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The differences between senior operations engineers and systems engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a senior operations engineer and a systems engineer. Additionally, a senior operations engineer has an average salary of $112,583, which is higher than the $82,834 average annual salary of a systems engineer.
The top three skills for a senior operations engineer include python, AWS and cloud. The most important skills for a systems engineer are python, linux, and C++.
| Senior Operations Engineer | Systems Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $112,583 | $82,834 |
| Hourly rate | $54.13 | $39.82 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 141,825 | 145,936 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Average age | 43 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Senior operations engineers are engineering professionals who ensure that the operations of an organization are working properly and meet both factory and management specifications. These engineers are required to create maintenance procedures that are adaptable to the existing maintenance management software for the newly installed facilities and equipment. They must provide technical support to the organization's operations, such as project design, plant optimization, project management, and startup. Senior operations engineers must also implement effective process improvements so that they can increase productivity and reduce production costs.
Systems engineers are responsible for creating and overseeing systems related to the overall operations of the organization. They are in charge of assessing the organization's needs in terms of systems and creating plans to address these needs. These systems are usually related to the production or manufacturing of company products. Systems engineers create end-to-end processes that ensure efficiency and effectiveness. They make sure that the processes they put in place adhere to safety and security policies and guidelines. They also do routine checks and continuously find ways to further improve production and other systems.
Senior operations engineers and systems engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Operations Engineer | Systems Engineer | |
| Average salary | $112,583 | $82,834 |
| Salary range | Between $82,000 And $153,000 | Between $62,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Start-up | Automotive |
There are a few differences between a senior operations engineer and a systems engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Operations Engineer | Systems Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | California State University - Long Beach |
Here are the differences between senior operations engineers' and systems engineers' demographics:
| Senior Operations Engineer | Systems Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 90.7% Female, 9.3% | Male, 86.1% Female, 13.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 12.4% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 29.7% White, 52.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 8% |