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The differences between senior architectural designers and senior architects 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 senior architect takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a senior architect has an average salary of $91,624, which is higher than the $74,891 average annual salary of a senior architectural designer.
The top three skills for a senior architectural designer include revit, autocad and design concepts. The most important skills for a senior architect are cloud, java, and infrastructure.
| Senior Architectural Designer | Senior Architect | |
| Yearly salary | $74,891 | $91,624 |
| Hourly rate | $36.01 | $44.05 |
| Growth rate | -3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 53,724 | 103,428 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| 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 Senior Architect performs design drafting and evaluates architectural or engineering plans regarding building construction or improvement projects. They review building plans and site design for aesthetics, environmental acceptability, and compliance with quality standards.
Senior architectural designers and senior architects have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Architectural Designer | Senior Architect | |
| Average salary | $74,891 | $91,624 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $101,000 | Between $58,000 And $143,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Western Digital | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Media | - |
There are a few differences between a senior architectural designer and a senior architect in terms of educational background:
| Senior Architectural Designer | Senior Architect | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Architecture | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | Cornell University |
Here are the differences between senior architectural designers' and senior architects' demographics:
| Senior Architectural Designer | Senior Architect | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 73.9% Female, 26.1% | Male, 89.0% Female, 11.0% |
| 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, 2.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 16.1% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 15% |