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Lead mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer

The differences between lead mechanical designers and mechanical design engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a lead mechanical designer and a mechanical design engineer. Additionally, a lead mechanical designer has an average salary of $96,084, which is higher than the $75,821 average annual salary of a mechanical design engineer.

The top three skills for a lead mechanical designer include CAD, mechanical design and autocad. The most important skills for a mechanical design engineer are CAD, mechanical design, and GD.

Lead mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer overview

Lead Mechanical DesignerMechanical Design Engineer
Yearly salary$96,084$75,821
Hourly rate$46.19$36.45
Growth rate2%2%
Number of jobs62,573120,258
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 45%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age4141
Years of experience66

Lead mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer salary

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

Lead Mechanical DesignerMechanical Design Engineer
Average salary$96,084$75,821
Salary rangeBetween $73,000 And $124,000Between $59,000 And $96,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Meta
Best paying industry-Automotive

Differences between lead mechanical designer and mechanical design engineer education

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

Lead Mechanical DesignerMechanical Design Engineer
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 45%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorDrafting And DesignMechanical Engineering
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityMichigan Technological University

Lead mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer demographics

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

Lead Mechanical DesignerMechanical Design Engineer
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 94.0% Female, 6.0%Male, 91.9% Female, 8.1%
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, 3.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 16.4% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage5%5%

Differences between lead mechanical designer and mechanical design engineer 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.

Mechanical design engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage installation and troubleshooting documents for ultra precision CNC grinding machines.
  • Manage the successful release to manufacturing of several generations of Ethernet switches.
  • Engineer, manage and implement configuration and installation of complex Ethernet network backbones.
  • Manage automation projects including purchasing, scheduling fabrication and assembly, debugging, and delivery to customer.
  • Provide mechanical design and sustaining engineering expertise to troubleshoot manufacturing defect trends and achieve a more robust and producible product.
  • Supervise product development in coherence with UL standards and manufacturers.
  • Show more

Lead mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer skills

Common lead mechanical designer skills
  • CAD, 20%
  • Mechanical Design, 13%
  • Autocad, 8%
  • Assembly Drawings, 7%
  • GD, 6%
  • Prototyping, 3%
Common mechanical design engineer skills
  • CAD, 14%
  • Mechanical Design, 12%
  • GD, 5%
  • Creo, 5%
  • FEA, 4%
  • UL, 3%

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