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The differences between senior facilities engineers and chief 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 facilities engineer and a chief engineer. Additionally, a chief engineer has an average salary of $108,050, which is higher than the $94,175 average annual salary of a senior facilities engineer.
The top three skills for a senior facilities engineer include project management, HVAC and preventative maintenance. The most important skills for a chief engineer are HVAC, plumbing, and customer service.
| Senior Facilities Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $94,175 | $108,050 |
| Hourly rate | $45.28 | $51.95 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 92,261 | 88,473 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A senior facilities engineer must plan, design, and oversee equipment and machinery. They provide both office service and field service. They look after the engineering operations to maximize the efficiency of a company, and they determine labor and material costs to set budgets.
A chief engineer is responsible for monitoring the engineering department's overall operations, ensuring performance efficiency, and everyone's strict compliance with the safety standards and regulatory procedures. Chief engineers manage the distribution of the tasks to the team, communicate with the clients and management for instructions and specifications, monitor expenses and forecast sales reports, analyze and approve designs, negotiate contracts, and process disputes. A chief engineer must have excellent knowledge of the engineering disciplines and exemplary leadership skills to handle the team's performance towards the company's objectives.
Senior facilities engineers and chief engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Facilities Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Average salary | $94,175 | $108,050 |
| Salary range | Between $64,000 And $137,000 | Between $65,000 And $177,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Antonio, TX | Palo Alto, CA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | California |
| Best paying company | Chevron | BGC Partners |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Transportation |
There are a few differences between a senior facilities engineer and a chief engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Facilities Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between senior facilities engineers' and chief engineers' demographics:
| Senior Facilities Engineer | Chief Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 93.1% Female, 6.9% | Male, 96.2% Female, 3.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 10.3% White, 72.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 10.2% White, 71.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |