Senior mechanical designer vs tool designer

The differences between senior mechanical designers and tool designers 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 mechanical designer and a tool designer. Additionally, a senior mechanical designer has an average salary of $103,765, which is higher than the $64,763 average annual salary of a tool designer.

The top three skills for a senior mechanical designer include CAD, mechanical design and GD. The most important skills for a tool designer are jigs, assembly fixtures, and aerospace.

Senior mechanical designer vs tool designer overview

	Senior Mechanical Designer	Tool Designer
Yearly salary	$103,765	$64,763
Hourly rate	$49.89	$31.14
Growth rate	2%	1%
Number of jobs	71,958	51,666
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Associate Degree, 48%
Average age	41	54
Years of experience	6	6

What does a senior mechanical designer do?

A Senior Mechanical Designer is responsible for creating effective mechanical designs for their company and developing mechanical concepts in accordance with project requirements. They assist the engineering manager in coaching other mechanical engineers to develop design skills.

What does a tool designer do?

A tool designer is an expert who works to engineer a new equipment's initial design used in industrial manufacturing. Tool designers design machine cutting tools like drills, broaches, and milling-machine cutters. They apply geometric and algebraic formulas along with standard tool engineering data for tool configuration development. Also, they modify tool designs based on production service data or trial for tool life performance and life improvement.

Senior mechanical designer vs tool designer salary

Senior mechanical designers and tool designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Mechanical Designer	Tool Designer
Average salary	$103,765	$64,763
Salary range	Between $81,000 And $131,000	Between $47,000 And $87,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Jose, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Google	Entegris
Best paying industry	Automotive	Automotive

Differences between senior mechanical designer and tool designer education

There are a few differences between a senior mechanical designer and a tool designer in terms of educational background:

	Senior Mechanical Designer	Tool Designer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Associate Degree, 48%
Most common major	Mechanical Engineering	Drafting And Design
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	-

Senior mechanical designer vs tool designer demographics

Here are the differences between senior mechanical designers' and tool designers' demographics:

	Senior Mechanical Designer	Tool Designer
Average age	41	54
Gender ratio	Male, 94.1% Female, 5.9%	Male, 92.9% Female, 7.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 11.4% White, 71.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 2.5% Unknown, 2.8% Hispanic or Latino, 6.6% Asian, 2.7% White, 84.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	5%	3%

Differences between senior mechanical designer and tool designer duties and responsibilities

Senior mechanical designer example responsibilities.

Lead FPGA development of key digital communication component used in successful demonstration of spacecraft radio link.
Create and modify very large assemblies in Creo which are used to create drawings for top level spacecraft assemblies.
Generate fabrication and assembly drawings for fabrication of commercial/Industrial water heaters and boilers base on ISO 9000 and AWA standards.
Perform complex interference fit checks, motion studies, and tolerance stack-up analysis on large assemblies using Pro/E - Creo software.
Verify all design factors including performance, tolerances, fitting, materials, surface finish and BOM for components and systems.
Improve dynamic response of microscope using ANSYS vibration simulation.

Tool designer example responsibilities.

Manage customer contacts, lead, design, sketch and model Saab environmental test fixtures using Unigraphics V18.
Tune and correct extrusion tools to achieve dimensional tolerances, finish and function of products to internal and external customer specifications.
Used drill press, surface grinders, vertical mills, lathes, & NC control mills.
Train on Unigraphics version NX 7.5 Mold layout and design for plastic injection molds to make automotive lighting components.
Design automated production assembly jigs and fixtures for medical devices.
Design transfer, progressive, and blank dies for niche market OEM's.

Senior mechanical designer vs tool designer skills

Common senior mechanical designer skills

CAD, 12%
Mechanical Design, 11%
GD, 5%
Creo, 5%
Autocad, 4%
FEA, 4%

Common tool designer skills

Jigs, 10%
Assembly Fixtures, 8%
Aerospace, 6%
CNC, 5%
NX, 5%
GD, 4%

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Senior Mechanical Designer
Senior Mechanical Designer vs Tool Designer

Updated January 8, 2025

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