Side-by-side distribution
Manufacturing Engineer
$150,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 54.8%
- Live roles
- 1,009
Plant Manager
$187,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 28.6%
- Live roles
- 70
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer, Production Model Post-Training
Risk and Pnl Production Support Engineer
Production Support Engineer - Trading Systems
Product Engineer - Manufacturing Operations
Manufacturing Quality Engineer, Data Center Power & Cooling
Manufacturing Engineer - Data Center Hardware
Senior Manufacturing Engineer (Arc Vehicle)
Senior Manufacturing Engineer (Reentry)
Product Manufacturing Engineer - PCBA
Manufacturing Quality Engineer – Datacenter Infrastructure
Highest-paying jobs
Plant Manager (Arizona)
Staff Product Manager, AI Factory
Senior Manager, Software Engineering, Plant Control
Manager, ML Solutions Architecture - Token Factory
Senior Engineering Manager, Factory Core
Manager, Software Engineering - Factory Platform
Manufacturing Plant Manager
Technical Account Manager - Token Factory
Product Marketing Manager - Token Factory
Plant Operations Manager (Jet Fuel Plant)
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$150,000 | 136 |
|
Relativity Space
|
$136,000 | 28 |
Rocket Lab Corporation
|
$143,550 | 23 |
SpaceX
|
$115,000 | 21 |
Crusoe
|
$187,500 | 15 |
|
Fluidstack
|
$250,250 | 12 |
|
Hadrian Automation
|
$160,000 | 12 |
Vast
|
$165,000 | 11 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Nebius
|
$202,500 | 3 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$174,750 | 2 |
|
Fluidstack
|
$353,000 | 1 |
|
Helion
|
$270,000 | 1 |
|
Domino Data Lab
|
$262,500 | 1 |
|
Hadrian Automation
|
$250,000 | 1 |
|
Relativity Space
|
$224,000 | 1 |
|
Standard Bots
|
$210,000 | 1 |
Manufacturing Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $226,000 | 31 |
| Seattle | $226,000 | 19 |
| Austin | $226,000 | 17 |
| San Francisco | $190,500 | 41 |
| Los Angeles | $152,500 | 41 |
| Boston | $150,000 | 7 |
| Chicago | $135,750 | 6 |
| Atlanta | $130,000 | 7 |
| Denver | $97,500 | 4 |
Manufacturing Engineer vs Plant Manager: which pays more?
The median for Manufacturing Engineer is $150,000 per year (typically $125,375–$173,500), versus $187,500 for Plant Manager ($158,250–$230,500). That puts Plant Manager about 25% 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.