Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior industrial engineers and product support engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior industrial engineer, becoming a product support engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a product support engineer has an average salary of $90,379, which is higher than the $87,816 average annual salary of a senior industrial engineer.
The top three skills for a senior industrial engineer include project management, lean manufacturing and lean six sigma. The most important skills for a product support engineer are product support, technical support, and troubleshoot.
| Senior Industrial Engineer | Product Support Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $87,816 | $90,379 |
| Hourly rate | $42.22 | $43.45 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 49,895 | 201,554 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A senior industrial engineer is a manufacturing professional who develops improvements and maintains the efficiency of a company's manufacturing processes. Senior industrial engineers are required to carry out feasibility analyses while developing new product designs and make modifications to the current designs. They collect data to identify opportunities to streamline, improve, and increase standardization as well as evaluate workflow to improve safety and efficiency. They must also facilitate cross-team interactions and train teams in quality assurance and other tasks.
A product support engineer is responsible for resolving technical issues of end-users regarding the products and services offered by the company. Product support engineers conduct troubleshooting operations for system failures and write resolution reports for reference. They also support the product analysts in improving the product's features and processes to prevent the reoccurrence of defects and maintain optimal performance. A product support engineer designs automation procedures and runs multiple diagnostic tests to ensure high-quality outputs and avoid operational delays.
Senior industrial engineers and product support engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Industrial Engineer | Product Support Engineer | |
| Average salary | $87,816 | $90,379 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $113,000 | Between $67,000 And $121,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Amazon | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior industrial engineer and a product support engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Industrial Engineer | Product Support Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Industrial Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | New York University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between senior industrial engineers' and product support engineers' demographics:
| Senior Industrial Engineer | Product Support Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 85.2% Female, 14.8% | Male, 80.7% Female, 19.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 11.2% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 13.0% White, 69.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 5% |