Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
Job outlook for senior materials engineers in the United States
Senior materials engineer job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected senior materials engineer job growth rate is 6% from 2018-2028.
About 1,300 new jobs for senior materials engineers are projected over the next decade.
Senior materials engineer salaries have increased 2% for senior materials engineers in the last 5 years.
There are over 9,273 senior materials engineers currently employed in the United States.
There are 42,796 active senior materials engineer job openings in the US.
The average senior materials engineer salary is $107,546.
Are senior materials engineer jobs in demand?
Senior materials engineer job and salary trends over time
Senior materials engineer jobs over time
Senior materials engineer job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9,273 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 10,656 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 11,551 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 11,599 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 11,715 | 0.00% |
Average senior materials engineer salary over time
Senior materials engineer salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $107,546 | $51.70 | +2.4% |
| 2024 | $104,982 | $50.47 | +1.0% |
| 2023 | $103,892 | $49.95 | --2.3% |
| 2022 | $106,388 | $51.15 | +1.4% |
| 2021 | $104,926 | $50.45 | +2.2% |
Senior materials engineer jobs by state
Most common states for senior materials engineers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 258 | 37% |
| 2 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 943 | 14% |
| 3 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 168 | 13% |
| 4 | Delaware | 961,939 | 124 | 13% |
| 5 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,019 | 12% |
| 6 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 461 | 11% |
| 7 | California | 39,536,653 | 3,824 | 10% |
| 8 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 755 | 10% |
| 9 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 614 | 10% |
| 10 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 556 | 10% |
| 11 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 533 | 10% |
| 12 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 265 | 9% |
| 13 | Arizona | 7,016,270 | 531 | 8% |
| 14 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 681 | 7% |
| 15 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 435 | 7% |
| 16 | Alabama | 4,874,747 | 318 | 7% |
| 17 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 142 | 7% |
| 18 | Vermont | 623,657 | 46 | 7% |
| 19 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 591 | 6% |
| 20 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 35 | 6% |
Most common cities for senior materials engineers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marietta | 1 | 2% | $119,846 |
| 2 | Severn | 1 | 2% | $117,311 |
| 3 | Glendale | 3 | 1% | $114,140 |
| 4 | Cincinnati | 2 | 1% | $96,634 |
| 5 | Carlsbad | 1 | 1% | $118,836 |
| 6 | Clearwater | 1 | 1% | $117,565 |
| 7 | Hawthorne | 1 | 1% | $119,663 |
| 8 | Lowell | 1 | 1% | $117,289 |
| 9 | Palo Alto | 1 | 1% | $125,632 |
| 10 | Denver | 1 | 0% | $108,785 |
| 11 | San Francisco | 1 | 0% | $125,740 |
| 12 | Seattle | 1 | 0% | $118,382 |
| 13 | Tucson | 1 | 0% | $114,194 |
Senior Materials Engineer job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of senior materials engineer experts
University of California, Santa Barbara
Arizona State University at the Polytechnic Campus
University of Southern Mississippi
North Dakota State University
North Dakota State University
University of Arkansas
Binghamton University
Clarkson University
California State Polytechnic University - Pomona
Pennsylvania State University
North Carolina State University
Wichita State University
Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers
Omar Saleh
Chair, Materials DepartmentUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
Materials Sciences
What general advice would you give to a Senior Materials Engineer?
Omar Saleh: Technical skills related to the subject areas mentioned above will become important and prevalent. Computational skills specifically are more important now than ten years ago, and this will stay the same in the next 3-5 years.
What Senior Materials Engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Omar Saleh: It is widely agreed that the importance of materials science will only grow in the next several decades, so it is a great time to get started in the field. Growth is expected because materials science is posed to address many of the most challenging problems in society.
What will help Senior Materials Engineers increase their earning potential?
Omar Saleh: I think there is a clear answer to this, but I don't really think it is the correct long-term decision. The short term answer is to develop machine-learning/AI skills, as those skills are very highly-valued at the moment.
Jerry Gintz CMfgE
Teaching ProfessorArizona State University at the Polytechnic Campus
Manufacturing Engineering
What Senior Materials Engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Jerry Gintz CMfgE: From a manufacturing engineering perspective, the most important skills an engineer will need is the ability to understand, design, assemble, and deploy production capable systems. This includes an expertise with computer-aided engineering tools to assist in the design and verification of engineered systems before a company expends capital on the equipment.
What general advice would you give to a Senior Materials Engineer?
Dr. James Rawlins: The career field is ripe for students that want to solve problems and be rewarded for doing so consistently. There is a current shortage of STEM related recent graduates based upon both current retiring positions and future needs. Deloitte estimates that there will be 4.6 million manufacturing jobs to fill between 2018 and 2028. There will be a shortfall of 2.4 million and that will drive opportunities and salaries higher, estimated to be 1.7X average all position salary growth (onetonline.org) for those that have STEM related degrees. Polymer scientists, engineers and plastics engineers are highly sought after and needed.
What Senior Materials Engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. James Rawlins: We graduate polymer scientist and engineers those degrees are slightly different from plastics engineers but also very similar. Our students careers would be focused on utilizing new and legacy technology to deliver new performance and novel applications of polymeric materials. We present skills that allow our students to work in almost every area of research, development and engineering that is related to societal needs. Those that prefer to work daily in a laboratory would be able to do so in most career fields, testing materials, formulating new products and often being the technical lead with customer focused projects to match their needs and expectations. Those that prefer to move from a laboratory to sales and marketing also do so very successfully. The transition from inventing, making and testing polymeric materials happens often for those that prefer to sell and interface with customers. These bachelor degreed scientist and engineers would often travel to customers, explain technical projects and timelines associated with research and development.
What will help Senior Materials Engineers increase their earning potential?
Dr. James Rawlins: Historically, our students love their chosen careers, with the versatility to be in laboratories for product development, new materials synthesis and research, or in sales, marketing, technical marketing, management, production there are plenty of mobility, growth and travel opportunities. Some of our students want small to medium sized companies with lots of diverse challenges and an exciting pace while there are also many exciting opportunities in medium to large companies with many chances for mentoring, to be mentored and to grow within a larger organization. There are plenty of options for all of the varied career outlooks and perspectives.
Dr. David Grewell Ph.D.
Department Chair and ProfessorNorth Dakota State University
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department
What skills will help Senior Materials Engineers earn the most?
Dr. David Grewell Ph.D.: Good communication and leadership skills that are embedded in their curriculum enable IE's to quickly move up the corporate ladder and become the CEO of the nation's leading companies.
Andriy Voronov
ProfessorNorth Dakota State University
Coatings and Polymeric Materials Department
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Senior Materials Engineers?
Andriy Voronov: I think most graduate programs in materials science offer opportunities for interdisciplinary research and educational activities. Their philosophy is to educate and prepare job prospects by providing advanced aspects of work, including extensive collaborations between departments, programs, institutions or with industrial partners. Offering specialized trainings in various areas, graduate programs aim to merge basic and applied research within the certain field. With this said, quit often graduate programs work also with leading industrial scientists who help to provide to the graduates new and practical directions to become competitive at the job market. Answering your question more specifically, graduate programs do target as complementary and comprehensive education as possible. It will be interesting to hear from graduates what courses they took have the biggest impact for them, as well as if they need any additional certifications/licenses and which specifically.
What technical skills for a Senior Materials Engineer stand out to employers?
Rick Wise Ph.D.: Materials Science and Engineering graduates with MS and/or PhD degrees are expected to have a working knowledge of materials characterization equipment and how to interpret measurement results. Most will have an in-depth knowledge of materials used in a particular field (electronics, photonics, nanomaterials, energy, biological, etc.), in the fabricatoin/processing of those materials, and how to control and optimize the properties to meet the desired application. Especially valued is the capability to combine that knowledge with creativity to bring about innovations which help solve problems and create markets.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Senior Materials Engineers?
Rick Wise Ph.D.: We are a graduate program where students must complete research in order to receive their MS or PhD degree. Except those involved in computational materials science, most of our students will have effectively lost 6-9 months of time in their research labs due to COVID-19 access restrictions and limitations on number of students allowed in the lab. Although, I do not believe this will necessarily be an enduring impact, it will delay graduation timelines for many of them by 1-2 semesters. Consequently, one enduring impact will be the lost salary from this delay in entering the job market.
What's a day at work look like for a Senior Materials Engineer?
Rick Wise Ph.D.: Materials Science and Engineering jobs spread across many industries but typically include hands-on, in-person activities in materials synthesis, characterization, development, and manufacture. As in academic environments, COVID restrictions in industry and government lab environments will necessarily slow the learning curve as recent graduates transition into these jobs. Although by necessity, the availability and quality of virtual training has improved, it does not replace the value of hands-on training and in-person mentoring while learning the required tasks of the job. Several recent graduates have had most interaction with their new co-workers online which changes the dynamics of the socialization process into the company culture. Many companies have learned to adapt, made sure new hires are engaged, and made changes to allow safe return to the work environment. This hybrid arrangement seems to be the norm at present.
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Senior Materials Engineers?
Junghyun Cho Ph.D.: The application of machine learning to materials science is growing, so any courses related to machine learning and data science can be beneficial. Traditionally biomaterials and biomedical engineering topics are not covered much in the materials science curriculum, but the courses covering these topics will be of use. In materials science, there are not many licenses that can be pursued before graduation.
What's a good job out of college for Senior Materials Engineers?
Junghyun Cho Ph.D.: Manufacturing fields in automobiles, electronics, and energy sectors provide a good opportunity for the materials science graduates. These fields not only offer a well-paid position but also an opportunities for further growing into a managerial position or going to the graduate school for the advanced degrees.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Senior Materials Engineer job market given the pandemic?
Junghyun Cho Ph.D.: I think we will see more jobs in the field of autonomous systems, data science, and biomedical engineering because of the pandemic. Materials science and engineering will play a critical role in or be closely related to these fields.
What's a good job out of college for Senior Materials Engineers?
Tracy Farrell: A "good" job out of college, in my opinion, is an entry-level position with a company that provides advancement. I would recommend that if graduates did not take advantage of internship opportunities, early and often, they will be at a disadvantage to "think they know it all" and have proven not to be as successful. Entry positions offer valuable training and teach transferable skills that can only be gained in entry-level positions (or internships) like communication skills, time management, organization, teamwork, aspects of all positions.
I strongly recommend that a graduate start interning well before they graduate. Internships can serve as "entry-level positions" providing opportunities for learning, growth, and hands-on experience they would not have otherwise. NYS high school business education programs have been offering internships for years, for credit, and many students do not take advantage of these programs.
What technical skills for a Senior Materials Engineer stand out to employers?
Tracy Farrell: Technical skills that employers are seeking include "real" computer skills like Microsoft Office Suite tools, proper communication skills via email and website development and postings, developing proper document format that is appropriate to send to stakeholders (i.e., letter formatting, report writing, email formatting); strong communication skills that include speaking professionally and respectfully to stakeholders as well as writing professionally (i.e., making eye contact when speaking, proper handshake, respectful dialogue including questioning); project management - knowing how to organize work and develop a timeline that includes who will be responsible for what and follow through; data analysis - being able to not only present data in an organized and understandable manner; but, be able to interpret data correctly offering the justification behind what they are interpreting and why.
Respectfully, today's graduates do not understand that being able to text and use social media does not prepare them for "real" computer skills. Many students that I have in high school and in college do not have proper writing skills, document formatting skills, or document management skills to know how to save documents properly and where to save to.
Jonathan Puthoff
Associate ProfessorCalifornia State Polytechnic University - Pomona
Chemical and Materials Engineering
What skills stand out on Senior Materials Engineer resumes?
Jonathan Puthoff: Collaboration and communication skills. I also think that students should graduate knowing at least one field-specific software design tool or package, as well as some evidence that they can learn more on the job. Finally, workplaces are more diverse in terms of the generations, ethnicities, and genders represented than they have been at any time in the past, so students who have a wide variety of out-of-classroom experiences (and presumably make more considerate colleagues) could do well to highlight those.
What Senior Materials Engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Charles Purdum: Certification, certification, certifications! Lean or Six Sigma green belt (e.g., ASQ.com), project management (e.g., PMI.com), and leadership skills.
Dr. Kanton Reynolds Ph.D.
Director, Undergraduate Programs & Associate Teaching ProfessorNorth Carolina State University
Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
What general advice would you give to a Senior Materials Engineer?
Dr. Kanton Reynolds Ph.D.: These are unusual times, so they require unusual responses to the prevailing circumstances. Think about other types of careers that do not necessarily align fully with how you envisioned leveraging your major in the workforce. For example, engineers may need to look at careers in services instead of design or development. Also, do not discount industries that are fundamental to our society like consumer-packaged goods as potential career options. Lastly, always seek ways to expand your skills and career footprint. Do not allow yourself to be siloed in a role or function that prevents you from responding to shifts in the marketplace with a corresponding skill set.
Dr. Atul Rai Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorWichita State University
School of Accountancy, Barton School of Business
What experience really stands out on Senior Materials Engineer resumes?
Dr. Atul Rai Ph.D.: Employers are looking for people who can integrate in multi-disciplinary environments to solve complex problems. They are looking for resumes that show quick learning. Such resumes will permanently be in great demand. Because the world is interconnected much more than it ever was, employees today will deal with customers, supply-chains, and fellow employees who are spread all over the world. It means that an experience that showcases the global perspective will be in demand over the long-term.
James Swisher
Director of Continuing EducationInstitute of Industrial and Systems Engineers
What general advice would you give to a Senior Materials Engineer?
James Swisher: 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.