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Lead mechanical designer vs design manager

The differences between lead mechanical designers and design managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a lead mechanical designer, becoming a design manager takes usually requires More than 10 years. Additionally, a design manager has an average salary of $102,637, which is higher than the $96,084 average annual salary of a lead mechanical designer.

The top three skills for a lead mechanical designer include CAD, mechanical design and autocad. The most important skills for a design manager are sketch, project management, and visualization.

Lead mechanical designer vs design manager overview

Lead Mechanical DesignerDesign Manager
Yearly salary$96,084$102,637
Hourly rate$46.19$49.34
Growth rate2%2%
Number of jobs62,57361,273
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 45%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age4148
Years of experience6-

Lead mechanical designer vs design manager salary

Lead mechanical designers and design managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Lead Mechanical DesignerDesign Manager
Average salary$96,084$102,637
Salary rangeBetween $73,000 And $124,000Between $69,000 And $150,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Meta
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between lead mechanical designer and design manager education

There are a few differences between a lead mechanical designer and a design manager in terms of educational background:

Lead Mechanical DesignerDesign Manager
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 45%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common majorDrafting And DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Lead mechanical designer vs design manager demographics

Here are the differences between lead mechanical designers' and design managers' demographics:

Lead Mechanical DesignerDesign Manager
Average age4148
Gender ratioMale, 94.0% Female, 6.0%Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 10.3% White, 72.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%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 Percentage5%9%

Differences between lead mechanical designer and design manager duties and responsibilities

Lead mechanical designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage documentation of existing projects, perform ECN resolutions.
  • Create BOM and work closely with purchasing to procure parts.
  • Improve the quality of products, detailing and producing BOM's.
  • Design and automate electro-mechanical machinery to customer specifications.
  • Design mechanical aspects for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems for support areas for a semi-conductor manufacturing facility.

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.
  • Show more

Lead mechanical designer vs design manager skills

Common lead mechanical designer skills
  • CAD, 20%
  • Mechanical Design, 13%
  • Autocad, 8%
  • Assembly Drawings, 7%
  • GD, 6%
  • Prototyping, 3%
Common design manager skills
  • Sketch, 8%
  • Project Management, 8%
  • Visualization, 5%
  • User Experience, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%
  • Design Process, 4%

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