Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior architectural designers and project designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a senior architectural designer, becoming a project designer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a senior architectural designer has an average salary of $74,891, which is higher than the $64,943 average annual salary of a project designer.
The top three skills for a senior architectural designer include revit, autocad and design concepts. The most important skills for a project designer are revit, sketch, and design concepts.
| Senior Architectural Designer | Project Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $74,891 | $64,943 |
| Hourly rate | $36.01 | $31.22 |
| Growth rate | -3% | 1% |
| Number of jobs | 53,724 | 60,364 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Average age | 45 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 4 |
A senior architectural designer's responsibilities include designing buildings, providing instructions to a manufacturing team, and using architectural design software to create models. Specifications for designs may be provided by clients or by a company. Senior architectural designers must also ensure that their buildings comply with all legal standards.
A Project Designer provides assistance in project design and development activities based on customer requirements. They develop solutions to client architectural complexities.
Senior architectural designers and project designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Architectural Designer | Project Designer | |
| Average salary | $74,891 | $64,943 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $101,000 | Between $47,000 And $89,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | New Mexico |
| Best paying company | Western Digital | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Media | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a senior architectural designer and a project designer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Architectural Designer | Project Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Architecture | Architecture |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | Cornell University |
Here are the differences between senior architectural designers' and project designers' demographics:
| Senior Architectural Designer | Project Designer | |
| Average age | 45 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 73.9% Female, 26.1% | Male, 66.5% Female, 33.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 7.0% White, 72.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 1.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% Asian, 4.6% White, 82.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 23% |