If you’re ready to contribute your surface‑prep experience to a world‑class shipbuilding environment, a rewarding career at Ingalls Shipbuilding — “America’s Shipyard” and Mississippi’s largest private employer — is waiting.
What You Can Earn
- Starting rate: $28.64 per hour
- Additional opportunities for overtime, training, and long‑term advancement.
What You’ll Do
- Remove rust, scale, and surface buildup from ship structures using a 3F motor, angle gun, scale gun, needle gun, end gun, and other rust‑removal tools.
- Use hand tools such as wire brushes and scrapers to achieve proper surface preparation.
- Follow instructions from supervision to ensure surfaces meet required preparation standards.
- Support ship construction across diverse shipyard environments and be available to work any shift in a 24/7 manufacturing operation.
Why This Work Matters
Rust Machine Operators play a vital role in preparing ship surfaces for coating, painting, and final assembly. Your work directly impacts durability, corrosion resistance, and the overall readiness of vessels that serve and protect our nation around the world.
What You Bring
- The ability to safely operate rust‑removal equipment and hand tools
- The skills to remove rust, scale, and buildup to meet surface‑prep standards
- Ability to work effectively in complex shipyard environments
- Strong commitment to precision, safety, and teamwork
Must Have
Prior Experience working in Industrial, Marine, or Commercial Environment
Nice to Have
Why HII
We build the world’s most powerful, survivable naval ships and defense technology solutions that safeguard our seas, sky, land, space and cyber. HII’s diverse workforce includes skilled tradespeople; artificial intelligence, machine learning (AI/ML) experts; engineers; technologists; scientists; logistics experts; and business administration professionals.
Recognized as one of America’s top large company employers, we are a values and ethics driven organization that puts people’s safety and well-being first. Regardless of your role or where you serve, at HII, you’ll find a supportive and welcoming environment, competitive benefits, and valuable educational and training programs for continual career growth at every stage of your career.
Working at HII is more than a job - it’s an opportunity to build a future. We offer comprehensive benefits including: medical, prescription drug, dental and vision plan choices, on-site health centers, tele-medicine, wellness resources, employee assistance programs, savings plan options (401K), financial education and planning tools, life insurance, tuition reimbursement, employee discounts, early childhood and post-secondary education scholarships, and more. Some benefits may vary depending on your specific division or work location.
Together we are working to ensure a future where everyone can be free and thrive.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, or veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law. U.S. Citizenship may be required for certain positions.
Do You Need Assistance?
If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please send an e-mail to buildyourcareer@hii-co.com and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Reasonable accommodations are considered on a case-by-case basis. Please note that only those inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this e-mail address.
Additionally, you may also call 1-844-849-8463 for assistance. Press #1 for Ingalls Shipbuilding.
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