Post job

Sustaining engineer vs reliability engineer

The differences between sustaining engineers and reliability 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 sustaining engineer and a reliability engineer. Additionally, a reliability engineer has an average salary of $105,551, which is higher than the $88,351 average annual salary of a sustaining engineer.

The top three skills for a sustaining engineer include troubleshoot, lean six sigma and lean manufacturing. The most important skills for a reliability engineer are java, troubleshoot, and ruby.

Sustaining engineer vs reliability engineer overview

Sustaining EngineerReliability Engineer
Yearly salary$88,351$105,551
Hourly rate$42.48$50.75
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs57,40244,471
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age4242
Years of experience44

What does a sustaining engineer do?

A sustaining engineer is responsible for monitoring industrial operations, including the efficiency of processes and the performance of tools and equipment, ensuring high-quality deliverables for business objectives. Sustaining engineers evaluate the safety and security of the operations, strategizing techniques to manage potential hazards that may cause delays in the production. They also work with the management to identify opportunities to maximize productivity and maintain cost-reduction procedures, especially on materials and equipment. A sustaining engineer handles operational issues, as well as assessing incident reports for immediate resolution.

What does a reliability engineer do?

A reliability engineer is in charge of determining and managing the asset reliability risks of businesses. Reliability engineers are professionals who solve problems related to engineering. They are equipped with a better understanding of the principles of performance evaluation and prediction for product safety. The job requires knowledge of the field of engineering, strong communication, interpersonal skills, management skills, attention to detail, and reliability. They are also expected to become experts in engineering systems.

Sustaining engineer vs reliability engineer salary

Sustaining engineers and reliability engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Sustaining EngineerReliability Engineer
Average salary$88,351$105,551
Salary rangeBetween $68,000 And $114,000Between $76,000 And $144,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CARichmond, CA
Highest paying stateWashingtonWashington
Best paying companyMetaThe Citadel
Best paying industryHealth CareStart-up

Differences between sustaining engineer and reliability engineer education

There are a few differences between a sustaining engineer and a reliability engineer in terms of educational background:

Sustaining EngineerReliability Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common majorElectrical EngineeringMechanical Engineering
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University

Sustaining engineer vs reliability engineer demographics

Here are the differences between sustaining engineers' and reliability engineers' demographics:

Sustaining EngineerReliability Engineer
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 87.5% Female, 12.5%Male, 87.5% Female, 12.5%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 15.1% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 14.3% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage4%4%

Differences between sustaining engineer and reliability engineer duties and responsibilities

Sustaining engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage the deployment and implementation of IPX/IGX/BPX switches worldwide.
  • Manage all design and manufacturing operations through strict FDA, MDD quality system requirements.
  • Manage donations tracking and CRM software including outreach emails, mailings, printing, and mailing list management.
  • Manage the manufacturing of defense and aerospace electro-mechanical print circuit boards from prototype to production level.
  • Participate in DFM, DFT, and DFE processes for all new product introduction (s) (NPI).
  • Evaluate and specify perishable tooling for CNC machines.
  • Show more

Reliability engineer example responsibilities.

  • Lead a team of over 20 engineers responsible for implementing NASA human-rating requirements to achieve human-rating safety certification.
  • Manage GMP compliance, FDA audits, and the writing of [] procedures.
  • Achieve completion of the resistors and capacitor sections of the AVL.
  • Lead the implementation of utilizing SPC data for software and test set improvement initiatives.
  • Delegate tasks to appropriate CE specialist and manage``burn rate"to prevent cost overrun.
  • Design, build, and manage the entire QMS system from the ground up including re-writing all existing technical documentation.
  • Show more

Sustaining engineer vs reliability engineer skills

Common sustaining engineer skills
  • Troubleshoot, 5%
  • Lean Six Sigma, 4%
  • Lean Manufacturing, 4%
  • Sigma, 4%
  • Solidworks, 4%
  • CAD, 4%
Common reliability engineer skills
  • Java, 22%
  • Troubleshoot, 10%
  • Ruby, 7%
  • Jenkins, 5%
  • Azure, 4%
  • Debugging, 4%

Browse architecture and engineering jobs