What plant jobs really ask for, and what moves pay
Findings from 10,919 live postings on manufacturers' own careers sites, week of October 19, 2026. Each one shows how many postings it rests on; anything with too few is left out.
What most plant jobs ask for
The typical plant posting in the US asks for 5+ years, and 43% require a degree outright. The skills named most are Team leadership, Root cause, Lean.
- Team leadershipnamed in 37% of postingsTop
- Root causenamed in 34% of postings
- Leannamed in 27% of postings
- Automationnamed in 21% of postings
- Toolingnamed in 20% of postings
- New product launchnamed in 18% of postings
- Six Sigma / belt17% of postings
- Travel stated11% of postings
Based on 10,919 postings. Link to this finding
Unusual opportunities worth a look
Perks and openings most plant postings don't offer, and how many in the US do right now.
- Paid relocation584 postings (5%)
- Formal training program634 postings (6%)
- Stated promotion path2269 postings (21%)Top
- Tuition help1701 postings (16%)
- New plant or launch439 postings (4%)
- Visa sponsorship offered16 postings (0%)
- Hybrid or remote days493 postings (5%)
- Sign-on bonus142 postings (1%)
- 4×10 or compressed week54 postings (0%)
🔒 7 more example roles behind this finding. See them with a free account →
- 3M Clarkston Plant Manager · 3M · Georgia
Based on 10,919 postings. Link to this finding
The best-paying open roles right now
The highest posted ranges for engineering-level plant roles in the US.
🔒 5 more example roles behind this finding. See them with a free account →
- Staff Embedded Controls Engineer, Thermal · Ford · Long Beach, CA · $268k–$402k
Based on 1,607 postings. Link to this finding
15 more findings
- What experience is worth
- Skills that come as a package
- Manufacturing roles
- Quality roles
- Process roles
- Controls roles
- Reliability roles
- Production roles
- Industrial roles
- Lean / CI roles
- How often a degree is required
- Off-shift and weekend coverage
- Physical demands
- Clearance and export-control roles
- How much travel
See all 21 findings, with the numbers behind them
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Source and method
- Source
- ShopFloorJobs analysis of 10,919 live plant job postings from 1,713 manufacturers' own careers sites (Workday, SuccessFactors, Oracle, iCIMS, Greenhouse and others), not job boards.
- Collected
- Week of October 19, 2026. Postings are re-checked daily; closed roles drop out.
- Method
- Pay is the middle of each posting's listed range for engineer and senior engineer levels, compared within the same team so a different mix of teams can't create a gap. Rates count postings that state the item. Correlation, not cause; findings with too few postings are left out.
Cite this report
ShopFloorJobs, "What plant jobs ask for, and what moves pay," Week of October 19, 2026. https://shopfloorjobs.com/reports/insights
Free to quote and share with a link to this page.