Contract mechanical designer vs senior designer

The differences between contract mechanical designers and senior designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a contract mechanical designer, becoming a senior designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a senior designer has an average salary of $102,058, which is higher than the $69,294 average annual salary of a contract mechanical designer.

The top three skills for a contract mechanical designer include R, BOM and auto cad. The most important skills for a senior designer are sketch, graphic design, and human centered design.

Contract mechanical designer vs senior designer overview

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Senior Designer
Yearly salary	$69,294	$102,058
Hourly rate	$33.31	$49.07
Growth rate	2%	3%
Number of jobs	72,152	47,503
Job satisfaction	-	1
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	41	38
Years of experience	6	12

Contract mechanical designer vs senior designer salary

Contract mechanical designers and senior designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Senior Designer
Average salary	$69,294	$102,058
Salary range	Between $52,000 And $91,000	Between $72,000 And $143,000
Highest paying City	-	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	Lyft
Best paying industry	-	Media

Differences between contract mechanical designer and senior designer education

There are a few differences between a contract mechanical designer and a senior designer in terms of educational background:

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Senior Designer
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Graphic Design
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	University of Pennsylvania

Contract mechanical designer vs senior designer demographics

Here are the differences between contract mechanical designers' and senior designers' demographics:

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Senior Designer
Average age	41	38
Gender ratio	Male, 92.6% Female, 7.4%	Male, 71.0% Female, 29.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 10.2% White, 71.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	5%	13%

Differences between contract mechanical designer and senior designer duties and responsibilities

Contract mechanical designer example responsibilities.

Work with JPL / NASA packaging and fabrication engineering leads (on-site).
Correspond with various vendors to select proper HVAC equipment.
Develop detail drawings, mechanize animations, bill of materials, ECO, and ECR's.
Generate ECO to update part specification in accordance with manufacturing requirements.
Create designs and documentation to facilitate manufacture of products including drawings, BOM and material specifications.
Design and automate electro-mechanical machinery to customer specifications.

Senior designer example responsibilities.

Identify, plan and lead brainstorming sessions for new blue-sky product opportunities across all boys' lines.
Design all marketing collateral within those standards including flyers, ads, conference materials, brochures, and design mailed pieces.
Implement HTML and CSS tags.
Format designs and media for use in print and web applications; deliver production-ready graphics in HTML and CSS.
Design and production of marketing materials, PowerPoint templates for pitch decks, event graphics, various collateral and HTML e-mails.
Lead the team in brainstorming sessions and assist with market research and testing.

Contract mechanical designer vs senior designer skills

Common contract mechanical designer skills

R, 9%
BOM, 8%
Auto CAD, 7%
Mechanical Design, 6%
Layout Drawings, 6%
Product Development, 5%

Common senior designer skills

Sketch, 15%
Graphic Design, 5%
Human Centered Design, 4%
User Experience, 4%
UI, 4%
CAD, 4%

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Contract Mechanical Designer
Contract Mechanical Designer vs Senior Designer

Updated January 8, 2025

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