Manufacturing Engineer job description: duties, skills and qualifications.

Core duties

16

O*NET task statements

Preparation

Job Zone 4 of 5

considerable preparation

Typical entry education

Bachelor's degree

BLS 2025–35 · broader occupation

Median pay

$102,440

BLS May 2025 · broader occupation

1. Troubleshoot new or existing product problems involving designs, materials, or processes. importance 4.3 of 5
2. Investigate or resolve operational problems, such as material use variances or bottlenecks. importance 4.3 of 5
3. Apply continuous improvement methods, such as lean manufacturing, to enhance manufacturing quality, reliability, or cost-effectiveness. importance 4.2 of 5
4. Provide technical expertise or support related to manufacturing. importance 4.0 of 5
5. Incorporate new manufacturing methods or processes to improve existing operations. importance 4.0 of 5
6. Review product designs for manufacturability or completeness. importance 3.9 of 5
7. Determine root causes of failures or recommend changes in designs, tolerances, or processing methods, using statistical procedures. importance 3.9 of 5
8. Prepare reports summarizing information or trends related to manufacturing performance. importance 3.9 of 5
9. Prepare documentation for new manufacturing processes or engineering procedures. importance 3.8 of 5
10. Design layout of equipment or workspaces to achieve maximum efficiency. importance 3.8 of 5
11. Communicate manufacturing capabilities, production schedules, or other information to facilitate production processes. importance 3.8 of 5
12. Supervise technicians, technologists, analysts, administrative staff, or other engineers. importance 3.6 of 5
13. Design, install, or troubleshoot manufacturing equipment. importance 3.6 of 5
14. Evaluate manufactured products according to specifications and quality standards. importance 3.6 of 5
15. Estimate costs, production times, or staffing requirements for new designs. importance 3.6 of 5
16. Train production personnel in new or existing methods. importance 3.6 of 5

Work activities O*NET rates most important here: Making Decisions and Solving Problems, Getting Information, Working with Computers, Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates and Analyzing Data or Information.

Also part of the job

Supplemental tasks O*NET lists for this occupation: less central than the core duties above, and not done in every job.

• Redesign packaging for manufactured products to minimize raw material use or waste.

Knowledge areas: Production and Processing, Engineering and Technology, Mechanical, Design and Mathematics.

Software O*NET lists for this occupation: Autodesk AutoCAD, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft PowerPoint, SAP software. These are examples O*NET records for the job, not a list of tools every employer uses or a checklist of what you must know.

• Education: BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for the broader occupation.
• Experience: BLS lists no work experience in a related occupation as typical to enter.
• Training on the job: BLS lists no typical on-the-job training once hired.
• Preparation: O*NET places the job in Job Zone 4 of 5 (considerable preparation). A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations.
• Licenses and certifications: not listed here. A license is a legal requirement set by a state; a certification is a credential from a private or professional body. Rules vary by state and employer, and a missing entry on this page does not mean none is required: check with your state's licensing board and see how to become a manufacturing engineer.

Most O*NET's occupation experts for this occupation (76%) name a bachelor's degree as the education the job requires.

Job title: Manufacturing Engineer
[Company] · [City, State] · [Full-time or part-time] · [Pay range, where your state requires one]

About the role
[Company] is hiring a Manufacturing Engineer to design, integrate, or improve manufacturing systems or related processes.
[One sentence on your team and why this role matters.]

What you will do
- Troubleshoot new or existing product problems involving designs, materials, or processes.
- Investigate or resolve operational problems, such as material use variances or bottlenecks.
- Apply continuous improvement methods, such as lean manufacturing, to enhance manufacturing quality, reliability, or cost-effectiveness.
- Provide technical expertise or support related to manufacturing.
- Incorporate new manufacturing methods or processes to improve existing operations.
- Review product designs for manufacturability or completeness.
- Determine root causes of failures or recommend changes in designs, tolerances, or processing methods, using statistical procedures.
- Prepare reports summarizing information or trends related to manufacturing performance.

What we are looking for
- [Education: BLS lists a bachelor's degree as typical for this occupation; set the level this role truly needs]
- [Experience: BLS lists no related work experience as typical to enter; set what this role needs]
- Strength in complex problem solving, reading comprehension and mathematics
- Working knowledge of Production and Processing and Engineering and Technology
- [Software your team uses, e.g. Autodesk AutoCAD or Dassault Systemes SolidWorks]
- [Any license or certification your state or company requires]

[Schedule, benefits and how to apply]

Illustrative: every name, employer, school, date and number in these samples is fictional or a bracketed placeholder. Replace each bracket with your own true details; never copy a result you did not achieve.

Not a real job posting. This template is TryHired's illustration built from government occupational data. It is not an opening at any employer, and no employer wrote it.

For the broader BLS occupation Industrial Engineers, the median annual wage was $102,440 in May 2025. The broader occupation's median hourly wage was $49.25.

BLS counts the O*NET occupation Manufacturing Engineers within Industrial Engineers and publishes no separate wage for it, so the figure is for that broader occupation.

BLS projects employment in the broader occupation Industrial engineers to grow 12.4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 23,100 openings a year over that period, including openings to replace workers who leave.

See the full manufacturing engineer salary breakdown by percentile, state and metro.

• Read a real manufacturing engineer posting next to the core duties above. Duties it repeats, such as “Troubleshoot new or existing product problems involving designs…”, tell you what that employer weighs most; anything it adds is specific to that team.
• Tailor your resume to the posting, not to this page: describe only manufacturing engineer work you have actually done, with your own results.
• Prepare a story for each of the top-rated skills (complex problem solving and reading comprehension); manufacturing engineer interview questions turns them into practice questions.