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The differences between senior production engineers and production 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 senior production engineer and a production engineer. Additionally, a senior production engineer has an average salary of $115,075, which is higher than the $89,727 average annual salary of a production engineer.
The top three skills for a senior production engineer include continuous improvement, technical support and SR. The most important skills for a production engineer are java, continuous improvement, and lean manufacturing.
| Senior Production Engineer | Production Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $115,075 | $89,727 |
| Hourly rate | $55.32 | $43.14 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 94,542 | 94,789 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
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.
A production engineer is responsible for monitoring the production operations, ensuring everyone's adherence to safety protocols, and evaluating the staff's performance, strategizing on maximizing productivity to deliver efficient results that would drive revenues and increase profitability. Production engineers inspect the reliability of production equipment and machinery, conducting preventive maintenance, and repair inconsistencies to prevent production delays. They also identify areas of improvement with the manufacturing processes and escalate best practices for improvement. A production engineer must be knowledgeable about technological advancements and incorporate ideas to minimize costs without sacrificing the quality of services.
Senior production engineers and production engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Production Engineer | Production Engineer | |
| Average salary | $115,075 | $89,727 |
| Salary range | Between $85,000 And $154,000 | Between $64,000 And $125,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Ep Energy | Cheniere Energy |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior production engineer and a production engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Production Engineer | Production Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between senior production engineers' and production engineers' demographics:
| Senior Production Engineer | Production Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 87.8% Female, 12.2% | Male, 86.7% Female, 13.3% |
| 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, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.5% Asian, 15.4% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 4% |