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The differences between chief engineers and requirements engineers 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 a requirements engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a chief engineer has an average salary of $108,050, which is higher than the $87,170 average annual salary of a requirements engineer.
The top three skills for a chief engineer include HVAC, plumbing and customer service. The most important skills for a requirements engineer are java, software development, and powerpoint.
| Chief Engineer | Requirements Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $108,050 | $87,170 |
| Hourly rate | $51.95 | $41.91 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 88,473 | 166,444 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 41 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
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.
Requirements engineers are responsible for the analysis, documentation, coordination, and management of requirements regarding new software projects. They identify and understand the customer's project-specific demands and document them in a clear and binding way. Their duties and responsibilities also include preparing well-written and detailed documentation of the project and ensuring the project is designed and built within the legal parameters.
Chief engineers and requirements engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Chief Engineer | Requirements Engineer | |
| Average salary | $108,050 | $87,170 |
| Salary range | Between $65,000 And $177,000 | Between $62,000 And $120,000 |
| Highest paying City | Palo Alto, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | BGC Partners | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Transportation | Technology |
There are a few differences between a chief engineer and a requirements engineer in terms of educational background:
| Chief Engineer | Requirements Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Michigan Technological University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between chief engineers' and requirements engineers' demographics:
| Chief Engineer | Requirements Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 96.2% Female, 3.8% | Male, 64.5% Female, 35.5% |
| 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, 4.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.3% Asian, 29.8% White, 52.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 8% |