What does a senior engineer/scientist do?
A senior engineer/scientist has to help their company in building system backups, maintaining a technology system, and maintaining a LAN/WAN network. They create schematics, configure company networks, and create PCB designs.
Senior engineer/scientist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior engineer/scientist resumes:
- Manage third party vendor equipment mainly running on Unix and AIX such as VMS and SMS.
- Provide consultation to the ISO team in achieving certification, and enable company to win many more deals as a result.
- Used high speed oscilloscopes and logic analyzers for debugging memory issues on internal and customer designs.
- Install and upgrade various servers (Unix and NT), switches and routers on the test wireless network.
- Perform engineering verification testing and debugging of update products using digital oscilloscopes, logic analyzers and assort basic test equipment.
- Develop synthesize-able decimation filter architecture.
- Skil using VMware update manager to install patches and updates on ESX hosts and virtual machines.
- Implement complete test facility including hardware, network equipment and software (OS & custom).
- Support DevOps effort by creating all virtual OS base images and providing OS configuration assistance as required.
- Integrate VMware into existing network and storage infrastructures.
- Develop synthesize-able decimation filter architecture.
Senior engineer/scientist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Senior Engineers/Scientist are proficient in Java, Technical Reports, and Technical Support. They’re also known for soft skills such as Business skills, Analytical skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Engineers/Scientist that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Java, 12%
Involved Java, JSON, Ruby-on-Rails RESTful resources for Amazon EC2/S3 cloud system, Hadoop, map-reduce, test-driven-development.
- Technical Reports, 8%
Conducted engineering analyses, wrote technical reports, and technical presentations.
- Technical Support, 7%
Provided technical support, investigative summaries and product impact assessments for deviation management.
- Product Development, 7%
Lead project for research and development to initiate subsequent product development processes for medical system.
- Project Management, 7%
Involved in all areas of system design, specification and project management in manufacturing improvement programs.
- DOD, 5%
Developed agency wide Information Assurance operating instructions and provided oversight to the DoD Information Assurance Vulnerability Alert Management within the MDA.
Most senior engineers/scientist use their skills in "java," "technical reports," and "technical support" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential senior engineer/scientist responsibilities here:
Business skills. The most essential soft skill for a senior engineer/scientist to carry out their responsibilities is business skills. This skill is important for the role because "meeting federal standards in aerospace engineering requires business knowledge, including commercial law." Additionally, a senior engineer/scientist resume shows how their duties depend on business skills: "monitored and implemented business pattern to comply with program management and cross community reviews. "
Analytical skills. Another essential skill to perform senior engineer/scientist duties is analytical skills. Senior engineers/scientist responsibilities require that "aerospace engineers must be able to evaluate project design elements and propose improvements, if necessary." Senior engineers/scientist also use analytical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "developed the patented technologies for a video microscope system for visualization of micro-vascular circulation, and blood flow analysis. "
Math skills. For certain senior engineer/scientist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "math skills." The day-to-day duties of a senior engineer/scientist rely on this skill, as "aerospace engineers use calculus, trigonometry, and other math in their analysis, design, and troubleshooting work." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what senior engineers/scientist do: "developed dsp algorithms and digital iir and fir filters utilizing matlab, mathematica, and c/c++ for power line communication system. "
Problem-solving skills. Another crucial skill for a senior engineer/scientist to carry out their responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." A big part of what senior engineers/scientist relies on this skill, since "aerospace engineers upgrade designs and troubleshoot problems to improve aircraft, such as for increased fuel efficiency or safety." How this skill relates to senior engineer/scientist duties can be seen in an example from a senior engineer/scientist resume snippet: "conducted hydraulic systems tests, analyzed test results and resolved test anomalies on the delta launch vehicle. "
The three companies that hire the most senior engineer/scientists are:
- Ultrahaptics10 senior engineers/scientist jobs
- L3Harris6 senior engineers/scientist jobs
- The Aerospace Corporation6 senior engineers/scientist jobs
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Senior engineer/scientist vs. Stress analyst
A stress analyst is a type of aerospace engineer; they design, construct, and test aircraft. They may also work on missiles or spacecraft. They primarily study design requirements for the overall strength of a craft. They analyze the stress data of structural components and prepare mathematical models of issues.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior engineer/scientist are more likely to require skills like "java," "technical support," "product development," and "project management." On the other hand, a job as a stress analyst requires skills like "abaqus," "airframe," "structural integrity," and "ansys." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Stress analysts tend to make the most money working in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $87,231. In contrast, senior engineers/scientist make the biggest average salary, $114,509, in the pharmaceutical industry.On average, stress analysts reach similar levels of education than senior engineers/scientist. Stress analysts are 4.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 11.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior engineer/scientist vs. Principal systems engineer
A Principal Systems Engineer supervises a group of other engineers in technical projects. They develop and lead systems engineering projects and efforts.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, senior engineer/scientist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "technical reports," "product development," "architecture," and "doe." Meanwhile, a principal systems engineer has duties that require skills in areas such as "system design," "infrastructure," "system integration," and "linux." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
On average, principal systems engineers earn a higher salary than senior engineers/scientist. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, principal systems engineers earn the most pay in the telecommunication industry with an average salary of $134,626. Whereas senior engineers/scientist have higher pay in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $114,509.principal systems engineers earn similar levels of education than senior engineers/scientist in general. They're 4.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 11.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior engineer/scientist vs. Senior structural designer
A senior structural designer designs structures such as bridges, dams, parks, or telecommunication structures. They create designs, document them, and analyze structural functionality. Frequently, they must attend meetings and seminars to distribute designs to junior structural designers. They also perform peer reviews and write reports.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from senior engineer/scientist resumes include skills like "java," "technical reports," "technical support," and "product development," whereas a senior structural designer is more likely to list skills in "autocad," "revit," "structural design," and "navisworks. "
Senior structural designers earn the highest salary when working in the utilities industry, where they receive an average salary of $101,786. Comparatively, senior engineers/scientist have the highest earning potential in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $114,509.senior structural designers typically earn lower educational levels compared to senior engineers/scientist. Specifically, they're 15.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 13.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior engineer/scientist vs. Flight test engineer
A flight test engineer is primarily in charge of testing and overseeing aircraft performances, ensuring every aspect aligns with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other governing agencies' policies and regulations. Their responsibilities revolve around planning and developing efficient test structures and criteria, examining mechanical and electrical systems, coordinating with other staff to gather necessary documentation, assessing risks, and identifying an aircraft's strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, as a flight test engineer, it is essential to analyze data and produce extensive reports that explain all test procedures and observations in detail.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between senior engineers/scientist and flight test engineers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a senior engineer/scientist might have more use for skills like "product development," "project management," "systems engineering," and "system performance." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of flight test engineers require skills like "control room," "data analysis," "avionics," and "test execution. "
The transportation industry tends to pay the highest salaries for flight test engineers, with average annual pay of $95,877. Comparatively, the highest senior engineer/scientist annual salary comes from the pharmaceutical industry.flight test engineers reach similar levels of education compared to senior engineers/scientist, in general. The difference is that they're 2.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 13.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of senior engineer/scientist
Updated January 8, 2025











