Highest Paying Manufacturing Jobs in the UK

Use this page to decide which manufacturing jobs roles to target next, based on current salary and demand signals.

Last 12 Month Manufacturing Jobs Summary

There have been 94,180 listed Manufacturing Jobs in the UK in the last 12 months.

Job Type	Total Jobs	Percentage of Jobs 🔽
Permanent	91,047	96.67 %
Contract (Inside IR35)	2,079	2.21 %
Contract (Outside IR35)	1,054	1.12 %
Contract (IR35 Not Specified)	0	0.00 %

On average, there are 1,811 new Manufacturing Jobs posted each week, or 7,848 each month.

Job Type	Weekly Jobs	Monthly Jobs 🔽
Permanent	1,750	7,586
Contract	60	261

The busiest month for new permanent Manufacturing Jobs in the UK is March, whilst the quietest month is November.

The busiest month for new contract Manufacturing Jobs is January, and the quietest month is June.

Last 12 Month Permanent UK Manufacturing Jobs

Permanent Manufacturing Jobs

Latest month: March 2026

Jobs listed

2,042

Up 198.9% vs last year

Average salary

£38,860.00

Down 1.6% vs last year

Last 12 Month UK Contract Manufacturing Jobs

Inside IR35

Latest month: March 2026

Jobs listed

Down 8.7% vs last year

Average day rate

£475.00

Down 0.3% vs last year

Outside IR35

Latest month: March 2026

Jobs listed

Up 66.3% vs last year

Average day rate

£485.00

Up 1.5% vs last year

Last 12 Month Total Listed Manufacturing Jobs

Month 🔽	Listed Jobs	vs Prev Month	vs Prev 3 Months	vs Prev 6 Months	vs Prev Year
March 2026	2,042
February 2026	1,320
January 2026	1,879
December 2025	231
November 2025	134
October 2025	789
September 2025	1,137
August 2025	624
July 2025	428
June 2025	278
May 2025	348
April 2025	498

The Highest Paying Manufacturing Jobs

Role Title	Total Jobs	Average Low	Average 🔽	Average High
Manufacturing Director	12	£115,000.00	£122,500.00	£130,000.00
Head of Technical	1	£85,000.00	£87,500.00	£90,000.00
Head of Production	8	£77,485.00	£83,865.00	£90,260.00
Manufacturing Operations Manager	8	£53,000.00	£58,165.00	£63,335.00
QA Engineer	22	£53,095.00	£56,655.00	£60,215.00
Automation Engineer	176	£51,075.00	£56,520.00	£61,960.00
Manufacturing Manager	231	£53,200.00	£56,480.00	£59,755.00
Production Planning Manager	4	£52,500.00	£56,250.00	£60,000.00
Production Manager	1,086	£51,905.00	£55,730.00	£59,550.00
Design Team Leader	6	£50,000.00	£53,875.00	£57,750.00
Manufacturing Operator	117	£47,465.00	£51,090.00	£54,720.00
FMCG	510	£46,755.00	£49,755.00	£52,755.00
Workshop Manager	119	£44,785.00	£47,345.00	£49,905.00
Lean Manufacturing	30	£43,775.00	£45,710.00	£47,645.00
Workshop Controller	41	£42,195.00	£44,895.00	£47,590.00
Quality Advisor	6	£41,960.00	£43,940.00	£45,935.00
Workshop Foreman	5	£42,235.00	£43,400.00	£44,565.00
Technical Operative	16	£40,395.00	£43,220.00	£46,050.00
Factory	272	£40,270.00	£42,375.00	£44,485.00
Production Shift Manager	45	£40,350.00	£42,295.00	£44,235.00
Hygiene Manager	25	£40,190.00	£42,185.00	£44,185.00
Manufacturing Supervisor	16	£40,405.00	£41,780.00	£43,155.00
QA Manager	7	£40,250.00	£41,690.00	£43,125.00
Workshop Fitter	22	£37,530.00	£41,250.00	£44,970.00
Senior Quality Officer	2	£41,125.00	£41,125.00	£41,125.00
CNC Programming	6	£37,625.00	£40,690.00	£43,750.00
Testing Operative	4	£37,500.00	£40,375.00	£43,250.00
Section Leader	19	£39,615.00	£40,115.00	£40,615.00
Technical Operator	16	£37,625.00	£39,755.00	£41,895.00
CNC Engineer	27	£37,225.00	£39,410.00	£41,600.00
Miller	173	£38,400.00	£39,110.00	£39,815.00
CNC Miller Setter	2	£38,700.00	£38,700.00	£38,700.00
CNC Service Engineer	7	£37,000.00	£38,675.00	£40,325.00
Manufacturing Team Leader	15	£36,000.00	£38,300.00	£40,600.00
Production Team Leader	160	£36,795.00	£38,195.00	£39,595.00
Operations Supervisor	14	£36,260.00	£37,885.00	£39,510.00
Line Leader	68	£37,225.00	£37,660.00	£38,085.00
CNC	1,153	£35,305.00	£37,645.00	£39,975.00
CNC Turner	70	£35,465.00	£37,570.00	£39,675.00
CNC Miller	90	£35,490.00	£37,495.00	£39,505.00
Demand Planner	34	£35,570.00	£37,385.00	£39,195.00
Grinder	18	£35,760.00	£37,200.00	£38,635.00
Production Controller	18	£36,500.00	£37,165.00	£37,835.00
Production Officer	6	£34,750.00	£37,125.00	£39,500.00
CNC Machinist	240	£34,440.00	£37,055.00	£39,680.00
Manual Machinist	25	£33,990.00	£36,530.00	£39,065.00
CNC Setter	43	£34,415.00	£36,525.00	£38,640.00
Production Supervisor	146	£34,450.00	£36,390.00	£38,330.00
Packaging Technologist	7	£36,250.00	£36,250.00	£36,250.00
CNC Machine Operator	12	£34,125.00	£36,235.00	£38,350.00
Skilled Operator	88	£34,950.00	£35,940.00	£36,925.00
Mechanical Inspector	23	£33,840.00	£35,935.00	£38,035.00
Manufacturing Technician	77	£34,665.00	£35,715.00	£36,770.00
Milling Machinist	4	£34,090.00	£35,465.00	£36,840.00
Injection Moulding Setter	23	£33,665.00	£35,385.00	£37,100.00
Process Operator	127	£33,370.00	£35,170.00	£36,970.00
Moulding Technician	7	£33,910.00	£35,075.00	£36,240.00
UPVC Production	2	£30,000.00	£35,000.00	£40,000.00
CNC Operator	194	£32,640.00	£34,850.00	£37,050.00
Quality Inspector	205	£32,790.00	£34,485.00	£36,185.00
Furniture	154	£31,670.00	£34,255.00	£36,840.00
CNC Grinder	1	£28,400.00	£34,200.00	£40,000.00
Press Brake	8	£32,165.00	£34,165.00	£36,165.00
Bench Hand Joiner	2	£32,500.00	£34,000.00	£35,500.00
Laminator	12	£32,450.00	£33,740.00	£35,025.00
Planning Assistant	6	£32,835.00	£33,665.00	£34,500.00
Manual Turner	2	£32,225.00	£33,225.00	£34,225.00
Quality Technician	53	£32,330.00	£33,190.00	£34,045.00
Bench Joiner	4	£31,075.00	£33,125.00	£35,175.00
Chemical Process Operator	2	£32,500.00	£32,500.00	£32,500.00
Assembly	1,277	£30,430.00	£32,320.00	£34,205.00
Production Technician	112	£30,285.00	£32,290.00	£34,285.00
Production Coordinator	26	£29,415.00	£32,125.00	£34,840.00
Production Assistant	37	£29,860.00	£31,885.00	£33,910.00
Machine Operator	220	£30,170.00	£31,500.00	£32,830.00
Assembly Fitter	35	£29,405.00	£31,455.00	£33,515.00
Furniture Technician	2	£30,500.00	£31,250.00	£32,000.00
Assembly Technician	96	£28,745.00	£30,455.00	£32,165.00
Production Operator	457	£29,100.00	£30,165.00	£31,240.00
Production Operative	449	£29,065.00	£30,015.00	£30,975.00
Electronic Assembler	47	£28,405.00	£29,940.00	£31,470.00
PCB Assembler	8	£27,690.00	£29,850.00	£32,000.00
Print Operator	51	£28,180.00	£29,770.00	£31,350.00
Operations Coordinator	190	£27,740.00	£29,485.00	£31,220.00
Electronic Assembly Technician	6	£28,250.00	£29,250.00	£30,250.00
Finishing Operative	37	£28,260.00	£28,995.00	£29,735.00
Factory Operative	14	£28,330.00	£28,865.00	£29,390.00
Supply Chain Administrator	27	£27,495.00	£28,865.00	£30,230.00
Assembly Operative	135	£27,790.00	£28,685.00	£29,580.00
Production Team Member	18	£28,650.00	£28,650.00	£28,650.00
Assembly Operator	150	£27,540.00	£28,550.00	£29,550.00
Production Assembler	10	£27,220.00	£28,425.00	£29,625.00
Electro Mechanical Assembler	10	£26,290.00	£28,040.00	£29,790.00
Quality Assurance Officer	2	£27,500.00	£27,500.00	£27,500.00
Moulding Operative	30	£27,165.00	£27,165.00	£27,165.00
Solderer	45	£25,635.00	£26,585.00	£27,545.00
Sewing Machinist	8	£25,935.00	£26,015.00	£26,100.00