Home / Careers / Senior Field Technician / Special Inspector / St. Louis, MO

Now hiring · St. Louis, MO 63155 · $26–$38 / hour

Senior Field Technician / Special Inspector — St. Louis, MO

Senior technicians anchor our largest placements and special inspection scopes: structural concrete, deep foundations, masonry, and steel. You will lead pours, mentor junior technicians, interface with engineers and building officials, and own the quality of the record on projects where the stakes are real.

This is a project-site position supporting programs in and around St. Louis, Missouri, staffed through the Kansas City, MO regional hub on a project basis with travel as assigned.

The ground around St. Louis serves up karst-margin caution, loess pads, and river-city structural concrete, where careful work gets noticed and paid for.

What you'll do

  • Lead fresh-concrete testing and special inspection on structural work
  • Perform and document inspections per project IBC special inspection programs
  • Mentor and check junior field technicians
  • Coordinate daily with superintendents, engineers, and officials
  • Support multi-state industrial deployments on a project basis

What we're looking for

  • 3+ years CMT or special inspection experience
  • ICC Reinforced Concrete or Soils, NICET Level II+, or ACI certifications
  • Comfortable owning the testing record on major placements
  • Willing to travel for defined project programs

What a week in this job looks like

You anchor the placements that keep project managers awake: mat pours that start at 3 a.m., post-tensioned decks, deep foundation observation, masonry and steel special inspection under an IBC program. You run the testing rhythm at the truck, direct junior technicians without leaving gaps in the record, and handle the conversation when a load reads out of spec, with the batch plant, the superintendent, and sometimes the engineer of record on the phone at once.

You are also the person the record leans on. When a building official audits a special inspection file two years from now, it is your documentation that answers.

Certifications, training, and where this leads

This role expects a working certification stack: ICC Reinforced Concrete or Soils, NICET Level II or higher, ACI field certifications, or the experience that makes earning them fast. We pay for every certification you add, and we build your renewals into the schedule instead of leaving them to your weekends.

From here the paths split by appetite: special inspection lead on structural programs, laboratory supervision, project management, or the traveling senior roles that anchor our multi-state industrial deployments. Senior technicians who can run a crew and a record at the same time do not stay at one level long.

Pay, schedule, and travel

Pay runs $26 to $38 per hour with overtime, and senior rates move with certifications and the scope you can own. Structural work follows pour schedules, which means early starts and long production days balanced by the slower weeks between phases.

Texas-based seniors work metro projects out of Sugar Land. Deployment roles supporting national industrial programs are staffed on a defined project basis with travel and per-diem terms settled in writing before mobilization, and seniors who travel well are the most requested people we have.

Safety, quality, and the standards we work under

You will hold responsibility inside a licensed radiation safety program and a documented AASHTO R18 quality system, and you will be the one enforcing both on your crew. Pre-task planning, PPE discipline, and honest reporting are the floor, not the ceiling.

Special inspection carries legal weight. We staff it, document it, and defend it accordingly, and we expect seniors to protect the record even when a schedule pushes back.

You will also be the calibration point for the crew around you: checking a junior's cylinder technique before bad habits set, auditing a gauge standardization log on a random Tuesday, and teaching the difference between a result that is defensible and one that merely looks finished.

How hiring works, and our commitment

Apply with your certification list and the projects you have anchored. Expect a call within days, a technical conversation with someone who has done the job, verification of credentials, and a written offer consistent with this posting. The role requires a valid driver's license with an acceptable record, jobsite physical capability, and pre-employment screening consistent with jobsite and radiation-safety requirements.

We are an equal opportunity employer and consider every applicant without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status.

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Current certifications

The work behind this job in St. Louis

Materials Testing in St. Louis · Geotechnical in St. Louis · Forensic in St. Louis

Nearby openings

Senior Field Technician — Kansas City, MOSenior Field Technician — Springfield, MOSenior Field Technician — Columbia, MOSenior Field Technician — Independence, MO

FAQ

Working in St. Louis — common questions

Is the Senior Field Technician / Special Inspector position in St. Louis an office job or a field job?

Field-based. You report to jobsites in and around St. Louis, MO, with specimens and paperwork returned to the dispatching hub at the end of the day.

Which hub covers St. Louis?

The Kansas City, MO regional hub, about 238 miles away. Work in St. Louis is staffed on a project basis through that hub.

Do I need to relocate to St. Louis?

Not necessarily. Project-site positions are staffed with travel and per diem as assigned; candidates already living near St. Louis are preferred when a project starts there.

What certifications does a Senior Field Technician / Special Inspector in St. Louis need?

None to start; ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade I and nuclear density gauge safety training come first and are paid for by the company. NICET Construction Materials Testing and ICC special inspector certifications raise scope and pay from there.

What tests will I run on St. Louis projects?

Fresh concrete testing at the truck — slump (ASTM C143), air content (ASTM C231), temperature (ASTM C1064), unit weight (ASTM C138), cylinder casting (ASTM C31) — and nuclear density on fill lifts (ASTM D6938) against the ASTM D698 or D1557 Proctor, plus aggregate and soil sampling for the laboratory.

What should I include in my application?

Years of experience, any certifications (ACI, NICET, ICC, nuclear gauge), and either a resume file or a short work history in the form. Applications without certifications are welcome for entry-level roles.