Mold designer vs tool designer

The differences between mold designers and tool designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a mold designer and a tool designer. Additionally, a mold designer has an average salary of $70,906, which is higher than the $64,763 average annual salary of a tool designer.

The top three skills for a mold designer include mold design, plastic injection molds and NX. The most important skills for a tool designer are jigs, assembly fixtures, and aerospace.

Mold designer vs tool designer overview

	Mold Designer	Tool Designer
Yearly salary	$70,906	$64,763
Hourly rate	$34.09	$31.14
Growth rate	2%	1%
Number of jobs	50,597	51,666
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 48%	Associate Degree, 48%
Average age	41	54
Years of experience	6	6

Mold designer vs tool designer salary

Mold designers and tool designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Mold Designer	Tool Designer
Average salary	$70,906	$64,763
Salary range	Between $47,000 And $105,000	Between $47,000 And $87,000
Highest paying City	-	San Jose, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Entegris
Best paying industry	-	Automotive

Differences between mold designer and tool designer education

There are a few differences between a mold designer and a tool designer in terms of educational background:

	Mold Designer	Tool Designer
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 48%	Associate Degree, 48%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Drafting And Design
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	-

Mold designer vs tool designer demographics

Here are the differences between mold designers' and tool designers' demographics:

	Mold Designer	Tool Designer
Average age	41	54
Gender ratio	Male, 93.4% Female, 6.6%	Male, 92.9% Female, 7.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 10.4% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 2.5% Unknown, 2.8% Hispanic or Latino, 6.6% Asian, 2.7% White, 84.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	5%	3%

Differences between mold designer and tool designer duties and responsibilities

Mold designer example responsibilities.

Manage documentation of existing projects, perform ECN resolutions.
Design and automate electro-mechanical machinery to customer specifications.
Design and automate electro-mechanical machinery to customer specifications.

Tool designer example responsibilities.

Manage customer contacts, lead, design, sketch and model Saab environmental test fixtures using Unigraphics V18.
Tune and correct extrusion tools to achieve dimensional tolerances, finish and function of products to internal and external customer specifications.
Used drill press, surface grinders, vertical mills, lathes, & NC control mills.
Train on Unigraphics version NX 7.5 Mold layout and design for plastic injection molds to make automotive lighting components.
Design automated production assembly jigs and fixtures for medical devices.
Design transfer, progressive, and blank dies for niche market OEM's.

Mold designer vs tool designer skills

Common mold designer skills

Mold Design, 16%
Plastic Injection Molds, 15%
NX, 7%
Aided Design, 6%
Autocad, 5%
CNC Machines, 5%

Common tool designer skills

Jigs, 10%
Assembly Fixtures, 8%
Aerospace, 6%
CNC, 5%
NX, 5%
GD, 4%