full people function, from payroll and benefits to hiring, onboarding, compliance, and culture.

This is a hands-on, full-ownership role for someone who is both relational and operational. The right person is trusted and discreet, strong on follow-through, and energized by building simple systems that outlast any one person. You will help carry forward our mission of restoring the backbone of America's industrial strength, one welder at a time.

What You Will Own

Payroll and HR Systems

• Run full-cycle payroll for about 50 employees across two related companies (two EINs).
  
• Manage time and attendance, including timesheet review, corrections, and approvals.
  
  
• Complete weekly 401(k) contribution uploads and monthly HSA contributions on time.
  
• Keep employee records, PTO, and pay data accurate and current.
  
• Answer multistate payroll and withholding questions as they come up.
  

Benefits Administration

• Administer medical, dental, vision, life, disability, 401(k), and HSA plans.
  
• Manage new hire enrollments, open enrollment, and life event changes.
  
• Resolve employee benefits inquiries and support annual broker reviews. 
  

Compliance and Risk

• Ensure compliance with federal and Wyoming employment laws and handbook policies.
  
• Maintain I-9s, personnel records, and mandated reporting (ACA, EEO, FLSA).
  
• Manage background screenings, workers' compensation, and unemployment claims. 
  

Talent Acquisition and Onboarding

• Execute full-cycle recruiting: job postings, screening, and value-based interviewing.
  
  
• Coordinate and manage interviews.
  
• Own onboarding, 30/60/90-day plans, and offboarding procedures. 
  

Employee Relations and Culture

• Serve as a confidential resource and coach for employees and managers.
  
• Coach managers on people issues, feedback, and performance.
  
• Handle employee relations concerns and workplace investigations with fairness and care.
  
• Support a positive, mission-aligned culture built on our core values.

HR Operations and Systems

• Own HR systems and keep them running smoothly.
  
• Build simple, repeatable processes and clear documentation so the HR function runs consistently.
  
• Take part in our EOS operating rhythm, including quarterly rocks and weekly L10 meetings. 
  

What You Bring

• Three or more years of hands-on HR experience, ideally as a generalist who has worn many hats.
  
• Working knowledge of payroll, benefits administration, and HR compliance.
  
• Comfort managing HR systems and learning new platforms quickly.
  
• Solid understanding of federal employment law; Wyoming or multistate knowledge is a plus.
  
• Clear, warm, and professional communication, both written and verbal.
  
• High trust and discretion with confidential information.
  
• Self-directed and organized, able to run the full HR function with limited oversight.
  
• Proficiency in Google Workspace, Microsoft Office and AI platforms.

Preferred

• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR certification.
  
• Experience as a solo or small-team HR practitioner.
  
• Experience supporting a multi-entity (multiple EIN) organization.

What We Offer

• A free medical option: the Cigna HDHP is fully company-paid for you and your family, with $0 taken from your paycheck.
  
• $1,000 per year added to your HSA when you choose the HDHP.
  
• $75,000 in company-paid life insurance at no cost to you.
  
• Dental and vision coverage.
  
• A 401(k) with a company match up to 3.5% of pay, fully vested after two years.
  
• Unlimited PTO for salaried employees, starting on day one.
  
• Nine paid holidays.
  
• The chance to shape the people experience at a mission-driven company that changes lives through the skilled trades.

  
  

Before you Start All offers are contingent upon successful completion of pre-employment Drug Screening and Background check. 

It is Western Welding Academy's policy to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.