Production Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Production Engineer combines knowledge of manufacturing technology and engineering sciences with management theory. Designs the production steps, defines and monitors resources needed, and evaluates efficiency of the overall process.
Job Outlook
There were 349 Production Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 9371 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Industrial Engineer industry, which includes the Production Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Production Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $94,184.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $91,353.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Production Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $78,648.
Education and Experience
Posted Production Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 3.64% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 66.2% |
| Master's Degree | 14.58% |
| Doctoral Degree | 3.14% |
| Other | 4.43% |
Posted Production Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 24.15% |
| 3 to 5 years | 50.89% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.5% |
| 9+ years | 11.46% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Production Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Operations (41.54%)
- Communication (36.25%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (32.57%)
- Management (28.05%)
- Problem Solving (26.51%)
- Leadership (22.13%)
- Planning (18.48%)
- Writing (12.31%)
- Microsoft Office (11.83%)
- Coordinating (11.68%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Production Engineering (40.07%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Root Cause Analysis (11.18%)
- Technical Support (8.52%)
- Lean Manufacturing (13.47%)
- Machining (4.56%)
- Supply Chain (9.02%)
- Java (Programming Language) (8.8%)
- Systems Engineering (8.85%)
- Manufacturing Processes (16.24%)
- Tooling (11.13%)
- Process Engineering (11.2%)
- Production Process (14.37%)
- Mechanical Engineering (16.64%)
- Automation (13.61%)
- Python (Programming Language) (12.53%)
- Process Improvement (16.75%)
- New Product Development (12.42%)
- Computer Science (12.55%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (14.75%)
- Project Management (20.44%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (9.76%)
- Production Management (4.98%)
- Electrical Engineering (11.2%)
- Machinery (5.12%)
- Chemical Engineering (11.75%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Oil Well Workover (1.73%)
- Artificial Lift (2.11%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Oil Well Workover (4.28%)
- Artificial Lift (5.23%)
- Production Engineering (99.35%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Production Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Production Support Engineer
- Production Support Manager
- Process Engineer
- Engineer
- Operations Engineer
- Project Engineer
- Support Engineer
- Maintenance Engineering Co-Op
- Product Engineer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Manufacturing Engineer (General)
- Product Engineering Manager
- Industrial Engineer (General)
- Manufacturing Product Design Engineer
- Manufacturing Assembly Engineer
- Manufacturing Process Engineer
- Product Development Engineer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Production Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Raytheon Technologies (234)
- Meta (140)
- Actalent (120)
- Blue Origin (93)
- Stepan Company (88)
- Lockheed Martin (87)
- ManpowerGroup (87)
- Boeing (80)
- Randstad (76)
- What The Future?! (75)
North Carolina
- Baxter International (20)
- Novo Nordisk (12)
- Toyota Motors (10)
- Grail (9)
- Wells Fargo (9)
- The Matlen Silver Group (7)
- Charlotte, Nc (6)
- ManpowerGroup (6)
- Martin Marietta (5)
- Fidelity Investments (4)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.