How To Become A Plastics Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a plastics engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A plastics engineer is an engineering professional that designs and develops materials, molds, and other items made out of plastic. With that in mind, they usually work in the manufacturing industry but may also find opportunities in medicine, robotics, or technology.

The job of a plastics engineer entails a lot of attention to detail and great amounts of research. Their duties include developing product designs according to client specifications, sourcing appropriate material, coordinating with the product and development team, and conducting tests on their design prototypes.

The best way to become a plastics engineer is to obtain a degree in plastic engineering, but this position is also open to graduates of mechanical engineering and industrial engineering degrees. More than that, one must have adequate experience working with plastics, particularly when it comes to research and development.

Like many engineering professionals, the average salary of a plastics engineer is above average at around $70,000 a year or about $34 an hour.

ScorePlastics EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.3

Avg. Salary $80,304

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.38%

Asian 17.31%

Black or African American 4.14%

Hispanic or Latino 10.59%

Unknown 5.65%

White 61.94%

Gender

female 9.68%

male 90.32%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a plastics engineer

Explore plastics engineer education requirements

Most common plastics engineer degrees

Bachelor's

66.4 %

Associate

13.0 %

Master's

11.5 %

Start to develop specific plastics engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Sigma	9.04%
Project Management	7.95%
Extrusion	7.38%
CAD	6.82%
Lean Manufacturing	5.73%

Complete relevant plastics engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New plastics engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a plastics engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real plastics engineer resumes.

Research plastics engineer duties and responsibilities

Lead several independent, cross-functional projects and improve manufacturing quality, reduce cost, ensure environment are supported and FDA compliant.
Prove out a new rapid prototyping technique.
Investigate and develop some of the latest rapid prototyping methods.
Demonstrate proficiency in statistical process control (SPC), analyze data and calculate capability study using SQC pack software.

Prepare your plastics engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your plastics engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a plastics engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable plastics engineer resume templates

Build a professional plastics engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your plastics engineer resume.