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The differences between senior development engineers and senior staff 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 development engineer and a senior staff engineer. Additionally, a senior staff engineer has an average salary of $136,031, which is higher than the $113,763 average annual salary of a senior development engineer.
The top three skills for a senior development engineer include java, python and C++. The most important skills for a senior staff engineer are python, java, and architecture.
| Senior Development Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $113,763 | $136,031 |
| Hourly rate | $54.69 | $65.40 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 295,281 | 239,752 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A senior development engineer is responsible for designing and developing products and systems according to the needs of an organization. They typically conduct extensive research and analysis, create plans with designers and other engineers, build prototypes and test structures, troubleshoot problems, and create strategies to optimize operations. Moreover, being the senior development engineer, they must lead and serve as a role model to junior engineers in reaching goals, all while enforcing and promoting the company's policies and regulations.
A senior staff engineer is responsible for supervising a team of engineers, chemists, software developers, or molecular biologists. His/Her or her responsibilities include generating Structured Query Language (SQL) performance audit checklist template, creating SQL data query routines and functions for data extraction, and working directly with stakeholders. The job requires strong mechanical, listening, and mathematical skills and proficiency in Python programming language and computer architecture and hardware. The education requirements for the job include a bachelor's or master's degree in electrical engineering, business, mechanical engineering, or a related field.
Senior development engineers and senior staff engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Development Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Average salary | $113,763 | $136,031 |
| Salary range | Between $87,000 And $148,000 | Between $95,000 And $194,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Netflix | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Telecommunication |
There are a few differences between a senior development engineer and a senior staff engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Development Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | California State Polytechnic University, Pomona |
Here are the differences between senior development engineers' and senior staff engineers' demographics:
| Senior Development Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 92.0% Female, 8.0% | Male, 78.4% Female, 21.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 16.8% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 16.8% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |