Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between product designers and product design engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a product designer, becoming a product design engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a product designer has an average salary of $102,033, which is higher than the $94,827 average annual salary of a product design engineer.
The top three skills for a product designer include sketch, visual design and UI. The most important skills for a product design engineer are CAD, mechanical design, and GD.
| Product Designer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $102,033 | $94,827 |
| Hourly rate | $49.05 | $45.59 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 98,465 | 170,485 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 40 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A product designer's key responsibilities are to perform design research, selecting the best materials, and develop user storyboards for the client and users' best interest. Product designers usually work with a whole design team, documenting suggestions to deliver high-quality outputs or improve existing products to match the market trends. They must also communicate with other skilled professionals to enhance their ideas and consult clients for any necessary adjustments that would affect the total user experience. A product designer should also have extensive knowledge of the consumer's preference to make the design more appealing and engaging.
A Product Design Engineer designs new products that customers will want to purchase. They are responsible for designing, modeling, and testing prototypes for products.
Product designers and product design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Product Designer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Average salary | $102,033 | $94,827 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $152,000 | Between $69,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | Sacramento, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Netflix | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a product designer and a product design engineer in terms of educational background:
| Product Designer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between product designers' and product design engineers' demographics:
| Product Designer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Average age | 40 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 74.2% Female, 25.8% | Male, 90.9% Female, 9.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.3% Asian, 10.1% White, 76.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 16.2% White, 67.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 5% |