1. Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI • Private
In-State Tuition
$15,646
Enrollment
5,736
A lead design engineer creates, tests, and implements product processes and product designs using computer-aided design software. They research products, processes, and the systems used to make them in order to develop ideas for new products. They also work to modify existing products or processes to improve their performance. Lead design engineers take into account factors such as cost effectiveness, efficiency, user experience, and environmental standards when designing or modifying a product.
A lead design engineer works closely with customers and other engineers throughout the product life cycle. They usually work on consumer products such as medical equipment, mobile phones, computer hardware, car engines, or kitchen appliances. A successful lead design engineer should have the relevant technical skills, creativity, problem-solving skills, communication skills, analytical skills, and attention to detail.
Lead design engineers work full-time in an office setting. They may be required to work overtime during deadlines or when they have tight schedules.
There are certain skills that many lead design engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed creativity, listening skills and math skills.
If you're interested in becoming a lead design engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 72.8% of lead design engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 12.9% of lead design engineers have master's degrees. Even though most lead design engineers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a lead design engineer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as project manager, progress to a title such as quality manager and then eventually end up with the title supplier quality manager.
What Am I Worth?
The role of a lead design engineer includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general lead design engineer responsibilities:
There are several types of lead design engineer, including:
A project engineer is responsible for the planning and implementation of a project. In collaboration with the management of the enterprise, they review proposals and come up with project goals. They break down the process and create a viable schedule, and then coordinate and monitor the work.
The project, as such, sounds vague because it depends on the industry they work for. In any case, they go on regular meetings with clients to make sure the the evolution of the work matches their vision. It is their responsibility to carry out the work within the budget or to propose adjustments to it if they see fit.
The project engineer will analyze the performance of their team and present progress reports to stakeholders to make sure everyone is at the top of their game.
Do you love technical work and want to pursue your creative side at the same time? Maybe now's the time to take your sketch pads out of your shoebox and see those designs come to life. If you feel excited, guess you're on track to being a design engineer in the future.
A design engineer sounds fun, if you love research and innovation. I mean, who wouldn't want to see their discoveries and projects come alive, right? Recognition is another thing, but self-accomplishment matters the most. Apart from that, design engineers build their careers around traveling (no, not a vacation, though), interacting with people, and more... more technical duties. They are computer-savvy humans who would throw a fit over a system crash and computer virus (Like, who doesn't?). Their schedules are, well, usually messed-up. They work like regular employees during weekdays but could go over weekends and holidays as their job requires. So if you're planning to have a coffee date with a design engineer, just don't expect too much as they may meet a client in that coffee shop, too.
Generally, this job sounds fun, regardless of the pile of work and deadlines that have to be done. If you're someone who's always up for new things and discoveries, this might be the sign you're waiting for.
Mechanical engineers are those who can work on designing and planning engines and other equipment for the company. You will be in charge of maintenance, installation, operation, and repair of equipment. You will get the customer design proposals and will investigate failures and diagnose faulty equipment and report to the maintenance team. You will also handle discussions and solve problems together with manufacturing departments, suppliers, and customers. This means you will work with personnel within and outside the engineering team. Similarly, you will make sure the products are more reliable and perform well in the specific operating environments.
There is a list of accredited engineering courses you must have taken for you to be eligible for the post. A Master's or doctorate degree will be a plus. You must be creative, have a great team spirit and be able to work under pressure. In addition, you need to have good interpersonal skills and verbal and written communication skills. You will earn an average of $72,056 a year.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active lead design engineer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where lead design engineers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | California | 9,378 | $138,510 |
2 | Texas | 3,365 | $101,542 |
3 | Michigan | 2,203 | $95,728 |
4 | New York | 2,162 | $102,834 |
5 | Virginia | 2,064 | $88,923 |
6 | Massachusetts | 1,968 | $98,721 |
7 | Florida | 1,945 | $88,777 |
8 | Washington | 1,852 | $117,132 |
9 | Illinois | 1,640 | $99,295 |
10 | Pennsylvania | 1,544 | $91,322 |
11 | North Carolina | 1,412 | $83,537 |
12 | Georgia | 1,316 | $94,294 |
13 | Ohio | 1,269 | $83,443 |
14 | Colorado | 1,259 | $99,867 |
15 | Arizona | 1,197 | $122,459 |
16 | Maryland | 1,178 | $101,192 |
17 | Minnesota | 1,140 | $88,159 |
18 | Oregon | 1,081 | $111,043 |
19 | New Jersey | 1,076 | $105,368 |
20 | Indiana | 800 | $86,839 |
21 | Wisconsin | 742 | $80,429 |
22 | Kansas | 635 | $79,391 |
23 | Utah | 623 | $93,115 |
24 | Missouri | 623 | $87,100 |
25 | Alabama | 593 | $88,441 |
26 | Nevada | 564 | $109,884 |
27 | Connecticut | 543 | $93,737 |
28 | Oklahoma | 528 | $85,155 |
29 | Tennessee | 489 | $89,104 |
30 | South Carolina | 488 | $83,171 |
31 | Arkansas | 483 | $73,851 |
32 | Nebraska | 473 | $77,715 |
33 | New Mexico | 458 | $106,418 |
34 | Iowa | 438 | $81,831 |
35 | Idaho | 429 | $128,157 |
36 | Montana | 303 | $94,097 |
37 | Kentucky | 298 | $83,101 |
38 | New Hampshire | 260 | $102,964 |
39 | Louisiana | 231 | $98,052 |
40 | Delaware | 215 | $109,338 |
41 | Alaska | 211 | $102,278 |
42 | South Dakota | 191 | $83,025 |
43 | Rhode Island | 172 | $90,918 |
44 | Mississippi | 151 | $82,307 |
45 | Maine | 141 | $93,578 |
46 | Vermont | 136 | $94,379 |
47 | North Dakota | 119 | $84,225 |
48 | West Virginia | 117 | $99,559 |
49 | Hawaii | 104 | $84,005 |
50 | Wyoming | 92 | $96,241 |
Houghton, MI • Private
In-State Tuition
$15,646
Enrollment
5,736
Atlanta, GA • Private
In-State Tuition
$12,424
Enrollment
15,201
Ithaca, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,188
Enrollment
15,105
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,832
Enrollment
4,550
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
Stanford, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
Baltimore, MD • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,740
Enrollment
5,567
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,465
Enrollment
6,483
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$50,420
Enrollment
7,582
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 9.2% of lead design engineers listed cad on their resume, but soft skills such as creativity and listening skills are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Lead Design Engineer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Lead Design Engineer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
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Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a lead design engineer. The best states for people in this position are California, Idaho, Arizona, and Washington. Lead design engineers make the most in California with an average salary of $138,510. Whereas in Idaho and Arizona, they would average $128,157 and $122,459, respectively. While lead design engineers would only make an average of $117,132 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. California
$138,510
Avg. Salary
2. Idaho
$128,157
Avg. Salary
3. Nevada
$109,884
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ford Motor | $136,743 | $65.74 | 9 |
2 | Volvo Trucks | $136,652 | $65.70 | 9 |
3 | Texas Instruments | $136,218 | $65.49 | 13 |
4 | Cadence Design Systems | $119,588 | $57.49 | 105 |
5 | Zodiac | $116,029 | $55.78 | 8 |
6 | AT&T | $115,813 | $55.68 | 38 |
7 | Cavium | $113,491 | $54.56 | 12 |
8 | General Motors | $109,622 | $52.70 | 27 |
9 | Caterpillar | $107,827 | $51.84 | 11 |
10 | General Electric | $105,341 | $50.64 | 134 |