How To Become A Digital Design Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a digital design engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Fred Garber Ph.D.

The digital design engineer is responsible for the digital design, development, and maintenance of integrated circuits and related development. He/She works to improve the efficiency of existing circuits, subsystems, and products. He/She is involved in all phases of physical design. Asides from that, he/she creates functional and design specifications and defines module interfaces. Also, he/she performs design reviews and participates in design implementation. Furthermore, he/she collaborates with manufacturing engineers in the design and validation of test equipment. Additionally, he/she troubleshoots and optimizes designs from prototypes to products.

To become a digital design engineer, you need at least a bachelor's degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, or any relevant field. You must have over eight years of relevant experience. Essential skills include problem-solving, communication, attention to detail, leadership, analytical, and collaboration skills. These experts earn an average salary of $104,755 per annum. This ranges between $77,000 and $142,000.

What general advice would you give to a digital design engineer?

Fred Garber Ph.D.

Professor, Electrical Engineering, Wright State University

I think the primary question, in the minds of those who are yet to graduate or are still searching, is in regard to the strength of the technical job market, especially the local job market. But you are in a position to definitively answer that question.

In you article, I would ask that you address the following:
Number of employers looking to fill and number of job offerings in the region (by engineering and computer science major) compared to last year and to the previous five years.

Any noticeable differences in job descriptions Zippia is receiving relative to work environment, benefits, starting salaries, etc.

Many of our soon-to-graduate students would be very interested in these quantitative and qualitative comparisons. Additionally, vast numbers of potential students would benefit from such information to guide their career choices.

ScoreDigital Design EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.8

Avg. Salary $108,993

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 19.85%

Black or African American 4.62%

Hispanic or Latino 10.53%

Unknown 4.66%

White 60.16%

Gender

female 9.65%

male 90.35%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.2

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a digital design engineer

Explore digital design engineer education requirements

Most common digital design engineer degrees

Bachelor's

66.9 %

Master's

24.1 %

Associate

6.2 %

Start to develop specific digital design engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Digital Design	11.58%
Synthesis	7.54%
Verilog	5.17%
RTL	4.19%
SOC	3.98%

Complete relevant digital design engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New digital design engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a digital design engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real digital design engineer resumes.

Research digital design engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage DSP communication applications and algorithms for cellular base stations and cable modems.
Perform EMI debugging and validate system to achieve compliance certification for both FCC and CE marks.
Perform back-end flow from RTL code synthesis, timing driven physical design to achieve a timing closure type-out database.
Design and build digital, analog, and RF circuitry for digital circuit test equipment

Prepare your digital design engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your digital design engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a digital design engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable digital design engineer resume templates

Build a professional digital design engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your digital design engineer resume.

Apply for digital design engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a digital design engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do digital design engineers rate their job?

-/5

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Digital design engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2023

Pros

continuous learning

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019