Six Sigma Quality Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Six Sigma Quality Engineer 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 8 Six Sigma Quality Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 273 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 2015:

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 $104,551.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $104,551.

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 $89,594.

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 Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	83.15%
Master's Degree	24.54%
Doctoral Degree	0.73%
Other	5.49%

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 Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	12.39%
3 to 5 years	50%
6 to 8 years	24.31%
9+ years	13.3%

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.

Communication (54.95%)
Leadership (53.85%)
Management (49.08%)
Problem Solving (39.19%)
Operations (28.21%)
Planning (25.64%)
Presentations (25.27%)
Microsoft PowerPoint (24.18%)
Microsoft Excel (23.44%)
Influencing Skills (23.08%)

Defining Skills

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

Six Sigma Methodology (46.49%)
Continuous Improvement Process (51.29%)
Lean Six Sigma (59.41%)
Lean Manufacturing (47.6%)
Project Management (48.71%)
Process Improvement (62.73%)
Kaizen Methodology (18.45%)

Necessary Skills

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

Workflow Management (10.33%)
Statistical Analysis (10.33%)
Lean Methodologies (6.64%)
Supply Chain (8.49%)
Cross-Functional Team Leadership (12.18%)
Agile Methodology (5.54%)
Quality Management Systems (7.01%)
Quality Improvement (10.33%)
Auditing (7.38%)
Automation (4.43%)
Microsoft Access (5.54%)
Change Management (27.68%)
Business Development (1.85%)
ISO 9000 Series (5.9%)
Business Process Reengineering (1.48%)
Management Consulting (1.48%)
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (19.19%)
Design For Six Sigma (4.43%)
Data Analysis (26.2%)
Microsoft Visio (19.93%)
Define Measure Analyze Improve And Control (DMAIC) (22.88%)
Quality Management (8.12%)
Industrial Engineering (15.13%)
Microsoft Project (3.69%)
New Product Development (3.69%)
Root Cause Analysis (21.4%)
SAP Applications (1.85%)
Value Stream Mapping (13.28%)
Process Mapping (7.01%)
Effective Communication (1.48%)
Statistical Process Controls (3.69%)

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.

Data Analysis (35.68%)
Change Management (37.69%)
Process Improvement (85.43%)

Alternative Job Titles

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

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Digital Strategist
Six Sigma Green Belt
Process Improvement Leader
Master Black Belt
Black Belt
Lean Six Sigma Specialist
Six Sigma Black Belt
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
Six Sigma Black Belt Manager

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

PricewaterhouseCoopers (12)
NextEra Energy (9)
Ezone Staffing (6)
Molina Healthcare (5)
Memorial Hermann (5)
Health Care Service Corporation (4)
Caterpillar (4)
Cintas (4)
Zt Systems (4)
Schaeffler Gruppe (4)

North Carolina

Penn Engineering (1)
Booz Allen Hamilton (1)
Lambert + Associates (1)
Raytheon Technologies (1)
Lewis James Professional (1)
Optomi (1)
Progress Rail Services (1)
American Airlines Group (1)

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!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Engineering