Instrument Maker Lead pay range
State of Washington · class code 604H
- Class code
- 604H
- Salary range
- 55G
- Pay unit
- Year
- State
- Washington
- The State of Washington published pay range for Instrument Maker Lead is $72,900 to $84,528 per year.
- Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) keys this classification as class code 604H.
- This is the range the plan authorises, not the salary of any individual employee.
Step progression
Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) assigns this class to salary range 55G in the General Service Salary Schedule. The range pays 7 steps, and this class starts at step G rather than at the bottom of the range; a step is normally earned on a periodic increment date, not negotiated.
| Basis | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual | $72,900 | $74,748 | $76,608 | $78,504 | $80,496 | $82,440 | $84,528 |
| Monthly | $6,075 | $6,229 | $6,384 | $6,542 | $6,708 | $6,870 | $7,044 |
| Hourly | $34.91 | $35.80 | $36.69 | $37.60 | $38.55 | $39.48 | $40.48 |
Steps as published. The monthly and hourly rows are the state's own, not conversions of the annual row.
Class specification
The OFM classified job specification for this class is published by Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM). The passages below are quoted from it as published, not paraphrased, and cut to their opening sentences; the full specification is the authority on duties and qualifications.
What the state says the job is
Lead instrument makers, helpers and other assigned personnel and perform highly complex, high precision work by setting up and operating precision manual and/or computer numerical controlled (CNC) machine tools such as lathes, mills, jig borers, horizontal boring mill, grinders, and drill presses, to fabricate parts for research, academic and medical purposes. Resolve highly complex design and manufacturing problems such as performing design work from verbal or minimal written instructions to manufacture mechanical devices; determining tolerances and fits on mechanical designs; performing advanced jig and fixture design and construction; and diagnosing, troubleshooting, repairing and rebuilding machine tools and/or mechanical devices.
Examples of the work
Confer with professors, scientists, physicians, engineers and graduate students on design and development of instruments and specialized equipment for research and academic use; recommend design modifications; Organize complex projects, including scheduling and task event flow; Use three-dimensional modeling software and write computer numerical control (CNC) programs using conversational programming language at the machine control or off-line at a computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) system; Determine and plan all inspection criteria required to prove the repeatable accuracy of high-tolerance components and devices; perform inspections with appropriate gauges and mea ...
Minimum qualifications
One year of experience as an Instrument Maker III OR Equivalent education/experience.
Quoted from the OFM classified job specification, read 2026-10-21.
Where this comes from
Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) publishes this figure in Classified Job Listing joined to the OFM salary schedules effective July 1, 2026. Every number on this page is read from that document; nothing is estimated, modelled or averaged.
The dollar figures come from the salary schedule the listing assigns this range to.