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The differences between senior production engineers and quality 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 quality engineer. Additionally, a senior production engineer has an average salary of $115,075, which is higher than the $79,672 average annual salary of a quality engineer.
The top three skills for a senior production engineer include continuous improvement, technical support and SR. The most important skills for a quality engineer are corrective action, continuous improvement, and ISO.
| Senior Production Engineer | Quality Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $115,075 | $79,672 |
| Hourly rate | $55.32 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 94,542 | 96,838 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| 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 quality engineer's responsibilities include ensuring that the manufacturing processes are efficient and accurate, documenting findings that would raise concerns, conducting quality tests while observing parameters, and implementing changes as necessary to meet the highest quality standards. Quality engineers need to have excellent problem-solving and observation skills to detect any irregularities and possible malfunctions. They also must be able to communicate effectively with the clients for feedbacks and corrective adjustments, address complaints, and immediately resolve any inconsistencies made.
Senior production engineers and quality engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Production Engineer | Quality Engineer | |
| Average salary | $115,075 | $79,672 |
| Salary range | Between $85,000 And $154,000 | Between $61,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Ep Energy | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior production engineer and a quality engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Production Engineer | Quality Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between senior production engineers' and quality engineers' demographics:
| Senior Production Engineer | Quality Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 87.8% Female, 12.2% | Male, 78.2% Female, 21.8% |
| 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, 4.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 13.9% White, 65.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 4% |