How to hire a senior design project

How to hire a senior design project, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior design project hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a senior design project job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior design project
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior design project do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a senior design project, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A senior design project's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, senior design projects from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of senior design project salaries for various roles:

   Type of Senior Design Project	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Design Project	Mechanical engineering is one of the broadest engineering disciplines. Mechanical engineers design, develop, build, and test mechanical and thermal sensors and devices, including tools, engines, and machines.	$33-57
   Consulting Engineer	A consulting engineer is a professional who aids in the planning, designing, and construction of a project from the public and private clients. Consulting engineers are required to advise on the best component suitable according to the needs of their clients... Show more	$34-62
   Engineer	Engineers are highly trained professionals who determine the feasibility of various projects, usually related to the construction industry. They are considered experts in mathematics and science, two disciplines that they need to use in designing and coming up with plans for projects... Show more	$31-62

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Solidworks
   • Medical Devices
   • Prototype
   • CAD
   • Autocad
   • Design Projects
   • Arduino
   • Finite Element Analysis
   • C++
   • Design Development
   • R
   • Design Process
   • Python
   • LabVIEW

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Used CFD to evaluate airflow and test nozzle geometries that moreevenly distribute coal particulates to achieve optimal air fuel mixture.
   • Design and lead hardware embed systems comprising brakes, door actuators, and HVAC units for buses, subways and trains.
   • Engineer, manage and implement configuration and installation of complex Ethernet network backbones.
   • Develop the software part in python for result display.
   • Calculate the toe joint requirements using MATLAB base on the data from biomedical labs.
   • Gain experience in impedance matching, component selection, RF design, and PCB design.

   More senior design project duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your senior design project job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A senior design project can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, senior design projects' average salary in hawaii is 44% less than in washington.
   • Seniority. Entry-level senior design projects 42% less than senior-level senior design projects.
   • Certifications. A senior design project with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a senior design project's salary.

   Average senior design project salary

   $92,208yearly

   $44.33 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior design project salary

   $70,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 23, 2026

   Average senior design project salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$119,401	$57
   2	Washington	$116,602	$56
   3	District of Columbia	$105,785	$51
   4	New York	$98,052	$47
   5	Virginia	$96,786	$47
   6	Maryland	$96,323	$46
   7	Illinois	$96,133	$46
   8	New Jersey	$95,301	$46
   9	Massachusetts	$94,566	$45
   10	Texas	$89,754	$43
   11	Missouri	$88,285	$42
   12	New Hampshire	$86,167	$41
   13	Wisconsin	$84,839	$41
   14	Colorado	$84,152	$40
   15	Minnesota	$83,302	$40
   16	Indiana	$81,540	$39
   17	Florida	$79,935	$38
   18	Hawaii	$64,524	$31

   Average senior design project salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	HDR	$95,018	$45.68	124
   2	Atwell	$93,815	$45.10	20
   3	Eversource Energy	$93,496	$44.95	11
   4	Jupiter I LLC	$92,109	$44.28
   5	American Consulting Inc	$92,109	$44.28	19
   6	HNTB	$90,129	$43.33	237
   7	Amazon	$90,083	$43.31	248
   8	Insidesource	$89,140	$42.86	2
   9	RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture	$86,437	$41.56
   10	Perkins Eastman	$85,889	$41.29	14
   11	Perkins&Will	$85,760	$41.23	11
   12	Goettsch Partners	$85,403	$41.06
   13	HOK	$85,359	$41.04	21
   14	Affiliated Engineers	$85,183	$40.95	35
   15	Edward Jones	$83,315	$40.06	1
   16	Gkkworks	$81,139	$39.01
   17	Page Southerland Page	$79,189	$38.07
   18	DDG	$76,899	$36.97
   19	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$73,435	$35.31	6
   20	Cubellis	$71,588	$34.42

4. Writing a senior design project job description

   A job description for a senior design project role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a senior design project job description:

   Senior design project job description example

   SMMA is seeking an experienced designer with an established exploration toolset including hand sketching, research, whiteboarding, diagramming, charretting, 3D exploration in Rhino or SketchUp, and Revit. You are a self-starter, have a bias for action, and are generous with your ideas and process.
   
   You see project representation as an extension of the design. The ability to frame views and tell a story through design imagery is essential. Proficiency in software like Vray or Enscape is required. Postproduction skills in Photoshop are expected. Occasionally, you will collaborate with our talented Visualization Team, but for the most part, you will be the primary author of most project visuals and renderings.
   
   You will craft presentations in PowerPoint and produce booklets in InDesign. Revit will be used for schematic-level drawings and documentation.
   
   You are not behind-the-scenes project support, producing work for others to present. You will present to clients, communities, and within the office. You understand that verbal presentations and crafting stories are an extension of design. You are an emerging design leader for your clients.
   
   In summary, you can efficiently work across various design and presentation mediums, knowing which combination of tools and techniques will be required to achieve the desired outcome.
   
   You will encounter various project types and work from suburban to urban environments, from buildings to planning. Experience in the design of commercial architecture is preferred. You know how buildings go together; this background informs your early design ideas.
   
   You will have experienced in-house project architects, technical staff, and engineers to bounce ideas off when required. But, in the early stages of an investigation, you can draw upon experience—or quickly get up to speed—to inform the big moves of a project. You are able to investigate zoning constraints, pro forma, building typologies, exterior envelopes, structural grids, building cores, relevant building codes, sustainability, and constructability, to name a few.
   
   Our clients engage with SMMA to solve complex problems. This kind of problem-solving often involves collaborating with our landscape architects, interior designers, design technologists, and engineers at the earliest stages. Despite a project’s constraints and challenges, you pursue conceptual clarity and elegance, which is the hard-earned absence of excess. Outcomes must please the individual user and elevate the community while fulfilling the goals of the client. Not every idea will lead to a built project, but you will treat every pursuit as if it could. The cadence of work is difficult to project, but you are flexible, and can tackle any challenge at any time.
   
   You will collaborate directly with the Principal-in-charge, working one on one to discover and establish a project's direction. Small design teams, led by you, may form around certain pursuits. You are intrinsically motivated to discover and create meaningful work while contributing to greater design studio at SMMA.
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5. Post your job

   To find senior design projects for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any senior design projects they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level senior design projects with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior design project job on Zippia to find and recruit senior design project candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit senior design projects, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior design project

   Once you've decided on a perfect senior design project candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new senior design project. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a senior design project?