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The differences between design supervisors and 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 design supervisor and a design engineer. Additionally, a design supervisor has an average salary of $78,150, which is higher than the $77,134 average annual salary of a design engineer.
The top three skills for a design supervisor include autocad, engineering drawings and engineering design. The most important skills for a design engineer are C++, UL, and project management.
| Design Supervisor | Design Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $78,150 | $77,134 |
| Hourly rate | $37.57 | $37.08 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 37,558 | 138,173 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A design supervisor oversees the daily operations of an organization's design team, ensuring projects are completed within deadlines, budgets, and client requirements. They are primarily responsible for understanding project specifications, establishing budgets and guidelines, coordinating with managers, delegating responsibilities, and conducting regular assessments and evaluations to ensure operations run smoothly and efficiently according to industry standards and regulations. They may also communicate directly with clients to provide them with updates, present reports to the director, and liaise with external parties such as suppliers and distributors.
A design engineer is responsible for creating systems and applications based on their expertise. Design engineers work through client specifications based on business needs. A design engineer also provides recommendations on improving existing systems to boost its performance and increase efficiency. Design engineers must have an excellent command of computer systems, programming codes, and technical data to ensure the system's stability and high-quality processes. A design engineer should also have strong analytical and time-management skills to perform tasks and meet deadlines.
Design supervisors and design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Design Supervisor | Design Engineer | |
| Average salary | $78,150 | $77,134 |
| Salary range | Between $48,000 And $127,000 | Between $57,000 And $102,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Jose, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Micron Technology | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a design supervisor and a design engineer in terms of educational background:
| Design Supervisor | Design Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Most common major | Drafting And Design | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between design supervisors' and design engineers' demographics:
| Design Supervisor | Design Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 77.0% Female, 23.0% | Male, 88.9% Female, 11.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 10.4% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 16.8% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |