With £192 billion in annual output, the UK stands at the 9th position among manufacturing nations. It is also a country where the pay is better in the manufacturing sector as compared to services. The manufacturing landscape in the UK is varied but the largest chunk of it is taken up by transportation– more than 25% and Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals– almost 18%.
The manufacturing industry also boosts research, since it makes up 2/3rd of the R&D. Jobs in the manufacturing industry are better paid at an average of £33,592 as compared to the national average of £29,832 and an average of £29,014 in the service sector.
Salary trends for Manufacturing Engineers
Manufacturing Engineers are paid big bucks in the UK for maintaining the production line, taking care of machines, and coordinating with the different teams that handle multiple responsibilities in the same workflow.
Fig: Salary in £ vs Years of experience for Manufacturing Engineers in the UK, Source: Data collected by JobsPikr
While the minimum remuneration saw a steady rise, the maximum is flat from 1-3 years, grows fast from 3-5 years, and then stagnates again. The absence of data beyond 10 years may point towards the possibility that senior manufacturing engineers move to leadership positions where they can guide new engineers and teams to handle the latest workflows and production lines and guide the company in making the best decisions to optimize processes in the factories.
Search results for Manufacturing Engineers
Our search results for the job role of Manufacturing Engineer produced 13,201 results in 1,946 companies. The figures are considerably lower than the US, which has the 3rd largest manufacturing sector in the world.
There was an average of 6jobs per company in the top 5k companies, and around 1800 unique job titles.
Top skills in demand for Manufacturing Engineers
Due to the varied sectors in Britain that make up the manufacturing industry as a whole, the skillset required also vary. However, some are common to all– design being at the top of the list– just like in Canada or the US. Design skills were mentioned as a requirement 2 to 3 times more frequently than any other. The importance of designing production lines and process workflows in factories is a must-have skill no matter what the sector or product.
Operations is seen as the 2nd most common skill but is often overtaken by tooling or management. Problem-solving was seen the be the 5th most common skill asked for by employees in Manufacturing Engineer’s job posts. The reason behind these 5 skills being at the top can be the fact that no matter which sector or product a company may be into, it needs these skills in its engineers to be able to effectively perform all their duties.
Job Types for Manufacturing Engineers
The largest chunk of jobs, as usual, are the full-time ones, being several times any other. Undefined ones come second– these could be both full-time or part-time, which would probably be confirmed in the interview stage.
There are also a few contract-based jobs– usually reserved for work that may only be project-based or when hiring overseas employees. There are almost negligible part-time opportunities, internships, or volunteer-based positions. This is understandable given the importance of the job role.
When we sorted the jobs based on seniority, we realized that more than 90% of the jobs were entry-level, with less than 10% being mid-level positions.
There was no position with the Manufacturing Engineer title at the executive level. The change in job roles to project manager, or team lead, or engineering head could be the reason why this role does not have executive positions in itself.
Top regions with most Manufacturing Engineer posts
In the UK, London, Bristol, Coventry, and Belfast are the four locations with the maximum number of jobs for Manufacturing Engineers. As the covid restrictions have eased, the jobs for Manufacturing Engineers has grown rapidly in London.
The other three cities have also seen steady growth, where Bristol and Conventry are close contenders for the 2nd place whereas Belfast is at the bottom but still showing steady growth since July 21.
The UK and Manufacturing Engineer jobs
The manufacturing industry in the UK began with the industrial revolution in the 18th Century. This long history of manufacturing helped fuel early growth for the country and is one of the main reasons why it ranks among the top countries in terms of economic capacity. While employment in the manufacturing sector has steadily fallen since the 1960s, manufacturing output has risen since 1945, without any deviation.
Engineering and its partner industries that produce machines used in various industries have made up the largest part of the manufacturing landscape in the Uk. Some of the top automobile companies such as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin, and Lotus have their production lines in the UK and they employ a large number of manufacturing engineers in their factory lines.
As the UK moves away from the European Union, there is bound to be some effect in the manufacturing landscape. There shall also be some influence of the Covid lockdowns being lifted. The Manufacturing Industry and its hiring of manufacturing engineers shall be impacted by these external and internal factors in the recent future, and only data shall show the route that trends take.
