How To Become A Head Electrical Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a head electrical engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Angela Rasmussen

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a head electrical engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $60.07 an hour? That's $124,952 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 9,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a head electrical engineer?

Dr. Angela Rasmussen

Professor (Lecturer) Director of Mentoring and Advising Director of Electrical Engineering Senior Projects, University of Utah

Take heart that while Electrical Engineering jobs have been impacted by COVID19, it's impact is minimal in comparison to most other areas. While many areas have been hit hard by layoffs, Electrical Engineering has only slightly been affected in comparison. Many companies have declared hiring freezes and many others are still hiring. Therefore, don't get discouraged. There are Electrical Engineerings jobs needing to be filled! Make sure to be professional in all your interactions and work on improving your online presence.

ScoreHead Electrical EngineerUS Average

Salary

8.3

Avg. Salary $124,952

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 14.49%

Black or African American 4.76%

Hispanic or Latino 11.00%

Unknown 4.69%

White 64.86%

Gender

female 10.30%

male 89.70%

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

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a head electrical engineer

Explore head electrical engineer education requirements

Most common head electrical engineer degrees

Bachelor's

57.3 %

Master's

10.9 %

Associate

10.0 %

Start to develop specific head electrical engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
MEP	28.02%
Electrical Design	21.06%
Electrical Systems	9.71%
Oil Gas	8.24%
Shop Drawings	4.11%

Complete relevant head electrical engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New head electrical 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 head electrical engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real head electrical engineer resumes.

Research head electrical engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage and perform verification activities to insure device meet all safety and EMC requirements.
Used electrical theory and concepts to perform troubleshooting procedures on power generation equipment and HVAC systems.
Develop a system software using LabView to emulate system operation to provide production the capability to build and troubleshoot units.
Integrate avionics installations into existing aircraft.

Prepare your head electrical engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your head electrical 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 head electrical 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 head electrical engineer resume templates

Build a professional head electrical 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 head electrical engineer resume.

Apply for head electrical engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a head electrical 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 head electrical engineers rate their job?

-/5

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Head electrical engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2021

Pros

Finding NEW devices to open up the range of features for nrw development! New technologies, new materials, allowing new concepts!

Cons

Right now, being stuck handling fine details of determining equivalents for parts which are currently unavailable (or 1year+ lead times for delivery). I can DO it, but regret the loss of higher-priority time/tasks...

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2020