Director of manufacturing engineering vs design manager

The differences between directors of manufacturing engineering and design 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 of manufacturing engineering and a design manager. Additionally, a director of manufacturing engineering has an average salary of $160,810, which is higher than the $102,637 average annual salary of a design manager.

The top three skills for a director of manufacturing engineering include lean manufacturing, continuous improvement and project management. The most important skills for a design manager are sketch, project management, and visualization.

Director of manufacturing engineering vs design manager overview

	Director Of Manufacturing Engineering	Design Manager
Yearly salary	$160,810	$102,637
Hourly rate	$77.31	$49.34
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	86,306	61,273
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	-	-

What does a director of manufacturing engineering do?

A director of manufacturing engineering oversees an organization's product development and manufacturing operations, ensuring procedures adhere to industry standards and regulations. They primarily set goals, develop strategies to optimize processes, conduct regular assessments and reviews, manage engineering teams, and coordinate with engineers and other experts in developing manufacturing plans. They also have the authority to make significant decisions, negotiate deals and contracts, and supervise the recruitment of employees. Moreover, a director of manufacturing engineering spearheads operations while implementing company policies and vision.

What does a design manager do?

A design manager is responsible for creating graphic and digital designs, following clients' specifications, and managing project deliverables efficiently. Design managers work closely with the marketing and public relations department, developing strategies to promote the brand to the target audience. They coordinate with the creative team and present the design ideas to the management, ask for final approval, perform revisions as needed, and follow the budget goals. A design manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills to handle the design team's concerns and needs.

Director of manufacturing engineering vs design manager salary

Directors of manufacturing engineering and design managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Director Of Manufacturing Engineering	Design Manager
Average salary	$160,810	$102,637
Salary range	Between $113,000 And $227,000	Between $69,000 And $150,000
Highest paying City	Hayward, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	California
Best paying company	Apple	Meta
Best paying industry	Automotive	Technology

Differences between director of manufacturing engineering and design manager education

There are a few differences between a director of manufacturing engineering and a design manager in terms of educational background:

	Director Of Manufacturing Engineering	Design Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common major	Mechanical Engineering	Graphic Design
Most common college	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Director of manufacturing engineering vs design manager demographics

Here are the differences between directors of manufacturing engineering' and design managers' demographics:

	Director Of Manufacturing Engineering	Design Manager
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 95.4% Female, 4.6%	Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 11.7% White, 71.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 11.8% White, 71.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between director of manufacturing engineering and design manager duties and responsibilities

Director of manufacturing engineering example responsibilities.

Manage state-of-the-art extrusion plant with single screw and twin screw technology and co-extrusion capability.
Host FDA inspections, ISO certification and third party audits.
Ensure compliance with NSF, FDA, UL, CSA, CE, FCC and other regulatory standards.
Institute an ISO compliant procedure program.
Evaluate, purchase and install CNC equipment for die manufacturing.
Process encompasses high speed metal cutting, grinding, CNC machining, polishing, and plating.

Design manager example responsibilities.

Help achieve status of medical device manufacturer through the FDA.
Manage several consultants preparing contract documents on the various NYC let and NYS let projects.
Manage and collaborate with ASIC library/memory vendors.
Manage design, tooling, equipment implementations and process improvements for foundry/machining metalworking manufacturer of automotive OEM products.
Design blueprints, bills of materials, FEA as required.
Include producing FDA and ISO-9000 level documentation of the project.

Director of manufacturing engineering vs design manager skills

Common director of manufacturing engineering skills

Lean Manufacturing, 10%
Continuous Improvement, 10%
Project Management, 6%
Sigma, 6%
R, 5%
Product Development, 5%

Common design manager skills

Sketch, 8%
Project Management, 8%
Visualization, 5%
User Experience, 4%
PowerPoint, 4%
Design Process, 4%

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Director Of Manufacturing Engineering
Director Of Manufacturing Engineering vs Design Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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