Plant & Field Operator Jobs in Energy: Demand, Pay & Skills
Part of Plutarch’s ongoing analysis of skill demand in energy hiring — last updated 5 October 2026, based on 411 tracked postings.
As of 5 October 2026, Plutarch tracked 411 unique open Plant & Field Operator postings at energy employers. 15 postings disclosed annual pay, with a United States median of USD 108,000.
Demand for Plant and Field Operators is concentrated heavily in the United States, with Canada forming a secondary hub and smaller clusters in Australia, the Netherlands and France. The overwhelming majority of postings carry no stated seniority, pointing to a broad, steady need for operators rather than a push for senior hires. A small senior or lead-level segment and a modest entry-level or trainee segment round out the mix, but neither dominates the picture.
Open postings
Where
- United States · 228
- Canada · 55
- Australia · 17
- Germany · 9
- United Kingdom · 9
- Other or not stated · 93
Seniority
- Early career · 17
- Level not stated in title · 371
- Senior, lead, staff or manager · 23
Disclosed pay by country · annual
| Country | Lowest to highest employer midpoint | Median | Postings stating pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | USD 60,000–175,000 | USD 108,000 | 15 of 206 |
| Canada | CAD 75,000–140,000 | CAD 101,000 | 12 of 51 |
Directional, not conclusive. Each figure is the midpoint of a salary range an employer disclosed in a public job posting, derived from public market sources and rounded to the nearest thousand. Samples are small, so a country appears only when at least 5 open postings disclose annual pay. At these sample sizes, do not compare one role’s median against another’s — the difference between them is smaller than the error on either.
How many employers state pay
- United States · pay stated in 57 of 206 postings we could read
- Canada · pay stated in 31 of 51 postings we could read
- Australia · pay stated in 0 of 14 postings we could read
- Germany · pay stated in 0 of 9 postings we could read
- United Kingdom · pay stated in 2 of 7 postings we could read
Counted from the same open postings as above, leaving out postings whose text we could not read for pay. Pay disclosure tracks local pay-transparency law more closely than employer policy, so a low rate is not evidence that employers here pay less.
Who is hiring
| Employer | Open postings |
|---|---|
| Baker Hughes | 35 |
| Freeport-McMoRan | 24 |
| Enviva | 15 |
| Vestas | 15 |
| Worley | 15 |
| Evolution Mining | 13 |
| ExxonMobil | 12 |
| Nordex | 11 |
| Duke Energy | 10 |
| Equinox Gold | 9 |
| bp | 8 |
| Kinross Gold | 8 |
| Other employers | 236 |
How these roles are titled
The titles employers use for this role, most repeated first. Titles shown without a count appeared once.
- Mill Operator · 6 postings
- Control Room Operator · 5 postings
- Plant Operator · 5 postings
- Heavy Equipment Operator · 4 postings
- CNC Operator · 3 postings
- Control Center Operator · 3 postings
- Equipment Operator · 3 postings
- Haul Truck Operator · 3 postings
- Machine Operator · 3 postings
- Operator · 3 postings
- Drill Operator · 2 postings
- Excavator Operator · 2 postings
- Light Equipment Operator · 2 postings
- Maintenance Operator · 2 postings
- Mine Shift Supervisor · 2 postings
What employers ask for
- Field operator roles across multiple numbered levels
- Control room and control center operation
- Reactor operator positions
- Operator titles tied to plant or terminal settings
What the postings suggest about filling this role
With most postings unspecified by level, employers appear able to draw from a wide general pool, which should ease fill times compared with a market skewed toward senior talent. The limited number of senior or lead titles suggests experienced operators may be somewhat harder to source than general or entry-level staff, and the geographic spread across several countries means competition for talent will vary by location.
Read from employer demand only. These sources show what employers advertise, not how many people are available to hire, so this is a reading of the vacancies rather than a measure of scarcity.
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Check your role — two briefs freeCounts are unique open postings seen in the last three weeks, taken from the named employers’ own published job postings; a vacancy posted in several places is counted once. Employers are named because they published these postings publicly themselves. The written summary is AI-generated from those postings and contains no figures and no employer names. Posting figures are direct counts; pay figures are the median and range of the salaries those employers disclosed. Terms of use.