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Engineering & technical · Organizing & Managing

Industrial engineer: what the job actually is

Finding out why a factory, hospital or warehouse is slow or wasteful, and redesigning the flow of work so it is not.

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Industrial engineer: quick facts

Industrial engineer salary in Ontario: the median pay is $45.67 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is limited. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$45.67 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$27.88 to $76.92 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Limited
People working in it in Ontario
11,800
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 21321. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Redesigning how work flows through a system: a production line, a warehouse, a hospital ward, a call centre. The question is always where the time, effort or material is being wasted.
  • Job Bank's group is called Industrial and manufacturing engineers, and the pay, outlook and workforce figures belong to that whole group.
  • You spend a lot of time watching how people actually work, measuring it, and talking to the people who do it. Then you propose a change and have to persuade them it helps.
  • Job Bank says opportunities exist to determine human resource needs, reduce costs and improve workflow in a broad range of areas, including supply chain management, healthcare and finance, not only factories.
  • Job Bank also lists knowledge of lean manufacturing practices, Six Sigma methodology and AutoCAD design software among common requirements.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:00 — Walk the assembly line with a stopwatch and a clipboard. The same station is the bottleneck as last month.
  2. 9:15 — Talk to the person at that station. They have a workaround nobody wrote down.
  3. 10:30 — Model what happens if the workaround becomes the standard method.
  4. 11:30 — Meeting with a supervisor who thinks your last change made things worse. It did, a little. You adjust it.
  5. 12:30 — Lunch, and a debate about whether the new layout needs a second forklift route.
  6. 13:30 — Collect data on defects by shift. A pattern appears on the night shift.
  7. 14:45 — Work out why: the lighting is poor at one station. A simple fix.
  8. 15:45 — Write the proposal with the cost, the saving and what could go wrong.
  9. 16:45 — Update the drawing of the floor layout so facilities can quote for the change.
  10. 17:15 — Leave a note on what you will measure after the change, because you will be asked.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You get irritated by waste and want to know why a process is slow.
  • You like watching how people actually do their work, and listening to what they say about it.
  • You enjoy maths and data but want to use them on real, messy systems.
  • You are good at persuading people who did not ask for your help.
  • You want an engineering job that is as much about people and systems as about machines.
You may hate this if
  • You want a wide-open market. Job Bank rates the 2025-2027 Ontario outlook as Limited, and cites weak business conditions in the sector, particularly in automotive production.
  • You dislike being the person who tells others their way of working could be better.
  • You want to design a physical thing. The product is a process, a layout or a recommendation.
  • You dislike spending time on a shop floor or in a warehouse, which many roles require.
  • You dislike jargon-heavy methods. Lean and Six Sigma come with their own vocabulary.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Read the outlook first

    Job Bank rates the 2025-2027 Ontario outlook for industrial and manufacturing engineers as Limited. It says employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions, a moderate number of positions will become available through retirements, and there are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience. It notes a shift toward more advanced manufacturing processes and production systems, but says job prospects are moderated by weak business conditions in the sector, particularly in automotive production. Engineers who can apply the same thinking in healthcare, logistics or finance have more doors than those tied to a factory.

  2. Earn an engineering degree

    Job Bank's Ontario page says a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering or a related engineering discipline is required, and a master's or doctorate may also be needed. Engineers Canada says the licensure academic requirement is a degree from a Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board-accredited programme or equivalent. See /careers/degrees/engineering, and look for co-op, which is how most people get their first industry exposure.

  3. Know the licence, and when it matters

    Job Bank says engineering is a regulated occupation in Ontario and that people must be licensed by Professional Engineers Ontario to practise professional engineering. It also says an unlicensed engineering graduate can carry out work in the occupation, but a licensed engineer must take responsibility and sign off on the work. That is how most graduates start.

  4. Work toward the P.Eng.

    Job Bank says engineers are eligible for registration after graduating from an accredited programme, three or four years of supervised work experience and passing a professional practice examination. Engineers Canada lists good character and language ability as further criteria. Check PEO's own pages for current rules, because this page could not read them.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Requirements for industrial and manufacturing engineers in Ontario · Engineers Canada — Overview of the licensing process

The money

Industrial engineer salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$27.88
Low (hourly)
$45.67
Median (hourly)
$76.92
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 21321. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Industrial engineer wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Limited2 out of 5 stars

  • Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions.
  • A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Shift towards more advanced manufacturing processes and production systems
  • However, job prospects are expected to be moderated due to weak business conditions in the sector, particularly in automotive production
  • Opportunities exist to determine human resource needs, reduce costs and improve workflow in a broad range of areas, such as supply chain management, healthcare and finance Skills Do I Need to Succeed?
  • Generally, 'engineering' is a regulated occupation in Ontario. Individuals must be licensed by Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) to practise 'professional' engineering in the province
  • An unlicensed engineering graduate can carry out work in the occupation, however a licensed engineer must take responsibility and sign off on the work
  • Knowledge of lean manufacturing practices, Six Sigma methodology,, and AutoCAD design software are common requirements

Who hires for it

  • Manufacturing companies in areas such as transportation equipment (mostly in motor vehicle and parts), machinery, and computer and electronic goods production
  • Professional services, mainly architectural, engineering and related services
11,800
people work in this job in Ontario
21%
are women (48% across all jobs)
6%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Industrial and manufacturing engineers job prospects in Ontario (NOC 21321). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take the highest maths you can, plus physics and any technology course. Business or economics helps too, because the job is partly about cost.
  • Notice the queue at your school cafeteria or a fast-food counter and work out where the delay is. This is the job in miniature.
  • Ask about co-op in a manufacturing, warehouse or hospital setting where you can watch how work flows.
  • Compare two Ontario engineering programmes' entry requirements and co-op options on ontariouniversitiesinfo.ca.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Find the bottleneck in a routine you know

About 60 minutes
  1. Choose a routine with several steps, such as getting ready for school or a household chore, and write down every step.
  2. Time each step on two different days. Find the step that takes the longest or varies the most.
  3. Change one thing about that step, run it again, and time it. Note whether the improvement is real or within normal variation.
  4. Write two sentences on what you changed and what you would have to measure to be sure it holds.

What it tells you. If finding and fixing the slow step was satisfying, and the timing did not feel like a chore, this field suits you. If you found it tedious to measure and just wanted to change things, a design or management role may fit better. If you got bored by the second day, notice that the real job asks for weeks of observation.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What process did you improve recently, and how did you know it worked?”
  2. “How do you get people to adopt a change they did not ask for?”
  3. “How did you get your first job, and did co-op help?”
  4. “How much of your time is on a shop floor versus at a desk?”
  5. “How is the job market in your industry right now?”
  6. “Which industries outside manufacturing hire people with your training?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Sometimes, later. Job Bank's figures show a lower share of self-employment in this group than in the workforce overall. Experienced engineers sometimes consult on process improvement for smaller firms, which usually follows years of experience.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does an industrial engineer make in Ontario?

The median pay for an industrial engineer in Ontario is $45.67 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $27.88 to $76.92 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for an industrial engineer in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as limited for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions. A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements. There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become an industrial engineer in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Read the outlook first; Earn an engineering degree; Know the licence, and when it matters.

Where does an industrial engineer work in Ontario?

Manufacturing companies in areas such as transportation equipment (mostly in motor vehicle and parts), machinery, and computer and electronic goods production. Professional services, mainly architectural, engineering and related services. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as an industrial engineer in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 11,800 people working in this job in Ontario. 21% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Where people come from

Which programs lead here?

In the 2021 Census, this job is one of the 12 most common for graduates of these programs. Each page shows what else they do, and which of those jobs have openings.

Tech and engineering jobs: who is hiring What can you do with your degree?

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.