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The differences between senior production engineers and manufacturing engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior production engineer, becoming a manufacturing engineer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior production engineer has an average salary of $115,075, which is higher than the $78,522 average annual salary of a manufacturing engineer.
The top three skills for a senior production engineer include continuous improvement, technical support and SR. The most important skills for a manufacturing engineer are lean manufacturing, CAD, and solidworks.
| Senior Production Engineer | Manufacturing Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $115,075 | $78,522 |
| Hourly rate | $55.32 | $37.75 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 94,542 | 115,384 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 42 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
A senior production engineer supervises and improves plant and factory production. They manage engineering teams, update the manager about various issues, create safety protocols, and draw up strategies to enhance profit and production efficiency. Besides overseeing the production processes and ensuring the engineering teams perform quality work, senior production engineers also work hand-in-hand with other engineers to draw up programs that enhance the required labor, costs, and production. Moreover, these professionals identify, document, and report unsafe practices.
Manufacturing Engineers are responsible for handling and developing an efficient manufacturing system or procedure that will help a company produce up to standard products while in adherence to the policies, regulations, and expected cost and schedule. Furthermore, Manufacturing Engineers must also monitor quality control, identify or detect errors, provide and suggest improvements, oversee the procurement of materials involved in the production, and coordinate with various teams or departments within the company to ensure the effectiveness of innovations or new developments.
Senior production engineers and manufacturing engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Production Engineer | Manufacturing Engineer | |
| Average salary | $115,075 | $78,522 |
| Salary range | Between $85,000 And $154,000 | Between $60,000 And $102,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Palo Alto, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Ep Energy | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior production engineer and a manufacturing engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Production Engineer | Manufacturing Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Georgia Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between senior production engineers' and manufacturing engineers' demographics:
| Senior Production Engineer | Manufacturing Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 87.8% Female, 12.2% | Male, 88.8% Female, 11.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 14.9% White, 66.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 17.0% White, 62.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 5% |