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The differences between lead operations engineers and chief engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a lead operations 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 $104,981 average annual salary of a lead operations engineer.
The top three skills for a lead operations engineer include preventative maintenance, HVAC and plumbing. The most important skills for a chief engineer are HVAC, plumbing, and customer service.
| Lead Operations Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $104,981 | $108,050 |
| Hourly rate | $50.47 | $51.95 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 84,056 | 88,473 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 56% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 6 |
A lead Operation Engineer is the person who supervises plant operations. They identify and resolves operation problems by studying the performance and function of a system. They monitor and evaluate workers under their department. They also practice the objectives of a project, including safety, the convenience of operation, efficiency, quality, and the cost and time of operations. Other duties include improving the quality of operations, designs and contributing to the system's changes and modification.
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 operations engineers and chief engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lead Operations Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Average salary | $104,981 | $108,050 |
| Salary range | Between $75,000 And $145,000 | Between $65,000 And $177,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Palo Alto, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | BGC Partners |
| Best paying industry | Real Estate | Transportation |
There are a few differences between a lead operations engineer and a chief engineer in terms of educational background:
| Lead Operations Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 56% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between lead operations engineers' and chief engineers' demographics:
| Lead Operations Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 92.8% Female, 7.2% | Male, 96.2% Female, 3.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 8.7% White, 64.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | 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 | 9% | 5% |