Additive Manufacturing Salaries: Survey Insights

Salary is an uncomfortable point of discussion that makes many people squirm. Nevertheless, it is often the number one deal breaker when negotiating a job offer. This is common for most industries, but what makes the 3D printing / additive manufacturing industry especially vulnerable to this subject, is its novelty.

Additive manufacturing has been around for decades, but it only saw a big boom in production and in demand for human capacity a few years ago. Thus, there is yet to be an established salary benchmark. This essentially means that many employers are throwing darts in terms of salary; they are simply not aware of what to pay their employees. And employees are not aware of their worth and what salary to negotiate for. This often results in undercompensating which leads to a lower offer-to-acceptance ratio. Thus, salary comprises a major barrier for employment.

“The pace of growth in the industry is accelerating. Companies are competing for the same talent within a limited talent pool that is not growing in line with the demands of the industry. Some skill sets such as Materials Science and R&D focused roles have seen huge levels of demand which has raised the salary levels considerably as the’War for Talent’ intensifies,” says Nick Pearce, Director of Alexander Daniels Global.

To provide the industry with the missing salary benchmark, and to answer some of the HR questions asked by employees and employers on a daily basis, Alexander Daniels Global has conducted the most comprehensive salary survey in the additive manufacturing industry.

The study was conducted with help of more than 5,000 worldwide AM professionals and employers across Machinery OEMs, Material companies, Software companies and Industrial companies adopting additive manufacturing.

The salary report provides insights into the market, hiring trends, salaries and talent motivations, and it provides an analysis on ‘The War for Talent’ including recommendations on how to attract and retain the top AM talent.

The report is free and can be downloaded here: https://alexanderdanielsglobal.com/the-salary-survey/

The report can be used as a tool if you are a hiring company and will answer questions like:

• Is the remuneration package offered by my company aligned with the AM industry standards?
• What is the package that we should offer to 3D printing professionals of different disciplines to attract them to our organization?
• What is the staff budget that we need in order to expand our business to another country?
• What is the salary we must pay to a strategic professional to make my company move forward?

And for professionals working in AM:

• What is the salary that professionals are receiving in my field in different regions?
• What skills should I develop to advance my career?
• How will my salary increase with more experience in AM?
• Am I currently paid according to my market value?

Discuss salaries, a growing industry, and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below. 

Signe Damgaard Jensen is the Social Media and Marketing Executive at Alexander Daniels Global.