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Principal project engineer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

7 min read

Quoted experts

Charles Jenckes,

Bijan Shapoorian

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical principal project engineer skills. We ranked the top skills for principal project engineers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 23.8% of principal project engineer resumes contained project management as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a principal project engineer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 principal project engineer skills for your resume and career

1. Project Management

Here's how principal project engineers use project management:

Provided construction, interior build out and project management services to commercial developers and property owners located in the Baltimore/Washington Corridor.
Directed Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Software Protocol and related project management for medical device and equipment development programs.

2. Program Management

Here's how principal project engineers use program management:

Worked closely with Program Management.
Chaired the Systems IPT and co-chaired the Program Management IPT.

3. DOD

Definition of Done (DoD) is a set of deliverables that are needed to devise software. These deliverables are valuable to the system and can be exemplified by writing code, coding comments, unit testing, integration testing, design documents, release notes, and so on.

Here's how principal project engineers use dod:

Developed shipyard performance reports and conducted analysis for DoD resource allocation studies.
Perform requirements analysis for documenting, implementing, and maintaining a server migration project in a DOD Enterprise environment.

4. Risk Management

Risk management is the method of recognizing, evaluating, and managing risks to an organization's resources and profits. Financial insecurity, regulatory liability, strategic management mistakes, incidents, and natural hazards are just some of the challenges or dangers that could arise. For digitalized businesses, IT security vulnerabilities and data-related threats, as well as risk management techniques to mitigate them, have become top priorities.

Here's how principal project engineers use risk management:

Developed the first comprehensive Risk Management & Project Plans detailing stage-gate methodology including periodic human factors/usability testing.
Performed fault tree hazard analyses to provide technical risk management and implemented preventative actions and procedures.

5. Project Scope

Here's how principal project engineers use project scope:

Designed and implemented project scope including field drawing and field device specifications.
Deliver on project scopes, budgets, schedules, and preparation of CER documentation.

6. Earned Value Management

Here's how principal project engineers use earned value management:

Analyze Key Performance Indicators, perform Earned Value Management, pricing, and margin calculations.
Maintain Earned Value Management Analysis and cost improvement efforts for $20 Million dollar in design and hardware budgets.

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7. Engineering Projects

An engineering project is a human activity that can vary widely in scope and encompasses all parts of the design of manufacturing or processing facilities, whether new or modifications and expansions of existing facilities focusing on meeting needs.

Here's how principal project engineers use engineering projects:

Directed engineering projects and activities.
Defined the Corporate Engineering approach for achieving project quality by leading the development of the Corporate Engineering Project Quality Manual.

8. SharePoint

Here's how principal project engineers use sharepoint:

Developed over 30 Microsoft SharePoint tools for global park engineering applications.
Managed the BHP enterprise wide migration from e-rooms to SharePoint for document management and team collaboration.

9. IPT

Here's how principal project engineers use ipt:

Worked on project requirements with scheduling, budgeting and IPT responsibilities.
Integrated project lead (IPT) for service upgrades product development and implementation.

10. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how principal project engineers use product development:

Led two product development projects to completion for minimally invasive spinal surgery, and spinal fusion applications.
Focus emphasized projects leading to new product development/enhancement and process optimization.

11. PET

Here's how principal project engineers use pet:

Increased retractable sales at pet specialty stores by developing a full retractable leash program from concept to product phase.

12. Technical Support

Technical support or tech support are the services provided by any hardware or software company to users. They help in solving the technical difficulties the customers face with their products or services. Moreover, the tech support employees maintain, manage, and repair the IT faults. They are also responsible for resolving the network problems, installing and configuring hardware and software.

Here's how principal project engineers use technical support:

Provided technical support for Manufacturing.
Provide technical support to engineers even acting as engineer to cover for any shortage in manpower during workload peaks.

13. Engineering Design

Engineering design is defined as the method that engineers use to recognize and solve problems. It is an extensive and flexible approach to problem-solving and provides the necessary information needed regarding every step of the process. An engineering design is a collaborative effort of the team to identify problems underlying a process and find out ways to solve them.

Here's how principal project engineers use engineering design:

Design tooling and processes to repair and install internal mechanical components in Westinghouse and Combustion Engineering designed nuclear reactors.
Defined format and outline of requirements documents and engineering design specifications.

14. Capital Projects

A capital project is a long-term project carried out by professional teams to build, improve, maintain or develop a huge project that will help improve the asset of a city. This project involves a significant and constant flow of investments. A capital project can be new construction, the purchase of land or property, leasing a property, the renovation of an existing building, or the purchase of new equipment.

Here's how principal project engineers use capital projects:

Project Manager for internal capital projects and product design activities.
Supervised Contractors and managed safety for all capital projects.

15. Sigma

In Greek alphabets, sigma is the 18th letter that means "to sum up". In statistics, the lower case symbol of sigma is the unit of measurement for standard deviation which is used to assess the variability in a given set of data. While the upper case symbol is for summation notation means to add up all the given numbers in the data set.

Here's how principal project engineers use sigma:

Implemented new molding technology utilizing MoldFlow software analysis resulting in manufacturing cost savings while maintaining Six Sigma quality process.
Champion and educate department on Lean Six Sigma benefits and tools for continuous process improvement

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What skills help Principal Project Engineers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on principal project engineer resumes?

Charles Jenckes

Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

For new graduates
1.Where the candidate went to school and what was studied
2.GPA
3.Any successful internships
4.Projects completed by the student

What principal project engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Bijan Shapoorian

Adjunct Professor, The University of Texas at Arlington

Staying up to date with the new software and available technology remains as one of the major challenges in this industry. Most software offer online tutorials.

What technical skills for a principal project engineer stand out to employers?

Martin Pietrucha Ph.D.

Program Coordinator and Professor, Pennsylvania State University

Given this trend, employers will be looking for the usual superior engineering knowledge and skill sets, but they will also be interested in those who can prove that they are excellent self-starters and time managers. Being able to demonstrate one's "flexibility" and an ability to think on one's feet will also be highly desirable.

What soft skills should all principal project engineers possess?

Brian Denton Ph.D.

Professor and Department Chair, University of Michigan

Communications, both written and verbal, are always important. So is leadership training, teamwork, and resilience. We expose our students to all of these topics, often referring to them as "essential skills" to make it clear how important they are.

What hard/technical skills are most important for principal project engineers?

Bryant Harrison

Instructor, Murray State University

Designing, prototyping, testing, and iterating are likely the most important skills for a design engineer. This is what we strive to teach at Murray State in our Design Engineering Technology program. Many sub-skills would fall into these categories, such as CAD, design for manufacturing, 3D printing, and destructive/non-destructive testing.

Do you want to know more?

List of principal project engineer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a principal project engineer resume and required skills for a principal project engineer to have include:

Project Management
Program Management
DOD
Risk Management
Project Scope
Earned Value Management
Engineering Projects
SharePoint
IPT
Product Development
PET
Technical Support
Engineering Design
Capital Projects
Sigma
Engineering Support

CAD
HVAC
Software Development
Architecture
Work Breakdown Structure
Cost Estimates
Business Development
Design Development
Design Reviews
Medical Devices
R
Fire Protection
EPC
Configuration Management
Solidworks
DOE

Product Line
Budget Management
FDA
Customer Support
Resource Planning
Engineering Services
Project Budget
Technical Issues
Construction Phase
Autocad
Real Estate
ISO
PMI
Cost Control

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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