Explore by Career/Transportation and Material Moving
Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers
Tend, control, or operate power-driven, stationary, or portable pumps and manifold systems to transfer gases, oil, other liquids, slurries, or powdered materials to and from various vessels and processes.
- Median pay
- $60,020
- per year
- 10-year outlook
- +2.6%
- Stable
- Typical entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
Key skills
- Operations Monitoring
- Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Troubleshooting
What they do
- Monitor gauges and flowmeters and inspect equipment to ensure that tank levels, temperatures, chemical amounts, and pressures are at specified levels, reporting abnormalities as necessary.
- Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, stocks used, gauging results, and operating times.
- Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of interconnections and capacities of pipelines, valve manifolds, pumps, and tankage.
- Turn valves and start pumps to start or regulate flows of substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials.
- Communicate with other workers, using signals, radios, or telephones, to start and stop flows of materials or substances.
- Connect hoses and pipelines to pumps and vessels prior to material transfer, using hand tools.
- Tend vessels that store substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials, checking levels of substances by using calibrated rods or by reading mercury gauges and tank charts.
- Clean, lubricate, and repair pumps and vessels, using hand tools and equipment.
- Read operating schedules or instructions or receive verbal orders to determine amounts to be pumped.
- Test materials and solutions, using testing equipment.
Majors that lead here
No mapped majors yet.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, Employment Projections) and O*NET, used under CC BY 4.0.