Side-by-side distribution
Manufacturing Engineer
$150,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 53.4%
- Live roles
- 892
Quality Assurance
$110,735
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 31%
- Live roles
- 242
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
QA Engineering Manager
QA Engineering Manager
Senior Manager, GxP Electronic System Validation QA
Nuclear Quality Assurance Manager
ClearCalc Quality Assurance Manager
Senior Manager, GMP QA Operations
QA Manager, Training Services
Senior Manager, Quality Assurance
QA Engineering Manager
QA Manager
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Revolution Medicines
|
$99,000 | 3 |
Olema Oncology
|
$170,000 | 2 |
Vaxcyte
|
$163,500 | 2 |
|
Radformation
|
$162,500 | 2 |
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals
|
$144,000 | 2 |
Genetix Biotherapeutics
|
$142,000 | 2 |
Instacart
|
$118,797 | 2 |
Quince
|
$117,500 | 2 |
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 |
Quality Assurance salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | $171,250 | 4 |
| New York | $162,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $151,500 | 5 |
| Los Angeles | $86,500 | 3 |
Manufacturing Engineer vs Quality Assurance: which pays more?
The median for Manufacturing Engineer is $150,000 per year (typically $125,875–$170,000), versus $110,735 for Quality Assurance ($75,625–$160,000). That puts Manufacturing Engineer about 35% 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.