Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between maintenance engineers and reliability engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a maintenance engineer and a reliability engineer. Additionally, a reliability engineer has an average salary of $105,551, which is higher than the $47,133 average annual salary of a maintenance engineer.
The top three skills for a maintenance engineer include plumbing, HVAC and guest rooms. The most important skills for a reliability engineer are java, troubleshoot, and ruby.
| Maintenance Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $47,133 | $105,551 |
| Hourly rate | $22.66 | $50.75 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 97,957 | 44,471 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Average age | 47 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A maintenance engineer is responsible for the maintenance of industrial machinery and inspects equipment defects for immediate troubleshooting or replacement as needed. Maintenance engineers install and upgrade system components to improve system optimization and perform diagnostic systems to locate any adjustments. They also conduct routine checks, assist clients with technical faults, and ensure that the equipment works safely for certain operations. A maintenance engineer must have excellent knowledge of the mechanical industry to address technical malfunctions immediately.
A reliability engineer is in charge of determining and managing the asset reliability risks of businesses. Reliability engineers are professionals who solve problems related to engineering. They are equipped with a better understanding of the principles of performance evaluation and prediction for product safety. The job requires knowledge of the field of engineering, strong communication, interpersonal skills, management skills, attention to detail, and reliability. They are also expected to become experts in engineering systems.
Maintenance engineers and reliability engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Maintenance Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Average salary | $47,133 | $105,551 |
| Salary range | Between $29,000 And $74,000 | Between $76,000 And $144,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Richmond, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Washington |
| Best paying company | Halliburton | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | - | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a maintenance engineer and a reliability engineer in terms of educational background:
| Maintenance Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | - | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between maintenance engineers' and reliability engineers' demographics:
| Maintenance Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Average age | 47 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 94.6% Female, 5.4% | Male, 87.5% Female, 12.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 4.4% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 14.3% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 2% | 4% |