Research, Compliance and Ethics Careers | Industrial Engineering Manager

Industrial Engineering Manager

Career Area: Engineering

Occupation Group: Engineering Managers

Salary

Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.

An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.

A typical Industrial Engineering Manager earns the following wages (national and state):

State

The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $86,918

*The salaries depicted here are representative of the range of salaries posted in job listings over the past year. Living wage in North Carolina is $30,000.

National

The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $92,653

*The salaries depicted here are representative of the range of salaries posted in job listings over the past year. Living wage in North Carolina is $30,000.

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

Oversees engineering and technical design of industrial engineering, generally optimizing the complex processes and systems to minimize waste. Manages communication and coordination among different types of engineers working on a project. Supervises project schedule, budget, and communications with stakeholders.

Employment Trends

The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.

Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:

LocationGrowth
North Carolina174+5.1%
Nationwide4024+2.8%

Skills

A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:

Baseline Skills

The following are baseline skills every Industrial Engineering Manager is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:

  • Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
  • Planning: Working experience with the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve desired goals.
  • Teamwork / Collaboration: Experience working in collaborative efforts with a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.
  • Problem Solving: Problem solving consists of using generic or ad hoc methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems.
  • Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft.

Specialized Skills

These skills are specific to working in this career:

  • Project Management: Project management is the discipline of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria.
  • Industrial Engineering Industry Expertise: Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering which deals with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations.
  • Budgeting: Experience planning how the financial resources of a business or department are to be allocated during the next business period.
  • Industrial Engineering: Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering which deals with the optimization of complex processes, systems or organizations.
  • Scheduling: Working experience making schedules, which are basic time-management tools, consisting of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place withing an organization.

Distinguishing Skills

Any Industrial Engineering Manager that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:

  • Engineering Projects: Project Engineering bridges the boundaries between engineering and project management, leading the technical workers who contribute to the building of structures or products.
  • Predictive / Preventative Maintenance: Working experience of Predictive / Preventative Maintenance. The idea behind preventive maintenance (PM) is that by performing regular maintenance on equipment, you lessen the chances of that equipment failing. It's the same idea as taking your car in for regular oil changes to preempt a total breakdown.
  • Engineering Design and Installation: Working experience of Engineering Design and Installation. The engineering design process is a methodical series of steps that engineers use in creating functional products and processes. The process is highly iterative - parts of the process often need to be repeated many times before another can be entered - though the part(s) that get iterated and the number of such cycles in any given project may vary.
  • New Product Development: In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) covers the complete process of bringing a new product to market.
  • Process Design: In chemical engineering, process design is the design of processes for desired physical and/or chemical transformation of materials.

Experience

This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Experience Required%
0 to 2 years8%
3 to 5 years47%
6 to 8 years23%

Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.

Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.

Common Job Titles

It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:

  • Project Engineer
  • Engineering Manager
  • Chief Engineer
  • Industrial Engineering Manager
  • Senior Project Engineer

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring similar occupations, you may want to research the following job titles: