Manufacturing Data Engineer
Actalent · Ashland, VA
$70,000–$95,000from the description
Jul 14, 2026
Ashland, VA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A contract-to-hire IT role embedded in a manufacturing facility, responsible for keeping both office and production-floor systems running — covering Windows and Linux administration, SQL database support, legacy hardware troubleshooting, firewall management, and ASP-based web application development. The position also involves scripting, ERP support, and browser compatibility work for older tools. Best suited to a generalist with hands-on systems administration and some development experience.
Junior level · Richmond, VA · Contract
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 360 people in the Richmond, VA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 150–540
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $135,025 (middle half $109,792–$169,334). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (10)
The posting is a genuine hybrid of software/scripting development (ASP apps, scripts, tools) and systems/network administration (OS admin, firewall, hardware troubleshooting). The primary day-to-day work leans toward development and application support, so 15-1252 was chosen over 15-1244, but confidence is Medium given the strong sysadmin component.
The pay range is stated inconsistently: the headline says '$70k–$95k/yr' while the Pay and Benefits section states '$75,000–$75,000/hr', which is clearly a data-entry error. The headline figure ($70k–$95k/year) was used as it is the only internally consistent range.
The posting is titled 'Junior Software Engineer' and the body explicitly calls it a 'Junior Software Engineer role', so advertised seniority is Junior. The requirements (1 year of SQL experience, internships considered, associate degree acceptable) are consistent with a Junior-level role.
SQL Server experience is listed in the Essential Skills section with a stated minimum of 1 year (internships or less formal experience considered), so the years demanded is set to 1.
A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science is listed as 'preferred'; an associate degree, certifications, or equivalent experience are also accepted, so no hard degree requirement is set.
Office 365 and ERP systems appear in the responsibilities and are framed as preferred/contextual in the Additional Skills section, so they are marked as preferred.
Front-end and back-end development experience is stated as 'required' in the Additional Skills section, but no specific framework or technology beyond ASP and Web Forms is named; HTML is captured as the concrete front-end technology implied by the ASP/Web Forms context.
The role is fully onsite in Ashland, VA (Richmond CBSA). The posting notes that 'limited hybrid flexibility may be available for highly experienced candidates', but the default and stated workplace type is fully onsite.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): firewall configuration.
Posting is for a contract engagement — the market benchmarks below price full-time roles, so read the comp comparison with that in mind.
Read the full posting
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