Principle engineer vs senior engineer

The differences between principle engineers and senior 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 principle engineer and a senior engineer. Additionally, a principle engineer has an average salary of $126,143, which is higher than the $108,743 average annual salary of a senior engineer.

The top three skills for a principle engineer include architecture, java and R. The most important skills for a senior engineer are java, python, and architecture.

Principle engineer vs senior engineer overview

	Principle Engineer	Senior Engineer
Yearly salary	$126,143	$108,743
Hourly rate	$60.65	$52.28
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	158,235	343,200
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	6	6

Principle engineer vs senior engineer salary

Principle engineers and senior engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Principle Engineer	Senior Engineer
Average salary	$126,143	$108,743
Salary range	Between $92,000 And $171,000	Between $82,000 And $144,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Mateo, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	The Walt Disney Company	Roku
Best paying industry	Finance	Start-up

Differences between principle engineer and senior engineer education

There are a few differences between a principle engineer and a senior engineer in terms of educational background:

	Principle Engineer	Senior Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Michigan Technological University

Principle engineer vs senior engineer demographics

Here are the differences between principle engineers' and senior engineers' demographics:

	Principle Engineer	Senior Engineer
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 94.5% Female, 5.5%	Male, 89.1% Female, 10.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 17.0% White, 67.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 17.1% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between principle engineer and senior engineer duties and responsibilities

Principle engineer example responsibilities.

Lead cross-functional development initiatives compliant with FDA 21 CFR 820.
Code the Linux socket base GigE protocol to manage and transfer streams of video data.
Manage Terraform and refactore from monolithic to application specific components.
Set up and configure PHP Java bridge to enable invoking Java services from a PHP script.
Design and develop low-level FC device driver as well as the Linux kernel interface layer for the product.
Have a detail-orient with a track record of delivering infrastructure enhancements on time and with minimal impacts to production.

Senior engineer example responsibilities.

Tune the TCP/IP, NFS and CIFS for 1Gb and 10Gb Ethernet to achieve performance goals.
Manage multiple releases of a global CRM initiative with on time and within budget deployment.
Implement and support migration tool used to automate promotion of code throughout all SDLC environments.
Manage & lead process analysis, design, & ERP implementation engagements at various client locations.
Design, lead design, or participate in design of five T/R modules for phase array antennas.
Create customized shell scripts to start-up and shut-down WebLogic admin and manage servers and integrate them with the OS.

Principle engineer vs senior engineer skills

Common principle engineer skills

Architecture, 10%
Java, 9%
R, 5%
API, 4%
System Design, 4%
Product Development, 4%

Common senior engineer skills

Java, 10%
Python, 9%
Architecture, 7%
JavaScript, 4%
API, 4%
GIT, 3%