Side-by-side distribution
Manufacturing Engineer
$150,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 53.4%
- Live roles
- 892
Plant Manager
$175,330
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 35.5%
- Live roles
- 62
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer, Production Model Post-Training
Software Engineer, Production Engineering
Manufacturing Test Engineer, AI Compute Infrastructure - Stargate
Principal Production Engineer
Software Engineer, Production Engineering
Staff Site Reliability Engineer, Production Engineering
Manufacturing Electrical Test Engineer
Production Engineer, Compute (GPU)
Production Engineer, IaaS
Manufacturing Software Test Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Plant Manager
Staff Product Manager, AI Factory
Senior Engineering Manager, Factory Core
Manager, Plant Control Engineering
Technical Account Manager - Token Factory
Plant Operations Manager (Jet Fuel Plant)
Manufacturing Plant Manager
Sr. Plant Manager
Lead Project Manager, Factory Development
Sr Manager, Data Factory Operation
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$170,000 | 131 |
Relativity Space
|
$152,000 | 27 |
Archer
|
$171,100 | 15 |
|
Hadrian Automation
|
$165,000 | 12 |
Rocket Lab Corporation
|
$133,750 | 10 |
mthree Recruiting Portal
|
$54,000 | 9 |
SpaceX
|
$108,750 | 8 |
Databricks
|
$216,104 | 7 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| NE New Era Technology | $135,000 | 3 |
Clearway Energy
|
$131,000 | 3 |
|
Fluidstack
|
$315,000 | 1 |
|
Domino Data Lab
|
$262,500 | 1 |
|
Hadrian Automation
|
$250,000 | 1 |
|
Helion
|
$220,000 | 1 |
|
Nebius
|
$202,500 | 1 |
|
Twelve
|
$198,000 | 1 |
Manufacturing Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $237,500 | 7 |
| Austin | $211,000 | 6 |
| San Francisco | $190,500 | 22 |
| Chicago | $181,250 | 8 |
| New York | $171,500 | 17 |
| Boston | $158,500 | 8 |
| Atlanta | $146,500 | 7 |
| Los Angeles | $146,250 | 36 |
Manufacturing Engineer vs Plant Manager: which pays more?
The median for Manufacturing Engineer is $150,000 per year (typically $125,875–$170,000), versus $175,330 for Plant Manager ($135,630–$200,250). That puts Plant Manager about 17% 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.