Side-by-side distribution
Manufacturing Engineer
$125,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 40.6%
- Live roles
- 3,330
Quality Assurance
$107,350
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 35.5%
- Live roles
- 837
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer, Production Model Post-Training
Manufacturing Engineer III (Controls Technician)
Software Engineer, Manufacturing Infrastructure
Risk and Pnl Production Support Engineer
Production Support Engineer - Trading Systems
Manufacturing Engineer - Data Center Hardware
Manufacturing Quality Engineer, Data Center Power & Cooling
Product Engineer - Manufacturing Operations
Internal Acceleration, Research Engineer (Production)
Member of Technical Staff, Production Site Reliability Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Manager, Quality Assurance
Senior Manager / Associate Director, Clinical Quality Assurance
Engineering Manager, QA
Software Quality Assurance Manager 2
Sr. Quality Manager - Design Assurance
Sr. Quality Manager - Process Assurance
Senior Manager Quality Assurance, Drug Product (Filling)
Senior Manager Quality Assurance, Medical Device (Sustaining)
Software Quality Assurance Specialist/Applications Tester
Software Quality Assurance Specialist/Applications Tester
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$167,000 | 188 |
|
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Regeneron
|
$96,429 | 21 |
Cardinal Health
|
$92,425 | 11 |
|
Abbott
|
$130,000 | 7 |
Cumming Group
|
$117,833 | 6 |
Novartis
|
$99,236 | 6 |
| AB AbCellera | $65,411 | 6 |
GDIT
|
$144,762 | 5 |
Gilead Sciences
|
$142,155 | 5 |
Manufacturing Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $188,500 | 45 |
| New York | $175,750 | 44 |
| Los Angeles | $154,000 | 54 |
| Atlanta | $146,500 | 11 |
| Denver | $134,749 | 6 |
| Seattle | $134,471 | 51 |
| Chicago | $130,000 | 7 |
| Austin | $114,000 | 29 |
| Toronto | $108,300 | 3 |
| Boston | $102,500 | 6 |
Quality Assurance salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $139,490 | 4 |
| New York | $124,331 | 10 |
| Toronto | $117,038 | 3 |
| Los Angeles | $110,000 | 4 |
| Chicago | $85,250 | 6 |
Manufacturing Engineer vs Quality Assurance: which pays more?
The median for Manufacturing Engineer is $125,000 per year (typically $100,000–$157,500), versus $107,350 for Quality Assurance ($78,260–$134,100). That puts Manufacturing Engineer about 16% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Manufacturing Engineer and Quality Assurance 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.