Director, hardware engineering vs engineering manager

The differences between directors, hardware engineering and engineering managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes More than 10 years to become both a director, hardware engineering and an engineering manager. Additionally, a director, hardware engineering has an average salary of $182,954, which is higher than the $139,328 average annual salary of an engineering manager.

The top three skills for a director, hardware engineering include RF, product development and hardware development. The most important skills for an engineering manager are java, project management, and continuous improvement.

Director, hardware engineering vs engineering manager overview

	Director, Hardware Engineering	Engineering Manager
Yearly salary	$182,954	$139,328
Hourly rate	$87.96	$66.98
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	63,781	67,124
Job satisfaction	-	4.33
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	-	-

Director, hardware engineering vs engineering manager salary

Directors, hardware engineering and engineering managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Director, Hardware Engineering	Engineering Manager
Average salary	$182,954	$139,328
Salary range	Between $128,000 And $260,000	Between $99,000 And $195,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Alaska	California
Best paying company	NVIDIA	Mixpanel
Best paying industry	Start-up	Automotive

Differences between director, hardware engineering and engineering manager education

There are a few differences between a director, hardware engineering and an engineering manager in terms of educational background:

	Director, Hardware Engineering	Engineering Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Mechanical Engineering
Most common college	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Director, hardware engineering vs engineering manager demographics

Here are the differences between directors, hardware engineering' and engineering managers' demographics:

	Director, Hardware Engineering	Engineering Manager
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 92.9% Female, 7.1%	Male, 92.6% Female, 7.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 2.8% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 17.9% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.2% White, 71.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between director, hardware engineering and engineering manager duties and responsibilities

Director, hardware engineering example responsibilities.

Lead contract purchasing, PCB fabrication, contract board assembly, and ICT test fixture fabrication.
Select and manage contract resources for industrial design, mechanical design and fabrication, and PCB layout.
Manage design, tooling, equipment implementations and process improvements for foundry/machining metalworking manufacturer of automotive OEM products.
Hire to build world-class hardware development team including RF engineers.
Train subordinates to use FEA.
Involve in the design of a chip tray which incorporates RF antennas.

Engineering manager example responsibilities.

Lead design and manage development of voice-processing system's SNMP device agent and Java management application.
Manage multiple teams of UNIX engineers and software developers.
Achieve the highest ROI of any of the company's online or offline marketing channels.
Manage geotechnical, environmental, and survey consultants in connection with due diligence for new stores.
Manage tool implementation on change, problem, configuration management, product structure, and visualization processes.
Lead cross-functional team to track and address end-of-life component issues, which greatly reduce line shortages or stoppages.Sr.

Director, hardware engineering vs engineering manager skills

Common director, hardware engineering skills

RF, 9%
Product Development, 8%
Hardware Development, 7%
Firmware, 6%
Mechanical Engineering, 5%
Hardware Products, 5%

Common engineering manager skills

Java, 11%
Project Management, 7%
Continuous Improvement, 6%
Software Development, 4%
C++, 4%
UL, 4%

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Director, Hardware Engineering
Director, Hardware Engineering vs Engineering Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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