production engineer
Production engineers review and evaluate production performance, perform data analysis and identify under-performing production systems. They search for long or short term solutions, plan production enhancements and process optimizations.
production engineer production engineers review and evaluate production performance, perform data analysis and identify under-performing production systems. They search for long or short term solutions, plan production enhancements and process optimizations. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include production processes, engineering principles, manufacturing processes, technical drawings, production engineering.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £47,946 a year for Production and process engineers (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £39,642 to £58,754 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2125). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only production engineer, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Engineering and Technology
- Production and Processing
- Mechanical
- Design
- Mathematics
- Computers and Electronics
- English Language
- Physics
What you'd actually do
- Troubleshoot new or existing product problems involving designs, materials, or processes.
- Investigate or resolve operational problems, such as material use variances or bottlenecks.
- Identify opportunities or implement changes to improve manufacturing processes or products or to reduce costs, using knowledge of fabrication processes, tooling and production equipment, assembly methods, quality control standards, or product design, materials and parts.
- 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.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does production engineer do?
Production engineers review and evaluate production performance, perform data analysis and identify under-performing production systems. They search for long or short term solutions, plan production enhancements and process optimizations.
What skills does production engineer need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include production processes, engineering principles, manufacturing processes, technical drawings, production engineering, engineering processes. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace production engineer?
Our AI-durability model gives production engineer a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.