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What is a lead application engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted expert
Andrea Welker Ph.D.

If you're working as a lead application engineer, then you must be good at engineering. That's because as a lead application engineer, you are in charge of the whole team that is working to develop an application.

As a lead application engineer, you have to lead by example and get your hands dirty by writing code using languages like SQL, CSS, and more. However, you also have to confirm that other people are doing their jobs and make sure that the team is on track to hit your deadlines. You also need to be ready for meetings since you are the primary point of contact for many of your clients.

You probably already figured out that becoming a lead application engineer doesn't happen overnight. You would spend years studying engineering in order to get a bachelor's or even a master's degree. You also need plenty of practical experience as an application engineer before you can work your way up the ladder.

What general advice would you give to a lead application engineer?

Andrea Welker Ph.D.Andrea Welker Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Engineering Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Villanova University

Be open to new experiences. Find a good mentor. Become a valued employee. Always remember that you are designing something for someone.
ScoreLead Application EngineerUS Average
Salary
7.9

Avg. Salary $111,059

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
7.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
6.4
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 16.50%

Black or African American 3.06%

Hispanic or Latino 7.76%

Unknown 4.51%

White 68.07%

Gender

female 12.20%

male 87.80%

Age - 39
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 - 39
Stress level
7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level
8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance
5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Lead application engineer career paths

Key steps to become a lead application engineer

  1. Explore lead application engineer education requirements

    Most common lead application engineer degrees

    Bachelor's

    68.6 %

    Master's

    18.9 %

    Associate

    8.2 %
  2. Start to develop specific lead application engineer skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Java12.27%
    C++7.50%
    Infrastructure5.61%
    JavaScript4.63%
    SQL Server4.62%
  3. Complete relevant lead application engineer training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New lead application 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 lead application engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real lead application engineer resumes.
  4. Research lead application engineer duties and responsibilities

    • Manage and lead multiple agile teams root in ITIL and devops-base support frameworks.
    • Lead offshore teams to develop code and test COBOL - DB2 code for development projects.
    • Lead integration, conversion and debugging projects for several different beta versions of compressor sizing and pricing programs to web-base format.
    • Lead errata investigations: drive the debugging effort, enable root-causing, create and verify workarounds, generate supporting documentation.
  5. Get lead application engineer experience

    Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a lead application engineer. The most common roles before becoming a lead application engineer include application engineer, senior software engineer team lead and software engineer.
  6. Prepare your lead application engineer resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lead application 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 lead application 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 lead application engineer resume templates

    Build a professional lead application 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 lead application engineer resume.
    Lead Application Engineer Resume
    Lead Application Engineer Resume
    Lead Application Engineer Resume
    Lead Application Engineer Resume
    Lead Application Engineer Resume
    Lead Application Engineer Resume
    Lead Application Engineer Resume
    Lead Application Engineer Resume
    Lead Application Engineer Resume
  7. Apply for lead application engineer jobs

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

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

How did you land your first lead application engineer job

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Average lead application engineer salary

The average lead application engineer salary in the United States is $111,059 per year or $53 per hour. Lead application engineer salaries range between $85,000 and $144,000 per year.

Average lead application engineer salary
$111,059 Yearly
$53.39 hourly

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Lead application engineer reviews

profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020
Pros

The Different employees i work with and what all i learn from them

Cons

very little


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019
Pros

Troubleshooting and commissioning

Cons

Undone job, when we're unable to discover certain fault on time.


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019
Pros

Challenge, satisfaction of problem resolution and working with team

Cons

HR compliance and accounting auditing , quarterly budgeting rather than Annual as previously accepted. Wallstreet insistence on more frequent projections


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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