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The differences between chief engineers and engineering directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a chief engineer, becoming an engineering director takes usually requires More than 10 years. Additionally, an engineering director has an average salary of $162,252, which is higher than the $108,050 average annual salary of a chief engineer.
The top three skills for a chief engineer include HVAC, plumbing and customer service. The most important skills for an engineering director are java, architecture, and infrastructure.
| Chief Engineer | Engineering Director | |
| Yearly salary | $108,050 | $162,252 |
| Hourly rate | $51.95 | $78.01 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 88,473 | 63,868 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 41 | 48 |
| Years of experience | 6 | - |
A chief engineer is responsible for monitoring the engineering department's overall operations, ensuring performance efficiency, and everyone's strict compliance with the safety standards and regulatory procedures. Chief engineers manage the distribution of the tasks to the team, communicate with the clients and management for instructions and specifications, monitor expenses and forecast sales reports, analyze and approve designs, negotiate contracts, and process disputes. A chief engineer must have excellent knowledge of the engineering disciplines and exemplary leadership skills to handle the team's performance towards the company's objectives.
An engineering director or director of engineering is an individual who manages a team of engineering managers and coordinates all the engineering activities within the organization. Engineering directors work closely with the organization's executives to develop new strategies to reduce unnecessary costs and time to complete their projects. They must understand and interpret complex sets of data such as profits, losses, or value of liabilities to identify problems and come up with solutions. Engineering directors must also ensure that safety protocols are implemented in the workforce.
Chief engineers and engineering directors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Chief Engineer | Engineering Director | |
| Average salary | $108,050 | $162,252 |
| Salary range | Between $65,000 And $177,000 | Between $109,000 And $239,000 |
| Highest paying City | Palo Alto, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | BGC Partners | Brookfield Properties |
| Best paying industry | Transportation | Technology |
There are a few differences between a chief engineer and an engineering director in terms of educational background:
| Chief Engineer | Engineering Director | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Michigan Technological University | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor |
Here are the differences between chief engineers' and engineering directors' demographics:
| Chief Engineer | Engineering Director | |
| Average age | 41 | 48 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 96.2% Female, 3.8% | Male, 94.6% Female, 5.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 10.2% White, 71.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 13.1% White, 69.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 9% |