What Does a Glass Shop Manager Do?
A chemist's pencil sketch of a vacuum manifold is often the only drawing a glass shop manager gets before quoting the job. The workplace is usually a scientific glassblowing shop at a university or research center, and the manager builds complex pieces, assigns repairs to the other glassblowers and bills each lab for the work.
Other Job Titles for This Work
Workers in this occupation report titles such as Assembly Supervisor, Line Supervisor, Manufacturing Supervisor, Molding Supervisor, Plant Supervisor, Production Manager, Production Supervisor, Quality Assurance Supervisor (QA Supervisor).
Glass Shop Manager Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a glass shop manager include:
- Review glassware requests from research labs and agree designs, materials and deadlines with each scientist.
- Estimate labor and material costs, then bill labs at the shop's approved recharge rates.
- Assign repairs and new builds to glassblowers based on skill, urgency and workload.
- Build complex pieces personally, such as vacuum manifolds, condensers and quartz reaction vessels.
- Order borosilicate and quartz tubing, rod and tools, and keep stock levels in check.
- Inspect finished glassware with a polariscope for strain before it leaves the shop.
- Enforce safety rules for torches, oxygen and hydrogen lines, kilns and eye protection.
- Schedule annealing oven loads and keep maintenance records for lathes, saws and kilns.
- Prepare the shop budget and yearly reports on jobs completed and costs recovered.
- Train apprentices and graduate students in safe glass handling and basic repairs.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a glass shop manager, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Master-level lampworking and glass lathe skills
- Quartz and borosilicate fabrication
- Reading technical drawings and researchers' sketches
- Cost estimating and recharge billing
- Supervising skilled trades staff
- Gas and torch safety
- Patient problem-solving with researchers
- Record keeping for budgets and job logs
Education and Training
To become a glass shop manager, in many universities you will need long experience at the bench as a senior scientific glassblower to qualify to run the shop. You will be both craftsperson and bookkeeper.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: $58,630 - $91,680 per year, with a median of $74,450.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers.
BLS projects employment of first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, a broad group that includes glass shop managers, to grow about 2 percent from 2025 to 2035. In fact, that group averages roughly 61,000 openings a year, though posts running a scientific glass shop are rare. Jobs like this often are tied to research funding, but managers will be needed as long-serving shop heads retire and as labs keep asking for pieces that cannot be bought off the shelf.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, First-line supervisors of production and operating workers.
Glass Shop Manager Pay Range
| Earners | Annual pay |
|---|---|
| Bottom 10% earn less than | $47,130 |
| Bottom 25% earn less than | $58,630 |
| Median (half earn more, half less) | $74,450 |
| Top 25% earn more than | $91,680 |
| Top 10% earn more than | $108,750 |
Highest-Paying States for Glass Shop Managers
The states with the highest median pay for this occupation are Wyoming ($90,390), Connecticut ($83,150), Rhode Island ($81,650), New Jersey ($81,110), District of Columbia ($80,030). Pay is lowest in New Mexico ($64,640), Florida ($63,950), Arkansas ($63,090).
Median pay in all 51 states with BLS data
| State | Median annual pay |
|---|---|
| Alabama | $73,060 |
| Alaska | $77,960 |
| Arizona | $75,330 |
| Arkansas | $63,090 |
| California | $76,840 |
| Colorado | $78,890 |
| Connecticut | $83,150 |
| Delaware | $79,100 |
| District of Columbia | $80,030 |
| Florida | $63,950 |
| Georgia | $69,170 |
| Hawaii | $71,990 |
| Idaho | $70,890 |
| Illinois | $75,200 |
| Indiana | $73,950 |
| Iowa | $74,750 |
| Kansas | $74,480 |
| Kentucky | $72,490 |
| Louisiana | $77,520 |
| Maine | $78,970 |
| Maryland | $78,520 |
| Massachusetts | $79,920 |
| Michigan | $72,170 |
| Minnesota | $78,550 |
| Mississippi | $68,720 |
| Missouri | $73,210 |
| Montana | $68,760 |
| Nebraska | $72,200 |
| Nevada | $68,270 |
| New Hampshire | $79,310 |
| New Jersey | $81,110 |
| New Mexico | $64,640 |
| New York | $78,580 |
| North Carolina | $69,640 |
| North Dakota | $76,350 |
| Ohio | $72,160 |
| Oklahoma | $70,000 |
| Oregon | $73,580 |
| Pennsylvania | $74,990 |
| Rhode Island | $81,650 |
| South Carolina | $77,500 |
| South Dakota | $73,040 |
| Tennessee | $65,310 |
| Texas | $70,140 |
| Utah | $71,220 |
| Vermont | $75,540 |
| Virginia | $74,150 |
| Washington | $79,310 |
| West Virginia | $68,990 |
| Wisconsin | $74,840 |
| Wyoming | $90,390 |
What the Work Is Like
O*NET surveys people who work as first-line supervisors of production and operating workers about their daily conditions. Of those surveyed:
- 92% wear safety gear such as gloves, safety glasses or a hard hat every day
- 87% say teamwork is very or extremely important in their job
- 85% use email every day
- 83% usually work more than 40 hours a week
- 82% say being exact and accurate is very or extremely important
- 72% deal with loud or distracting noise every day
- 70% spend more than half the workday on their feet
Education Workers Say the Job Needs
| Education level | Share of workers |
|---|---|
| High school diploma or GED | 33% |
| Some college | 15% |
| Less than high school | 14% |
| Associate's degree | 14% |
Tools and Software Glass Shop Managers Use
Tools and equipment
Software
Is This Job a Good Fit for You?
People who do well in this job tend to enjoy leading, persuading and making business decisions as well as organized work with data, records and clear procedures.
Skills O*NET rates most important: Active Listening, Speaking, Time Management, Management of Personnel Resources, Critical Thinking, Monitoring.
Knowledge areas used most: Production and Processing, Administration and Management, Personnel and Human Resources, English Language, Computers and Electronics.
Preparation: O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 3 of 5, which means medium preparation.
Related Careers
These jobs use similar skills, according to O*NET's related-occupation data:
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Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035.
- O*NET 30.1 Database, occupation 51-1011.00 (First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers). View on O*NET OnLine.
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The Job Explorer has modified some of the information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these changes.