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The differences between product quality engineers 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 quality engineer, becoming a product design engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a product design engineer has an average salary of $94,827, which is higher than the $94,173 average annual salary of a product quality engineer.
The top three skills for a product quality engineer include product quality, continuous improvement and sigma. The most important skills for a product design engineer are CAD, mechanical design, and GD.
| Product Quality Engineer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $94,173 | $94,827 |
| Hourly rate | $45.28 | $45.59 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 152,621 | 170,485 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A product quality engineer is responsible for conducting quality check procedures for outputs and manufacturing processes to ensure high-quality deliverables according to business requirements and client specifications. Product quality engineers implement quality assessment criteria with strict adherence to internal guidelines and regulatory policies. They inspect the tools and equipment used for the production and solve inconsistencies, recommending and writing process reports to prevent fault reoccurrence that may affect product standards and market quality and cause distribution delays.
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 quality engineers and product design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Product Quality Engineer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Average salary | $94,173 | $94,827 |
| Salary range | Between $71,000 And $124,000 | Between $69,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a product quality engineer and a product design engineer in terms of educational background:
| Product Quality Engineer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between product quality engineers' and product design engineers' demographics:
| Product Quality Engineer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 81.8% Female, 18.2% | Male, 90.9% Female, 9.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 15.1% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | 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 | 4% | 5% |