Shop Manager - Fabrication Operations

Fabrication Manager | Fuquay, NC

Build Your Future with InServ

At InServ, we believe great work is built through teamwork, accountability, and a commitment to safety, quality, and excellence.

We are seeking an experienced Fabrication Manager to lead operations across our fabrication shops, including pipe, structural steel, hygienic, and biopharmaceutical fabrication. This role is responsible for ensuring work is safely, efficiently, and accurately executed while meeting project schedules, quality requirements, labor budgets, and productivity goals.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on fabrication leader who understands pipe and structural fabrication from the shop floor up and knows how to lead people and production. This person should be equally comfortable walking the shop with welders and fitters, reviewing an isometric or fabrication drawing, resolving production constraints, and discussing capacity, labor performance, project priorities, and costs with operational leadership.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Lead daily operations across the fabrication shops, ensuring work is properly planned, prioritized, staffed, and executed.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for pipe and structural steel fabrication and provide technical guidance to foremen, fitters, welders, and fabricators.
• Oversee pipe spool and structural fabrication from drawings and isometrics through layout, fit-up, welding, inspection, staging, and shipment.
• Review shop drawings, piping isometrics, specifications, and fabrication information to identify potential issues before production begins.
• Coordinate workflow, materials, equipment, and manpower across multiple concurrent projects.
• Monitor production progress and proactively address bottlenecks, schedule risks, and resource constraints.
• Develop fabrication plans and schedules aligned with project requirements and field installation schedules.
• Establish labor-hour budgets and productivity expectations and monitor actual performance against plan.
• Manage shop capacity and distribute work among foremen, fitters, welders, and other personnel based on project priorities and available resources.
• Track labor hours, productivity, overtime, material usage, rework, and other shop costs.
• Identify opportunities to improve throughput, reduce waste and rework, and improve overall shop performance.
• Assist with estimating, bidding, scope changes, and change-order documentation as needed.
• Recruit, train, develop, and manage foremen, welders, fitters, fabricators, and other shop personnel.
• Establish clear expectations for safety, quality, productivity, attendance, teamwork, and accountability.
• Coach employees and develop shop leaders to strengthen technical capability, performance, and ownership.
• Address performance issues promptly and consistently.
• Maintain a visible presence on the shop floor and foster a culture of teamwork, craftsmanship, continuous improvement, and doing the work right the first time.
• Maintain a strong safety culture and ensure compliance with InServ policies, OSHA requirements, welding procedures, and project standards.
• Partner with Safety and Quality to identify risks, resolve issues, and prevent rework.
• Understand pipe fabrication documentation, material traceability, inspection, and turnover requirements.
• Establish appropriate QC hold points and manage the welder qualification/certification process in partnership with QC.
• Ensure applicable WPS requirements, welding procedures, specifications, and quality standards are followed.
• Investigate recurring quality or production problems and implement corrective actions.
• Manage inventory and material requirements for pipe, steel, fittings, and fabrication components to support uninterrupted production.
• Coordinate with Purchasing, vendors, suppliers, and subcontractors to ensure materials and services are available when needed.
• Oversee maintenance, repair, and calibration of shop tools and equipment and recommend equipment upgrades or capital purchases as needed.
• Provide oversight of the Logistics function, including equipment, vehicles, tools, inventory, staging, and transportation of fabricated components.
• Partner closely with Project Management, Operations, BIM/VDC, Quality, Safety, Purchasing, Logistics, and Field Operations.
• Communicate production status, labor requirements, material needs, schedule concerns, and potential risks to project and operational leadership.
• Participate in Operations Reviews addressing shop performance, projects, labor, costs, equipment, safety, and quality.
• Support the successful transition of fabricated components from the shop to the field.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• 5+ years of fabrication leadership experience involving pipe, structural steel, industrial construction, mechanical contracting, or a closely related environment.
• Experience leading welders, fitters, fabricators, foremen, and other skilled-trades personnel.
• Strong understanding of pipe spool fabrication, from fabrication isometrics through fit-up, welding, inspection, staging, and shipment.
• Ability to read and interpret piping isometrics, shop drawings, weld symbols, technical drawings, and project specifications.
• Strong knowledge of carbon and stainless-steel fabrication and applicable welding processes.
• Working familiarity with ASME B31.3 Process Piping and AWS D1.1 Structural Welding requirements.
• Understanding of WPSs, welder qualifications/certifications, welding quality requirements, and fabrication QC processes.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects, production schedules, shop capacity, and fitter/welder manpower.
• Experience establishing and monitoring labor-hour budgets, productivity metrics, and fabrication costs.
• Experience with material planning, inventory, vendors, equipment, and production resources.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and experience using production or fabrication management systems.

Highly Preferred

• Hygienic, pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, food/beverage, or high-purity process fabrication experience.
• Familiarity with ASME BPE.
• Experience with specialty alloys such as Inconel, Hastelloy, and AL6XN.
• Experience with pipe-spooling or fabrication-management software used to track spool status and labor.
• Experience with fabrication turnover packages, weld maps, material traceability, MTRs, and NDE coordination.
• Familiarity with P&IDs and BIM/VDC tools such as Navisworks or Autodesk Construction Cloud.
• AWS CWI or other relevant welding/fabrication certification.

At InServ you'll find:

• The opportunity to shape and improve a growing fabrication organization
• Complex, technically sophisticated industrial projects
• The ability to influence processes, systems, and operational strategy
• A collaborative leadership team that values expertise and ideas
• The opportunity to build and mentor future operational leaders
• A culture focused on quality, safety, accountability, and continuous improvement—not bureaucracy
• Long-term client relationships built on trust and performance
• Competitive compensation that rewards results
• 401(k)
• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance
• Paid Time Off

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Founded in 1992, InServ is a full-service industrial contractor serving the life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and food and beverage sectors. We specialize in mechanical, electrical and instrumentation, hygienic piping, and HVAC trades. Operating from multiple locations across North Carolina, we serve clients throughout the Southeast. Our success is built on an unwavering commitment to safety, quality, and schedule adherence.

InServ is proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.