Counted October 17, 2026 · from employers’ own postings
Manufacturing: 6,711 open roles, 926 entry level.
Making things — production, assembly, machining, quality and plant operations.
4,346 of these postings state no level; the entry-level count is over the ones that do, plus any that ask for a year or less and are not titled senior. Pay is the median of posted bands, in USD, only where eight or more roles posted one. Only open roles are counted.
The roles, as the postings name them
Open roles and posted pay by role.
| Role | Open roles | Median posted band |
|---|---|---|
| Production Supervisor | 317 | $92K |
| Production Operator | 297 | $47K |
| Assembler | 248 | $46K |
| Machine Operator | 231 | $48K |
| Manufacturing Technician | 196 | $49K |
| Supplier Quality Engineer | 181 | $128K |
| Quality Inspector | 167 | $58K |
| Production Associate | 158 | $45K |
| Production Technician | 127 | $60K |
| Production Manager | 122 | $116K |
| Quality Technician | 106 | $63K |
| Manufacturing Operator | 82 | $49K |
What each pays, on its own page: Production Supervisor, Production Operator, Machine Operator, Manufacturing Technician, Supplier Quality Engineer, Quality Inspector, Production Associate, Production Technician, Production Manager, Quality Technician, Manufacturing Operator, Supplier Development Engineer.
A role is the posting’s own title with its level, shift and schedule set aside, so “Registered Nurse – ICU (Nights)” and “Senior Registered Nurse” are one role. The twelve most posted; pay is the median of posted bands, where eight or more roles posted one.
The skills, as the postings name them
What the postings ask for.
| Skill | Postings | At entry |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous Improvement | 2,226 | 29% |
| Assembly Line Work | 1,988 | 34% |
| Lean Manufacturing | 1,529 | 18% |
| Supply Chain Coordination | 1,325 | 11% |
| Packaging Operations | 907 | 19% |
| Spreadsheet Analysis | 726 | 9% |
| Investigation | 691 | 4% |
| Accessibility | 597 | 3% |
| Nonconformance Handling | 554 | 3% |
| Six Sigma | 523 | 5% |
| Good Manufacturing Practice | 499 | 9% |
| Precision Measurement | 476 | 7% |
A count of open postings naming each skill, the twelve most named; “at entry” is the share of the 926 entry-level postings that name it. Never a trend, never a score of you. Which of these you already have, and what you would learn first, is on your CareerVersion.
The ladder, by level
What each rung pays.
| Level | Open roles | Median posted band | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| INTERN | 108 | $60K | $57K–$62K |
| JUNIOR | 390 | $46K | $42K–$52K |
| MID | 262 | $50K | $47K–$63K |
| SENIOR | 250 | $138K | $90K–$170K |
| STAFF | 716 | $91K | $83K–$104K |
| PRINCIPAL | 29 | $109K | $102K–$153K |
| MANAGEMENT | 610 | $148K | $117K–$200K |
Levels as the postings name them. A rung shows a median only where eight or more postings at that level carried a band; the middle half is the twenty-fifth to seventy-fifth percentile of those bands.
Who is hiring
The employers with the most open.
| Employer | Open roles | Entry level |
|---|---|---|
| Jabil | 290 | 12 |
| Cornerstone Building Brands | 172 | 94 |
| RTX | 170 | 31 |
| Flextronics | 139 | 8 |
| Tysonfoods (TSN5) | 122 | 2 |
| Niagarawater | 119 | 41 |
| SpaceX | 117 | 46 |
| Abbott | 114 | 16 |
| Thermofisher | 109 | 36 |
| Flir | 108 | 5 |
Counted from employers’ own job boards. The twelve with the most open roles in this career tonight; “entry level” is how many of those ask for no prior experience.
Where the work is
2% of open manufacturing roles are remote.
- Remote2%120 roles
- Hybrid0%32 roles
- On site83%5,598 roles
- Not stated14%961 roles
As the boards state it. Nothing in the postings supports a city-level figure, so none is given.
How this was counted
Every figure here is counted from 6,711 open postings read from 563 employers’ own job boards on October 17, 2026, and recounted every night. Pay is the band the employer posted — never an estimate, never a model: a level shows a median only where eight or more postings carried one, and 2,008 of these postings did. Titles are grouped by the words the postings use, with levels, shifts and schedules removed, so one role is one row. The same counts as Markdown are at facts.md.
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Counted October 17, 2026 from 6,711 open postings; refreshed nightly. Facts as Markdown: facts.md.