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The differences between senior design engineers and service 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 senior design engineer and a service engineer. Additionally, a senior design engineer has an average salary of $104,698, which is higher than the $87,151 average annual salary of a service engineer.
The top three skills for a senior design engineer include CAD, project management and RF. The most important skills for a service engineer are customer service, infrastructure, and cloud.
| Senior Design Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $104,698 | $87,151 |
| Hourly rate | $50.34 | $41.90 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 127,035 | 143,806 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A senior design engineer is responsible for creating mechanical and electrical designs for machines and systems, following clients' specifications and business guidelines. Senior design engineers also assist junior design engineers with their tasks, sharing best practices and techniques, and suggesting adjustments as needed. They also oversee the manufacturing process, inspect possible inconsistencies, and revise plans without exceeding the agreed budget or compromising the quality. A senior design engineer must be keen with details and highly organizational, especially on meeting deadlines with the highest client satisfaction.
A service engineer is responsible for assisting the customers' concerns regarding the products and services offered by the company through technical support solutions. Service engineers conduct preventive maintenance, upgrade systems to boost optimal performance, create product manuals, record the occurring issues, perform adjustments on the systems infrastructure, identify business opportunities to generate more revenues, and analyze current market trends to meet client demands. A service engineer must have excellent communication skills, including extensive knowledge of the technology industry and network systems.
Senior design engineers and service engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Design Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Average salary | $104,698 | $87,151 |
| Salary range | Between $80,000 And $136,000 | Between $62,000 And $122,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cupertino, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | The Citadel | |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior design engineer and a service engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Design Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Michigan Technological University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between senior design engineers' and service engineers' demographics:
| Senior Design Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 91.8% Female, 8.2% | Male, 91.8% Female, 8.2% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 13.2% White, 69.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |