What does a senior production engineer do?
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.
Senior production engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior production engineer resumes:
- Participate and lead process hazard reviews (DSR/PSSR) and management of change (MOC) initiatives.
- Design manufacturing processes and manage layouts of manufacturing plants, tools, jigs, and assembly lines.
- Implement a KANBAN system for manufacturing which reduce wasteful production activities and achieve labor reductions.
- Release production jobs from ERP system.
- Design and prepare Mensa-4 completion including the AFE.
- Preform QA testing of hardware and software systems.
- Participate in 1st party2nd party audits to ensure compliance with ISO standards.
- Develop highly complex screw insertion fixture and fabricate all components on CNC machine.
- Prepare cost estimates and internal and external authorizations for expenditure (AFE's).
- Conduct receiving inspection for components and raw materials, entering results into ERP system.
- Incorporate CNC machining, and CNC control to cur, rent and new product processes.
- Establish an SQC and SPC program for all the chemicals and intermediates manufacture for the photolithography business segment.
- Maintain compliance with PSM program- procedures, permitting, MOCs, incident reporting and PHA audits and action items.
- Develop FMEA analysis of engine block machining and assembly lines which consistently improve product final quality and production throughput.
- Coordinate daily and weekly production, ensuring a safe and sterile work environment in accordance with cGMPs and FDA regulations.
Senior production engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 6% of Senior Production Engineers are proficient in Continuous Improvement, Technical Support, and SR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Listening skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Production Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Continuous Improvement, 6%
Implemented and led continuous improvement program that achieved Six Sigma quality results for 4 products.
- Technical Support, 5%
Provided technical support to both Production Engineering and Facilities Engineering groups, administered corrosion control budget, and supervised two technicians.
- SR, 5%
Manufacture Planner Sr. for metal bonding: Coordinated and ordered bond fixtures for the autoclave and oven curing.
- Lean Manufacturing, 5%
Led the implementation of lean manufacturing utilizing lean manufacturing principles.
- Process Improvement, 5%
Designed and implemented process improvements focused on reliability, throughput, ergonomics and safety for both hardware and software.
- Sigma, 4%
Obtained Six Sigma certification and completed the Supervisor Leadership course.
Most senior production engineers use their skills in "continuous improvement," "technical support," and "sr" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential senior production engineer responsibilities here:
Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a senior production engineer to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "industrial engineers use creativity and ingenuity to design new production processes in many kinds of settings in order to reduce the use of material resources, time, or labor while accomplishing the same goal." Senior production engineers often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "used erp system to control the raw wafer/ control wafer inventory. "
Listening skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling senior production engineer duties is listening skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "these engineers often operate in teams, but they also must solicit feedback from customers, vendors, and production staff." According to a senior production engineer resume, here's how senior production engineers can utilize listening skills in their job responsibilities: "supervised 5 designers and drafters and communicated with production, manufacturing, qa and assembly departments. "
Problem-solving skills. This is an important skill for senior production engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how senior production engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "in designing facilities for manufacturing and processes for providing services, these engineers deal with several issues at once, from workers’ safety to quality assurance." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior production engineer: "resolved production and quality problems, generated cost reductions. ".
Speaking skills. senior production engineer responsibilities often require "speaking skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "industrial engineers sometimes have to explain their instructions to production staff or technicians before they can make written instructions available." This resume example shows what senior production engineers do with speaking skills on a typical day: "represented industrial unit during iso 9001 audits. "
Writing skills. Another common skill required for senior production engineer responsibilities is "writing skills." This skill comes up in the duties of senior production engineers all the time, as "industrial engineers must prepare documentation for other engineers or scientists, or for future reference." An excerpt from a real senior production engineer resume shows how this skill is central to what a senior production engineer does: "implement iso 14001:2015 program by writing procedures and ensuring achievement of compliance obligations. "
Math skills. Another skill commonly found on senior production engineer job descriptions is "math skills." It can come up quite often in senior production engineer duties, since "industrial engineers use the principles of calculus, trigonometry, and other advanced topics in mathematics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting in their work." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day senior production engineer responsibilities: "improved equipment efficiency by 5% via monitoring statistics-based measures and process changes. "
The three companies that hire the most senior production engineers are:
- Guidehouse15 senior production engineers jobs
- Yahoo10 senior production engineers jobs
- Raytheon Technologies8 senior production engineers jobs
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Compare different senior production engineers
Senior production engineer vs. Packaging engineer
A Packaging Engineer plans and implements packaging designs to ensure product integrity and appeal. Their primary duties include supervising and managing the complete packaging development process, analyzing engineering drawings, and conducting periodic vendor reviews.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, senior production engineer responsibilities require skills like "continuous improvement," "sr," "process control," and "product quality." Meanwhile a typical packaging engineer has skills in areas such as "project management," "solidworks," "astm," and "package design." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Packaging engineers earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $100,934. On the other hand, senior production engineers are paid more in the energy industry with an average salary of $126,085.The education levels that packaging engineers earn slightly differ from senior production engineers. In particular, packaging engineers are 1.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior production engineer. Additionally, they're 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior production engineer vs. Engineer
Engineers are highly trained professionals who determine the feasibility of various projects, usually related to the construction industry. They are considered experts in mathematics and science, two disciplines that they need to use in designing and coming up with plans for projects. They should also be well-versed in different construction or industrial materials, and they ensure that appropriate materials are used for the project. They also ensure that the projects meet the requirements of the groups that hired them. They create spaces that would both address the needs of the end-users and the industry standards. They also ensure that the projects they make would stand the test of time.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior production engineer responsibilities requires skills like "continuous improvement," "sr," "lean manufacturing," and "process improvement." But an engineer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "python," "cloud," "c++," and "c #."
Engineers earn a lower average salary than senior production engineers. But engineers earn the highest pay in the automotive industry, with an average salary of $97,672. Additionally, senior production engineers earn the highest salaries in the energy with average pay of $126,085 annually.In general, engineers achieve similar levels of education than senior production engineers. They're 2.2% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior production engineers in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Sridhar Santhanam Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Villanova University
Senior production engineer vs. Quality control engineer
A quality control engineer is responsible for conducting quality assessments for the company's products and services to ensure adherence to federal regulations and quality standards. Quality control engineers recommend strategic methods by analyzing processes and writing test results. They also identify opportunities for more services that meet public demands and market trends, helping the business generate more resources for revenues. A quality control engineer utilizes various software tools and applications to document findings, requiring them to have excellent communication and technical skills.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from senior production engineer resumes include skills like "technical support," "sr," "lean manufacturing," and "troubleshoot," whereas a quality control engineer is more likely to list skills in "corrective action," "test procedures," "quality issues," and "management system. "
Quality control engineers earn the best pay in the technology industry, where they command an average salary of $83,131. Senior production engineers earn the highest pay from the energy industry, with an average salary of $126,085.quality control engineers typically earn similar educational levels compared to senior production engineers. Specifically, they're 0.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior production engineer vs. Quality engineer
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.
Types of senior production engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
