How to hire a principal electrical engineer

How to hire a principal electrical engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step principal electrical engineer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a principal electrical engineer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new principal electrical engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a principal electrical engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a principal electrical engineer, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

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   Hiring the perfect principal electrical engineer also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list presents principal electrical engineer salaries for various positions.

   Type of Principal Electrical Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Principal Electrical Engineer	Electrical engineers design, develop, test, and supervise the manufacturing of electrical equipment, such as electric motors, radar and navigation systems, communications systems, and power generation equipment. Electronics engineers design and develop electronic equipment, such as broadcast and communications systems—from portable music players to global positioning systems (GPSs).	$44-76
   System Design Engineer	A system design engineer is a professional who participates in system design engineering and resolves manufacturing and service problems. System design engineers are required to collaborate with the system design team to research emerging technologies and develop new capabilities... Show more	$37-71
   Engineer	Engineers are highly trained professionals who determine the feasibility of various projects, usually related to the construction industry. They are considered experts in mathematics and science, two disciplines that they need to use in designing and coming up with plans for projects... Show more	$31-62

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Electrical Engineering
   • RF
   • Analog
   • FPGA
   • Design Reviews
   • Mentor Graphics
   • Power Electronics
   • Circuit Design
   • PCB
   • Electrical Design
   • Product Development
   • VHDL
   • Firmware
   • System Design

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Identify, develop and implement action items to manage & improve software releases and develop guidelines in JavaScript coding.
   • Own the design and integration of a number of internal VHDL library base IP into the FPGA chip.
   • Design high speed pulse processing analog front end and FPGA digital processing electronics for use in a space flight application.
   • Modify existing converter layout replacing analog controller with DSP.
   • Design various custom PC boards to communicate via I2C, SPI, RS232, RS485.
   • Clone-Proof a high-volume fpga-base design with hand-code VHDL SHA-1 encryption algorithm.

   More principal electrical engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your principal electrical engineer job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A principal electrical engineer salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, principal electrical engineers' average salary in montana is 35% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level principal electrical engineers earn 42% less than senior-level principal electrical engineers.
   • Certifications. A principal electrical engineer with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a principal electrical engineer's salary.

   Average principal electrical engineer salary

   $121,822yearly

   $58.57 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level principal electrical engineer salary

   $93,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 21, 2026

   Average principal electrical engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$154,671	$74
   2	Washington	$142,676	$69
   3	District of Columbia	$131,226	$63
   4	Massachusetts	$129,576	$62
   5	Florida	$119,381	$57
   6	Texas	$118,800	$57
   7	Alabama	$116,803	$56
   8	Illinois	$115,309	$55
   9	Virginia	$110,128	$53
   10	Michigan	$109,082	$52
   11	Minnesota	$108,601	$52
   12	Colorado	$105,842	$51
   13	New Hampshire	$105,529	$51
   14	Iowa	$104,862	$50
   15	Arizona	$103,220	$50
   16	Pennsylvania	$102,585	$49
   17	Utah	$95,569	$46

   Average principal electrical engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Microsoft	$147,617	$70.97	531
   2	PacBio	$137,916	$66.31	2
   3	Silicon Valley Power	$137,016	$65.87
   4	Waters	$135,020	$64.91	16
   5	Oshkosh	$131,116	$63.04	27
   6	Skyworks Solutions	$130,602	$62.79	24
   7	Renesas Electronics	$127,835	$61.46	28
   8	Cirrus Aircraft	$127,209	$61.16	10
   9	Dell	$124,937	$60.07	60
   10	Goodwin Recruiting	$124,147	$59.69	5
   11	Moderna	$124,126	$59.68	4
   12	Bl Companies	$123,948	$59.59
   13	MSA	$123,756	$59.50
   14	NEXTAFF	$123,485	$59.37
   15	QinetiQ North America	$123,448	$59.35	3
   16	Ember Technologies	$123,184	$59.22
   17	Bloom Energy	$122,843	$59.06	26
   18	TRW Automotive Holdings	$122,139	$58.72
   19	Teleflex	$122,112	$58.71	5
   20	Apollo Professional Solutions	$121,992	$58.65	15

4. Writing a principal electrical engineer job description

   A good principal electrical engineer job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a principal electrical engineer job description:

   Principal electrical engineer job description example

   Our client is a medical device company in the San Francisco Bay Area that is looking for a Principal Electrical Engineer, Systems Design to join their growing team.
   Principal Electrical Engineer, Systems Design responsibilities:
   Responsible for developing analog and digital circuits and embedded systems to generate, monitor, and control fast (10ns to 500ns), high-voltage (1kV-20kV) pulses for medical applications. Develop hardware for new applications and driving safety (60601) testing determining root-cause and resolving issues in complex high-voltage electro-mechanical systems. Play a critical role in an early-stage startup environment taking concepts from early ideas and prototypes to production. Oversees our current medical device (complex high-voltage analog / digital system) to help determine root cause, troubleshoot, and resolve issues in complex high-voltage electro-mechanical systems. Responsible for Medical Electrical Safety and EMC standards and testing (IEC 60601-1, IEC 60601-1-2). Designing, developing, documenting, and testing analog circuits, embedded control, and sensors for high-voltage nanosecond-pulse generators. Coordinating projects with cross-functional Design Control teams: including creating requirements and specifications, design documentation, test protocols, and reports, assembly instructions, and smooth transition of new products from whiteboard to compliance certification and into manufacturing. Performing printed circuit board bring-up and writing Python code to test circuit board assemblies and systems
   Principal Electrical Engineer, Systems Design requirements:
   BS or MS in electrical engineering required. 10+ years of experience in product development 5 years in the medical device industry required Experience with the following:
   -Analog and high-speed circuit and systems design expertise.
   
   -Design and testing of high-frequency active and passive circuits and analog signal conditioning, transmission lines and lumped filters, impedance matching, and design for EMC.
   
   -ECAD and simulation applications, such as OrCAD, Altium, Eagle, SPICE, ADS, Sonnet, Microwave Office, etc.
   
   -Python programming experience in the realm of testing circuits.
   
   -Development of high-voltage RF or fast-pulse systems embedded controllers.
   
   -MCU firmware development for data acquisition and control is a big plus.
   
   -Safety or EMC compliance labs product verification and validation
   
   Principal Electrical Engineer, Systems Design Compensation:
   Salary $185K-$200K PTO and Paid Holidays Medical, dental, vision 401(k) Visa transfer sponsorship

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right principal electrical engineer for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with principal electrical engineers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit principal electrical engineers who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your principal electrical engineer job on Zippia to find and recruit principal electrical engineer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting principal electrical engineers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new principal electrical engineer

   Once you've selected the best principal electrical engineer candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new principal electrical engineer. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a principal electrical engineer?