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Senior electrical design engineer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted experts

Bryant Harrison,

Bryant Harrison

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical senior electrical design engineer skills. We ranked the top skills for senior electrical design engineers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 8.2% of senior electrical design engineer resumes contained electrical design as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a senior electrical design engineer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 senior electrical design engineer skills for your resume and career

1. Electrical Design

Electrical design refers to the whole process and includes all the steps which are involved in the development of any electrical equipment. In electrical design, planning and managing the process of designing and development, creating the equipment, and testing it to evaluate the equipment's performance are all integral steps.

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use electrical design:

Involved in complete electrical design for retrofit of existing 480V secondary distribution systems and integration of new equipment.
Assumed role of Project Manager/Electrical Designer for excitation/control and protection products for engine/generators and motor/generators.

2. RF

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use rf:

Developed a computer program to simulate EM fields, allowing RF array SNR optimization and significantly reducing prototyping time.
Improved RF capabilities of products through use of patch type of antenna which improved gain and increased range.

3. PCB

The PCB (Printed Circuit Board) refers to the hardware part housing all of the device's electrical connections.

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use pcb:

Managed the PCB layout, PCB fabrication, procurement, assembly, and verification of all boards and flex.
Coded the VHDL design, directed the PCB design and assembly, and performed integration and testing.

4. FPGA

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use fpga:

Re-designed module and FPGA to decrease circuit card assembly production cost by $10K and system cost by $70K.
Implement embedded FPGA processors (MicroBlaze, Power PC, ARM) and test/validation code to test/validate design peripherals.

5. Circuit Design

Circuit Design is the process of designing how an electrical circuit will be constructed. These designs can be used to create complex electrical systems or smaller systems with individual circuits integrated within a transistor. Simpler systems may only require a single designer, whereas larger and more complex designs require entire teams dedicated to the design and construction.

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use circuit design:

Performed analog and digital circuit design of products and systems for industrial and military applications.
Provided support for circuit design, component selection, procurement, prototype hardware debug, testing, and builds.

6. Design Development

Design development is used to refer to a number of positions and skills in a number of different industries. In the architectural world, Design Development is used to refer to an architectural plan that is already halfway or more done but needs further development, alteration, and testing. In the automotive industry, it refers to the skills necessary to create and develop new car, engine, and other designs, as well as to ensure that all designs are safe and effective.

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use design development:

Scheduled performance of the required design development, ensuring that projects have adequate resources to meet their goals.
Produce CAD documentation for all stages of Design Development, Schematic Design, Bid Documents and Construction Documents.

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7. Firmware

Firmware is a software, tangible electronic component, which contains necessary instructions for the hardware to work with the operating system. Firmware is embedded software instructions that are used to tell an electronic device on how to operate.

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use firmware:

Develop and deliver assembly firmware code of 2 very special and complicated image applications in 2 weeks and 4 weeks respectively.
Designed and implemented BOOT, BIST and Flash programming firmware, for the ARM CM0 platform.

8. Mentor Graphics

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use mentor graphics:

Designed several FPGA-based projects and associated power regulators using Mentor Graphics CAE/CAD/CAM tools.
Modeled and simulated schematics using Mentor Graphics SystemVision to ensure circuit would conform to EEE Parts De-Rating requirements.

9. UL

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use ul:

Performed FMEA, hardware fault detection diagnostics improvements, UL and CE certification testing, Fault Insertion Testing.
Completed the design and performed UL approval testing for a bed to sell on the international market.

10. System Design

System design refers to the electronic structural component of a system.

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use system design:

Required to learn industry standards governing system design for safe operation incorporating knowledge from other industries.
Reviewed test data with management and made appropriate recommendation to improve system design and validation.

11. CAD

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use cad:

Can read, design, input, and maintain complicated CAD drawings using various CAD/CAE tools.
Use CAD software to prepare new drawings, as required by project contract plans and specifications.

12. I2C

12C is a cloud-based database provided by Oracle and it's the first of its kind coming from the company. It's a high-performance database for enterprises with a multitenant framework that allows for seamless consolidation without having to enforce changes in the applications used.

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use i2c:

Developed various PIC I2C controller modules for remote distributed processing applications.
Designed high speed DDR interface to Photo-Multiplier tubes and created SPI and I2C interfaces to a TI OMAP Processor.

13. Ethernet

Ethernet refers to a system that connects a series of computers in a local area network (LAN). This is often done through ethernet cables, which plug into a router or other port in the modem in addition to the computer port. As ethernet connects only a local network, there are more protocols regarding how information is transmitted.

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use ethernet:

Create network communication systems with PROFIBUS, Ethernet Switches, MOXA Cards, Visual Graphics-FMS.
Designed main CPU board based around a 50MHz MPC860T Motorola PowerPC with embedded Ethernet controller.

14. Test Equipment

Test equipment is a mechanical tool or a device which is used create signals and gather response from an electronic device under test. It helps in detecting any faults in the device and it also proves the proper operation of the electronic device.

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use test equipment:

Developed scripts for HW verification environments to communicate with third-party test equipment and automate testing
Designed commanding/data acquisition unit in box level test equipment rack.

15. Autocad

Here's how senior electrical design engineers use autocad:

Created documentation in AutoCAD and Microsoft Excel to support plastics extrusion equipment.
Utilized AutoCAD 12, Microsoft Office, and AB-6200 programming software.

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What skills help Senior Electrical Design Engineers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on senior electrical design engineer resumes?

Bryant Harrison

Instructor, Murray State University

Design Engineers should be able to think creatively and be prepared to use software to solve problems. Students who have acquired certifications in design software have shown some level of aptitude toward using that software to create and design engineering solutions.

What soft skills should all senior electrical design engineers possess?

Bryant Harrison

Instructor, Murray State University

Engineers are constantly working with a variety of people on a project. These people could be other engineers in the same department or other departments, managers, stakeholders, and customers. The ability to communicate both on a technical and non-technical level with these people is likely the most important soft skill for a design engineer.

What hard/technical skills are most important for senior electrical design engineers?

Florian Solzbacher

Department Chair, Professor, Elect & Computer Engineering, University of Utah

First of all, the fundamentals (mostly math, physics, materials/chemistry) and basic EE/CE concepts need to be solid. As stated above: the ability to solve real-world development and system integration problems that require "global optimization" of technical performance as opposed to local optimization of specific sub-systems or components is really critical.

Beyond that, given the accelerating breadth of specializations and sub-areas, it is important that students have sufficient depth and breadth of knowledge in the specific area they are targeting. It is important that schools are offering tracks and guidance as to what skills are needed to allow students to successfully master engineering tasks across a range of sub-areas. We have to recognize that in the context of a 4-year program, it is no longer possible to train a student in all areas of ECE - a combined BS/MS degree or MS/Ph.D. degree obviously provides more runway to add breadth.

What senior electrical design engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Angela Rasmussen

Professor (Lecturer) Director of Mentoring and Advising Director of Electrical Engineering Senior Projects, University of Utah

Hone your skills by taking online classes, or consider getting something such as the University of Utah Electrical and Computer Engineering Online Master's Degree which can increase your overall income, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, by approximately $20,000 in comparison to just having a Bachelor of Science degree. Our department has removed many barriers and streamlined our admittance process for this upcoming Fall 2020 semester.

Another skill to expand is programming. Consider learning a new programming language to build on your current skills. Also, look at different job opportunities and choose a skill that you are lacking to improve upon.

What type of skills will young senior electrical design engineers need?

Aaron Ohta Ph.D.

Professor, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Graduates will, of course, need a solid technical background. They should have a good grasp of the fundamentals, and also know how to apply that knowledge to new situations, as technology is always changing. I've also heard from many recent graduates that they appreciate the "soft skills" that they learned in school, like how to give effective technical presentations and how to write technical reports.

Do you want to know more?

List of senior electrical design engineer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a senior electrical design engineer resume and required skills for a senior electrical design engineer to have include:

Electrical Design
RF
PCB
FPGA
Circuit Design
Design Development
Firmware
Mentor Graphics
UL
System Design
CAD
I2C
Ethernet
Test Equipment
Autocad
Power Electronics

Design Reviews
Signal Integrity
Project Management
VHDL
EMI
Dc
Aided Design
OrCAD
Embedded Systems
SPI
Verification Testing
LabVIEW
Debugging
DSP
Prototyping
GPS

System Integration
Ac
IEEE
Component Selection
EMC
USB
Microcontrollers
Control Systems
REA
Design Verification
Engineering Support
Technical Support
Equipment Specifications
Test Procedures
Electrical Equipment
PCI

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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