How To Become A Senior Production Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior production manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Senior production managers supervise the production department in a manufacturing company. They make sure that all products are made on time and according to quality standards by taking care of administrative work that the department needs to function. They coordinate the logistics for a production or shipping team and often specialize in efficient management styles such as lean management. They're also responsible for making sure that the production department is following government regulations for workplace safety and environmental impact by conducting regular testing and inspections.

It pays to read the job description carefully when applying to senior production manager positions. Sometimes, senior production managers work in media or the arts and supervise artistic productions. They take care of administrative work, help with design work, and organize promotional campaigns.

No matter where they work, senior production managers usually have bachelor's degrees in business or design, depending on the kind of production work they are planning to go into. They also need several years of managerial experience in their field. Senior production managers earn an average salary of $127,595 a year.

ScoreSenior Production ManagerUS Average

Salary

8.4

Avg. Salary $128,721

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.9

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 9.12%

Black or African American 3.82%

Hispanic or Latino 13.10%

Unknown 3.87%

White 69.59%

Gender

female 34.46%

male 65.54%

Age - 48

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 - 48

Stress level

9.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.3

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.2

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior production manager

Explore senior production manager education requirements

Most common senior production manager degrees

Bachelor's

69.4 %

Associate

15.0 %

Master's

9.6 %

Start to develop specific senior production manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Project Management	8.04%
Continuous Improvement	6.94%
Lean Manufacturing	6.39%
SR	4.35%
Production Schedules	3.96%

Complete relevant senior production manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior production managers 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 senior production manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior production manager resumes.

Research senior production manager duties and responsibilities

Train all plant departments in following them in the IBM AS400 system achieving a significant reduction in transaction errors.
Manage and direct production QA and QC managers to ensure top quality product ships on time and with proper packaging.
Organize and manage daily activities of design studio; including financials, operational expenses, creating BOM charts and product costing.
Manage product booking to multiple overseas business partners seasonally.

Get senior production manager experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a senior production manager. The most common roles before becoming a senior production manager include production manager, production supervisor team lead and production coordinator.

Prepare your senior production manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior production manager 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 senior production manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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