How To Become A Senior Materials Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior materials engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

James Swisher,

Rick Wise Ph.D.

Senior materials engineer maintains systems that withstand stress and pressure caused by human use and environmental conditions. They configure structures, select suitable construction materials, inspect building work, and ensure buildings and systems' structural soundness.

Organizations want to employ an engineer with exceptional statistical, technical, and analytical ability. As a senior materials engineer, you should be detailed, imaginative, and have great problem-solving skills.

You should be investigative in nature and be reliable and competition conscious in order to achieve accomplishment. You should also have outstanding leadership skills with a particular interest in maintaining buildings' physical quality and stability and other large structures.

All in all, if you work in this sector, you can expect an annual average salary of $96,040.

What general advice would you give to a senior materials engineer?

James Swisher

Director of Continuing Education, Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers

It's truly an exciting time to be an Industrial and Systems Engineer. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects demand for ISEs to grow by 10% over the next ten years, which is much faster than the rate for all occupations. Firms across a broad range of industries will continue to focus on the skills that ISEs bring to improve efficiencies, enhance quality, and lower costs. In addition, ISEs bring skills in the related fields of big data, artificial intelligence, and project management that make them extremely valuable to organizations. ISEs ability to quickly make an impact in an organization also means that their potential for promotion is very good. It's a great profession to be in.

ScoreSenior Materials EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.8

Avg. Salary $107,546

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.2

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.34%

Asian 19.30%

Black or African American 2.02%

Hispanic or Latino 8.00%

Unknown 3.48%

White 66.86%

Gender

female 20.52%

male 79.48%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

5.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior materials engineer

Explore senior materials engineer education requirements

Most common senior materials engineer degrees

Bachelor's

68.2 %

Master's

17.4 %

Doctorate

7.2 %

Start to develop specific senior materials engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Failure Analysis	9.92%
Aerospace	8.75%
Project Management	8.46%
Polymer	5.66%
ASTM	4.64%

Complete relevant senior materials engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior materials engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior materials engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior materials engineer resumes.

Research senior materials engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage and successfully complete carbon/epoxy material qualification and gain approval from FAA to use in manufacturing of composite aircraft parts.
Use API, ASME and ASTM standards as guideline for repair and future design.
Develop welding programs, direct welders and work with NDT inspectors to solve production problems.
Counsele the ASTM fire safety board in developing potential safety standards for home d cor products.

Get senior materials engineer experience

Prepare your senior materials engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior materials engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior materials engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable senior materials engineer resume templates

Build a professional senior materials engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your senior materials engineer resume.

Apply for senior materials engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior materials engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do senior materials engineers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

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1 star

Senior materials engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2020

Pros

The diversity of tasks, interaction with all stakeholders, continuous learning process, communication. Allows great progression in many technical skills

Cons

Stakeholders missing deadlines

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019