Side-by-side distribution
Manufacturing Engineer
$125,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 40.6%
- Live roles
- 3,330
Plant Manager
$139,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 42.3%
- Live roles
- 414
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer, Production Model Post-Training
Manufacturing Engineer III (Controls Technician)
Software Engineer, Manufacturing Infrastructure
Production Support Engineer - Trading Systems
Risk and Pnl Production Support Engineer
Manufacturing Engineer - Data Center Hardware
Manufacturing Quality Engineer, Data Center Power & Cooling
Product Engineer - Manufacturing Operations
Internal Acceleration, Research Engineer (Production)
Internal Acceleration, Engineer (Production)
Highest-paying jobs
Plant Manager (Arizona)
Principal Product Manager, AI Factory
Product Manager, Software Factory
Senior Manager, Software Engineering, Plant Control
Staff Product Manager, AI Software Factory PLG
Manager, ML Solutions Architecture - Token Factory
Plant Manager
Sr. Manager - Factory Automation
Plant Manager
Manufacturing Plant Manager
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$167,000 | 191 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$110,650 | 82 |
|
Blue Origin
|
$110,222 | 42 |
Relativity Space
|
$130,000 | 41 |
SpaceX
|
$115,000 | 38 |
Applied Materials
|
$93,250 | 28 |
| GV GE Vernova | $109,200 | 21 |
Abbott
|
$106,700 | 20 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| JC J.Crew | $45,604 | 30 |
Heidelberg Materials
|
$125,393 | 9 |
LG Electronics
|
$97,500 | 6 |
Niagara Bottling
|
$136,879 | 5 |
Greif
|
$153,850 | 4 |
Conagra Brands
|
$134,000 | 4 |
|
Blue Origin
|
$193,880 | 3 |
Kraft Heinz
|
$184,700 | 3 |
Manufacturing Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $196,250 | 44 |
| New York | $174,000 | 44 |
| Los Angeles | $152,750 | 54 |
| Atlanta | $142,750 | 10 |
| Denver | $140,000 | 5 |
| Seattle | $134,471 | 51 |
| Chicago | $130,000 | 8 |
| Singapore | $124,800 | 5 |
| Austin | $114,000 | 29 |
| Toronto | $108,300 | 3 |
Plant Manager salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $184,053 | 4 |
| Los Angeles | $160,956 | 4 |
| Chicago | $135,900 | 3 |
| New York | $130,361 | 3 |
Manufacturing Engineer vs Plant Manager: which pays more?
The median for Manufacturing Engineer is $125,000 per year (typically $100,000–$157,500), versus $139,500 for Plant Manager ($113,610–$168,925). That puts Plant Manager about 12% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Manufacturing Engineer and Plant Manager are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.