Know Your Worth / Manufacturing & robotics
Manufacturing and robotics careers connect product requirements with machines, processes, people, measurement, and reliable records. Useful portfolios show how assumptions are verified through simulations or controlled evidence, while real equipment operation, machinery changes, worker safety, and product release require authorized facilities and appropriately qualified decision-makers.
1–30 of 30 careers · 1,000 in the directory
All careersEmployee references are annual US median wages for the cited BLS occupation, which may cover several career paths. Freelance examples add $15,000 for benefits and $20,000 for business costs, then divide by 1,200 billable hours a year. Annual figures are rounded to the nearest $1,000 and hourly figures to the nearest dollar. Figures are before personal taxes, with no percentage fees. Open a guide to see the source or adjust the assumptions in the calculator.
BLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Evaluate additive manufacturing choices for a defined part and use case. Connect geometry, material assumptions, process variation, and inspection needs while reserving structural or regulated application approval for qualified reviewers.
View career → Additive Manufacturing EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Plan machining workflows from approved component requirements and manufacturing constraints. Coordinate setup assumptions, tooling evidence, inspection needs, and qualified reviews without treating a planning document as permission to operate equipment.
View career → CNC Process PlannerBLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Assess whether a collaborative-robot concept suits a defined manufacturing task. Connect workflow evidence and integration requirements while recognizing that collaboration claims do not remove the need for qualified machinery safety assessment.
View career → Collaborative Robot Applications EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Develop automation requirements that connect process measurements, control logic, and equipment interfaces. Explain failure handling and verification needs before proposed changes reach real industrial machinery or production systems.
View career → Industrial Automation EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Translate equipment behavior into control requirements and verified logic. Account for signals, timing, interfaces, and recovery while reserving safety-critical decisions and live machinery changes for appropriately qualified personnel.
View career → Industrial Controls EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Market research analysts
Evaluate how manufacturing tasks fit human capabilities and workplace conditions. Gather appropriate evidence and coordinate qualified review without treating an informal observation as a medical diagnosis or certified workplace safety assessment.
View career → Industrial Ergonomics SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Develop inspection-system requirements that connect cameras, image analysis, and production decisions. Evaluate defect definitions and sample variation while preserving appropriate authority for product release and equipment integration.
View career → Industrial Machine Vision EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Organize maintenance planning around asset records, resources, and approved service requirements. Compare workload and scheduling options while preserving qualified engineering ownership of maintenance procedures and safe equipment intervention.
View career → Industrial Maintenance Planning AnalystBLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Develop measurement methods for manufacturing dimensions or physical properties. Account for calibration, fixturing, uncertainty, and repeatability so inspection results support decisions appropriate to the evidence rather than nominal instrument precision.
View career → Industrial Metrology EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Develop protective packaging concepts that fit product characteristics and distribution conditions. Compare material, handling, and test evidence while reserving qualified approval for dangerous goods, regulated applications, or certified transport performance.
View career → Industrial Packaging EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Industrial Engineers
Connect manufacturing requirements with inspection evidence and corrective-action processes. Help teams evaluate variation and nonconformances while preserving designated authority for acceptance, supplier approval, and changes to controlled production processes.
View career → Industrial Quality EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Develop and verify robot behavior in approved simulation or commissioning environments. Connect task sequences, coordinate assumptions, and exception handling while preserving qualified authorization for any physical robot operation.
View career → Industrial Robot ProgrammerBLS · May 2025 · Technical writers
Organize industrial safety procedures, training records, and review evidence under qualified supervision. Make ownership and document gaps visible without presenting administrative completeness as proof that machinery or work practices are safe.
View career → Industrial Safety Documentation SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Help manufacturing teams examine flow, rework, and resource use through evidence and structured improvement. Separate genuine process learning from assumed savings and preserve required safety, quality, and workforce consultation boundaries.
View career → Lean Manufacturing ConsultantBLS · May 2025 · Cost Estimators
Estimate manufacturing costs from documented product, process, and volume assumptions. Explain tooling, material, labor, and uncertainty so stakeholders can compare options without treating a preliminary estimate as a supplier commitment.
View career → Manufacturing Cost EstimatorBLS · May 2025 · Database Architects
Build reliable manufacturing data flows with explicit asset identifiers, timestamps, and quality flags. Preserve context needed to compare events and measurements without silently treating incomplete machine records as accurate process history.
View career → Manufacturing Data EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Industrial Engineers
Build models that connect manufacturing records with a defined physical process question. Evaluate data quality, model assumptions, and validation needs rather than labeling every animated process diagram a predictive twin.
View career → Manufacturing Digital Twin EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Project management specialists
Coordinate manufacturing system or process implementations across engineering, operations, quality, and vendors. Track prerequisites and handover evidence while preserving qualified responsibility for equipment changes, worker safety, and production release.
View career → Manufacturing Implementation Project ManagerBLS · May 2025 · Industrial Engineers
Improve production workflows through process evidence, measured variation, and controlled trials. Connect throughput, quality, and resource constraints while distinguishing a proposed improvement from an approved manufacturing change.
View career → Manufacturing Process EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Turn orders, capacity, material availability, and approved process constraints into production planning evidence. Compare schedule tradeoffs and highlight missing information rather than promising that a single optimized plan can prevent every delay.
View career → Manufacturing Production Planning AnalystBLS · May 2025 · Industrial Engineers
Investigate equipment reliability and recurring production disruptions using authorized maintenance records. Explain failure classifications, data limits, and competing causes before recommending qualified review of maintenance or equipment changes.
View career → Manufacturing Reliability EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Industrial Engineers
Evaluate supplier process and inspection evidence for manufacturing requirements. Trace quality concerns to documented records and review questions while distinguishing an advisory assessment from authorized supplier qualification or product release.
View career → Manufacturing Supplier Quality EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Technical writers
Develop clear manufacturing documentation from approved engineering and process sources. Maintain terminology, revision history, and review traceability so simplified work instructions do not conceal critical assumptions or unauthorized changes.
View career → Manufacturing Technical WriterBLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Develop repeatable product or process tests that support manufacturing decisions. Connect test fixtures, measurement quality, and acceptance criteria while documenting invalid setups and responsibilities for release or process changes.
View career → Manufacturing Test EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Develop systems that combine mechanics, electronics, and software. Make interface assumptions and verification plans explicit so a prototype's apparent function does not conceal unresolved mechanical or electrical constraints.
View career → Mechatronics EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Analyze how materials, information, and decisions move through production. Help teams compare process changes using explicit data definitions and assumptions rather than treating a dashboard as a complete account of manufacturing performance.
View career → Production Systems AnalystBLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Connect robot, tooling, sensing, and process requirements into a coherent integration plan. Use simulation and verification evidence while preserving qualified responsibility for machinery safety and physical commissioning.
View career → Robotics Integration EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Build simulation software that helps teams evaluate robotic concepts and requirements. Document physics assumptions, interfaces, and validation limits so attractive virtual behavior is not mistaken for proof of real-world safety or reliability.
View career → Robotics Simulation DeveloperBLS · May 2025 · Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
Investigate whether robotic system behavior matches documented requirements in authorized test environments. Separate simulation findings, setup errors, and verified defects while preserving qualified decisions about physical safety and operational acceptance.
View career → Robotics Systems Test AnalystBLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Evaluate robotic workflows for material movement in a warehouse context. Connect task demand, layout constraints, interfaces, and qualified machinery safety review before simulation evidence informs any physical deployment.
View career → Warehouse Robotics Engineer