Six Sigma Quality Engineer

Six Sigma Quality Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

Manages manufacturing quality improvement projects using Six Sigma, a set of management techniques, to eliminate errors and defects and engineer improvements in manufacturing processes.

Job Outlook

There were 254 Six Sigma Quality Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 8794 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Validation Engineer industry, which includes the Six Sigma Quality Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2012:

Salary

Many new Six Sigma Quality Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $82,148.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $77,989.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Six Sigma Quality Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $73,859.

Education and Experience

Posted Six Sigma Quality Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentageAssociate’s Degree0%Bachelor’s Degree78%Master’s Degree22%Doctoral Degree0%Other0%

Posted Six Sigma Quality Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage0 to 2 years20%3 to 5 years60%6 to 8 years12%9+ years8%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Six Sigma Quality Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

• Problem Solving (55%)
• Communication Skills (46%)
• Teamwork / Collaboration (32%)
• Microsoft Excel (30%)
• Microsoft Office (29%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

• Six Sigma (92%)
• Quality Assurance and Control (62%)
• Quality Management (59%)
• Lean Six Sigma (42%)
• Root Cause Analysis (29%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

• Internal Auditing (18%)
• Product Development (17%)
• Data Analysis (16%)
• Statistics (16%)
• Statistical Analysis (16%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

• Product Improvement (7%)
• Product Design (7%)
• Process Validation (6%)
• Failure Analysis (6%)
• Manufacturing Engineering (6%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed along with the marginal value: the average salary difference between postings that request that skill and those that do not.

• Design for Manufacture/Design for Assembly (DFM/DFA) (1%) – marginal value $7,080
• Lean Methods (2%) – marginal value $5,136

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Six Sigma Quality Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

• Quality Engineer
• Senior Quality Engineer
• Quality Engineer II
• Cim/Mes Quality Application Engineer III E Remote
• Quality Process Engineer

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Six Sigma Quality Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

• Lockheed Martin Corporation (258)
• Applied Materials (236)
• Abbott Laboratories (189)
• L3Harris (153)
• Honeywell (149)

North Carolina

• Corning Incorporated (11)
• Meritor (7)
• Eaton (6)
• Commscope (6)
• Meritor Suspension Systems (5)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!