Career profile · SOC ESC-95DDF01D

textile technologist

Textile technologists are in charge of the optimisation of the textile manufacturing system management, both traditional and innovative. They develop and supervise the textile production system according to the quality system: processes of spinning, weaving, knitting, finishing namely dyeing, finishes, printing with appropriate methodologies of organisation, management and control and using emerging textile technologies.

textile technologist textile technologists are in charge of the optimisation of the textile manufacturing system management, both traditional and innovative. 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 knitting machine technology, health and safety in the textile industry, dyeing technology, properties of textile materials, control systems.

AI exposure
5.0/10
automation risk

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 textile technologist, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.

Urban India
₹42,717 a month
Rural India
₹30,424 a month
All India
₹38,466 a month

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

knitting machine technology health and safety in the textile industry dyeing technology properties of textile materials control systems research and development in textiles fabric types textile technologies types of textile fibres quality standards

Knowledge you'll build

  • Mechanical
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Production and Processing
  • Mathematics
  • Design
  • English Language
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Physics

What you'd actually do

  • Test selected products at specified stages in the production process for performance characteristics or adherence to specifications.
  • Compile and evaluate statistical data to determine and maintain quality and reliability of products.
  • Study time, motion, methods, or speed involved in maintenance, production, or other operations to establish standard production rate or improve efficiency.
  • Read worker logs, product processing sheets, or specification sheets to verify that records adhere to quality assurance specifications.
  • Verify that equipment is being operated and maintained according to quality assurance standards by observing worker performance.
  • Aid in planning work assignments in accordance with worker performance, machine capacity, production schedules, or anticipated delays.

Tools & technology you'd use

Microsoft Excel hot Microsoft Office software hot Autodesk AutoCAD hot Bentley MicroStation hot C hot C++ hot Dassault Systemes SolidWorks hot Extensible markup language XML hot IBM SPSS Statistics hot Microsoft Access hot Microsoft Outlook hot Microsoft PowerPoint hot

Frequently asked questions

What does textile technologist do?

Textile technologists are in charge of the optimisation of the textile manufacturing system management, both traditional and innovative. They develop and supervise the textile production system according to the quality system: processes of spinning, weaving, knitting, finishing namely dyeing, finishes, printing with appropriate methodologies of organisation, management and control and using emerging textile technologies.

What skills does textile technologist need?

The most in-demand skills for this role include knitting machine technology, health and safety in the textile industry, dyeing technology, properties of textile materials, control systems, research and development in textiles. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.

Will AI replace textile technologist?

Our AI-durability model gives textile technologist 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.

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