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The differences between lead building engineers and chief engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a lead building engineer, becoming a chief engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a chief engineer has an average salary of $108,050, which is higher than the $82,547 average annual salary of a lead building engineer.
The top three skills for a lead building engineer include ladders, preventive maintenance and plumbing. The most important skills for a chief engineer are HVAC, plumbing, and customer service.
| Lead Building Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $82,547 | $108,050 |
| Hourly rate | $39.69 | $51.95 |
| Growth rate | 21% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 119,080 | 88,473 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 39 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A Lead construction engineer supervises all construction projects, creates and regularly monitors if it's within the given date. They are responsible for providing maintenance and repair of industrial equipment, buildings, different types of machinery, vehicles, etc. They create different designs and studies to determine the most convenient and safer way of building a structure. Also, this person has other skills in the field of carpentry, plumbing, and electrical wirings. Construction Engineers are also in charge of assigning works, providing training, and reviews the work progress of their team.
A chief engineer is responsible for monitoring the engineering department's overall operations, ensuring performance efficiency, and everyone's strict compliance with the safety standards and regulatory procedures. Chief engineers manage the distribution of the tasks to the team, communicate with the clients and management for instructions and specifications, monitor expenses and forecast sales reports, analyze and approve designs, negotiate contracts, and process disputes. A chief engineer must have excellent knowledge of the engineering disciplines and exemplary leadership skills to handle the team's performance towards the company's objectives.
Lead building engineers and chief engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lead Building Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Average salary | $82,547 | $108,050 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $122,000 | Between $65,000 And $177,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Palo Alto, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Magic Leap | BGC Partners |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Transportation |
There are a few differences between a lead building engineer and a chief engineer in terms of educational background:
| Lead Building Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | - | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between lead building engineers' and chief engineers' demographics:
| Lead Building Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Average age | 39 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 85.0% Female, 15.0% | Male, 96.2% Female, 3.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 26.6% White, 55.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 10.2% White, 71.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 5% |