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The differences between controls engineers and staff design engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a controls engineer and a staff design engineer. Additionally, a staff design engineer has an average salary of $128,071, which is higher than the $84,532 average annual salary of a controls engineer.
The top three skills for a controls engineer include C++, troubleshoot and UL. The most important skills for a staff design engineer are architecture, RF, and CAD.
| Controls Engineer | Staff Design Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $84,532 | $128,071 |
| Hourly rate | $40.64 | $61.57 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 50,203 | 154,963 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A Controls Engineer is responsible for designing, developing, and supervising electrical control systems, machinery, and equipment. They oversee projects from initial concept to installation and commissioning.
Staff design engineers are tasked to assess the efficiency of instruments, technologies, and equipment by collaborating with the engineering team to plan, design, and develop technologies efficiently. Their responsibilities include building and setting up, as wells as improving systems and procedures. They should possess strong attention to detail, good visual and spatial awareness, creativity, problem-solving, excellent verbal, written, and project management skills, and strong mathematical and IT skills to become efficient and effective staff design engineers.
Controls engineers and staff design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Controls Engineer | Staff Design Engineer | |
| Average salary | $84,532 | $128,071 |
| Salary range | Between $64,000 And $111,000 | Between $89,000 And $182,000 |
| Highest paying City | Palo Alto, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | HBO |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | Technology |
There are a few differences between a controls engineer and a staff design engineer in terms of educational background:
| Controls Engineer | Staff Design Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Georgia Institute of Technology | Northeastern University |
Here are the differences between controls engineers' and staff design engineers' demographics:
| Controls Engineer | Staff Design Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 90.8% Female, 9.2% | Male, 75.7% Female, 24.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 14.5% White, 64.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 23.8% White, 57.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |