Counted October 19, 2026 · from employers’ own postings
Plant Operator: $51K median posted pay.
From 14 salary bands employers posted on 41 open plant operator roles in manufacturing. Never an estimate.
The ladder, by level
What each rung pays.
No level is named often enough in these postings to build a ladder.
Levels as the postings name them. A rung shows a median only where eight or more postings at that level carried a band.
Who is hiring
The employers with the most open.
| Employer | Open roles | Entry level |
|---|---|---|
| Airliquidehr (AirgasExternalCareer) | 16 | — |
| Heidelbergmaterials | 7 | — |
| Daniels Health | 4 | — |
| Bpinternational (bpCareers) | 3 | — |
| Every day Chemours | 2 | — |
| Cyclic Materials Inc. | 1 | — |
| ChampionX | 1 | — |
| Ovintiv | 1 | — |
| Koppers | 1 | — |
| Ameresco | 1 | — |
Counted from employers’ own job boards. The ten with the most open plant operator roles tonight.
The skills, as the postings name them
What these postings ask for.
| Skill | Postings | At entry |
|---|---|---|
| Forklift Operation | 8 | — |
| Housekeeping | 5 | — |
| Continuous Improvement | 5 | — |
| Nonconformance Handling | 4 | — |
| Spreadsheet Analysis | 4 | — |
| Accessibility | 4 | — |
| Process Documentation | 3 | — |
| PLC Programming | 3 | — |
| Permit Processing | 3 | — |
| Docker | 3 | — |
Where the work is
0% of these roles are remote.
- Remote0%0 roles
- Hybrid0%0 roles
- On site98%40 roles
- Not stated2%1 roles
Make manufacturing your path — free.
A CareerVersion remembers your record and shows you three real manufacturing roles and the three skills the market asks for, on your first screen.
How this was counted
Every figure is counted from 41 open postings read from employers’ own job boards on October 19, 2026, and recounted every night. Pay is the band the employer posted — never an estimate, never a model — and 14 of these postings carried one. Titles are grouped by the words the postings use, with levels, shifts and schedules removed, so “Senior Plant Operator (Nights)” counts here too. 100% of roles with this title sit in manufacturing, which is why this page belongs to that career. A title gets a page only where twenty-five or more roles are open, eight or more of them posted a band, three or more employers are hiring for it and four in five of its postings sit in one career, so no page here is a guess.