Automotive designer vs engineer

The differences between automotive designers and engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an automotive designer and an engineer. Additionally, an engineer has an average salary of $92,077, which is higher than the $69,782 average annual salary of an automotive designer.

The top three skills for an automotive designer include industrial design, sketch and powertrain. The most important skills for an engineer are python, cloud, and C++.

Automotive designer vs engineer overview

	Automotive Designer	Engineer
Yearly salary	$69,782	$92,077
Hourly rate	$33.55	$44.27
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	76,806	618,207
Job satisfaction	-	4.33
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	6	6

Automotive designer vs engineer salary

Automotive designers and engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Automotive Designer	Engineer
Average salary	$69,782	$92,077
Salary range	Between $44,000 And $108,000	Between $65,000 And $130,000
Highest paying City	Belmont, CA	Huntsville, AL
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	New Hampshire
Best paying company	Meta	Fort Bend County
Best paying industry	Automotive	Automotive

Differences between automotive designer and engineer education

There are a few differences between an automotive designer and an engineer in terms of educational background:

	Automotive Designer	Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Most common major	Mechanical Engineering	Mechanical Engineering
Most common college	Northwestern University	Michigan Technological University

Automotive designer vs engineer demographics

Here are the differences between automotive designers' and engineers' demographics:

	Automotive Designer	Engineer
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 80.2% Female, 19.8%	Male, 86.3% Female, 13.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 11.0% White, 70.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 15.0% White, 67.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between automotive designer and engineer duties and responsibilities

Automotive designer example responsibilities.

Manage documentation of existing projects, perform ECN resolutions.
Design of brackets and torsion bar components are validated using FEA inSolidworks.
Designate as group training mentor during transition from CADAM to Unigraphics V9.
Complete several fully fillet and draft angle solid models on Unigraphics for direct manufacturing.
Perform mechanical engineering design for facilities including calculate building HVAC requirements to ensure adequate capacity of system air flow.
Release drawings and BOMs in PDM/Link Windchill.

Engineer example responsibilities.

Manage startup, trouble shooting and testing of PLC control equipment.
Lead project team to design and FDA validate 10-up extreme accuracy vial dosing system and CIP/SIP automate cleaning equipment.
Automate the creation of a WebLogic Admin and manage server deployment scheme within an installer for secure application deployment.
Install and test PLC in client own equipment on site - solve some logical and hardware issues to accomplish goal
Implement and manage continuous delivery systems and methodologies on AWS.
Manage Terraform and refactore from monolithic to application specific components.

Automotive designer vs engineer skills

Common automotive designer skills

Industrial Design, 24%
Sketch, 19%
Powertrain, 13%
FEA, 11%
Cost Reduction, 9%
Catia V5, 8%

Common engineer skills

Python, 8%
Cloud, 6%
C++, 5%
C #, 5%
AWS, 5%
Java, 4%