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What does a senior performance engineer do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Dr. Galen Duree

Senior Performance Engineers are responsible for optimizing production systems to support traffic growth and new products. Their duties include creating a best practice framework for performance monitoring, scalability, and dependency handling, as well as developing testing infrastructure for post-deployment of production. They are responsible for designing alerts and dashboards, addressing performance issues, conducting root-cause analysis, defining process architecture, and facilitating site reliability in determining requirements for product scalability. Senior Performance Engineers also develop training programs to mentor operation services personnel.

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Senior performance engineer responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior performance engineer resumes:

  • Perform inter-departmental audits documenting ISO compliant results with associate corrective action requests in order to achieve company-wide certification.
  • Prepare test cases, test plan base on the non functional business requirements for retail domain java base application.
  • Used DynaTrace to monitor the server and narrow down on the performance bottlenecks.
  • Diagnose performance bottlenecks in Java.
  • Used JIRA for bug management.
  • Conduct profiling analysis and create reports.
  • Create XML test files base on XML schema.
  • Mitigate risk by debugging the app, developing update patches, modules and components.
  • Use Nibiru to create and maintain Linux base performance testing environments in virtual private cloud.
  • Conduct performance testing on web base J2EE application running under JBoss server and on Linux platform.
  • Create UNIX scripts for collecting statistics from NMON and VMSTAT counters during the execution of performance tests.
  • Design and develop several new XML language features for the rules-engine, which are written in C++.
  • Perform JVM tuning by monitoring the JVM CPU, HTTP transport thread pool usage and JVM heap usage.
  • Used Jenkins to track any update on application by development team and OpNet to track and report bugs.
  • Create and maintain JIRA user stories and assign points to assess personal and teams performance for weekly sprints.

Senior performance engineer skills and personality traits

We calculated that 14% of Senior Performance Engineers are proficient in Java, JMeter, and Linux. They’re also known for soft skills such as Time-management skills, Analytical skills, and Communication skills.

We break down the percentage of Senior Performance Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Java, 14%

    Partnered with Java Application Developers and subject matter experts to resolve performance bottlenecks.

  • JMeter, 6%

    Used Quick Test Professional (QTP), JMETER, Load Runner 9.2 and Site Scope 9.5.

  • Linux, 5%

    Used Linux commands to debug the issues on ETL Server.

  • Test Results, 5%

    Developed proprietary diagnostic and testing computational tools to ensure high accuracy and fast processing of test results.

  • Performance Issues, 4%

    Participated during critical performance issues in production environment and helped to quickly assess and make recommendations to development teams.

  • Splunk, 4%

    Used Splunk tool queries to pull the peak hours' load volumes for the business-critical transactions to be performance tested.

Common skills that a senior performance engineer uses to do their job include "java," "jmeter," and "linux." You can find details on the most important senior performance engineer responsibilities below.

Time-management skills. One of the key soft skills for a senior performance engineer to have is time-management skills. You can see how this relates to what senior performance engineers do because "management analysts often work under tight deadlines and must use their time efficiently to complete projects on schedule." Additionally, a senior performance engineer resume shows how senior performance engineers use time-management skills: "code re write of coded ui methods into selenium web drivers to achieve execution time optimization. "

Analytical skills. Many senior performance engineer duties rely on analytical skills. "management analysts must be able to interpret information and use their findings to make proposals.," so a senior performance engineer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways senior performance engineer responsibilities rely on analytical skills: "provide solutions to business groups in the areas of data analysis, data mining, data visualization for data driven decision. "

Communication skills. This is an important skill for senior performance engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how senior performance engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "management analysts must be able to convey information clearly in both writing and speaking." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior performance engineer: "coordinated communication between various teams to insure consistency and accuracy across test plans, user manuals and training materials. ".

Problem-solving skills. A big part of what senior performance engineers do relies on "problem-solving skills." You can see how essential it is to senior performance engineer responsibilities because "management analysts must be able to think creatively to solve clients’ problems." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical senior performance engineer tasks: "consulted with development engineers in resolution of problems designed, coded, and executed automated test scripts. "

See the full list of senior performance engineer skills

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Compare different senior performance engineers

Senior performance engineer vs. Quality analyst

Pumpers are individuals who take responsibility for setting the pumping system controls for product maximization. Their job requires them to set density, concentration, rate, and pressure. They do the operation and maintenance of the auxiliary equipment pumping oil. It is their duty to set the wells so they will function based on the production schedules and switch the oil flow between tanks. They even install the pumping systems.

If we compare the average senior performance engineer annual salary with that of a quality analyst, we find that quality analysts typically earn a $38,425 lower salary than senior performance engineers make annually.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between senior performance engineers and quality analysts are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like java, test results, and test scripts.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior performance engineers and quality analyst. For instance, senior performance engineer responsibilities require skills such as "jmeter," "linux," "performance issues," and "splunk." Whereas a quality analyst is skilled in "customer service," "patients," "data analysis," and "corrective action." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Quality analysts earn the highest salaries when working in the finance industry, with an average yearly salary of $77,710. On the other hand, senior performance engineers are paid more in the technology industry with an average salary of $116,983.The education levels that quality analysts earn slightly differ from senior performance engineers. In particular, quality analysts are 10.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior performance engineer. Additionally, they're 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Senior performance engineer vs. Tester

The role of technical testers is to test computer software for defects, bug errors, or any issues that may come across by an end-user. They mainly conduct product testing and prepare reports about any problems or recommendations for improvements. Other responsibilities include reviewing test plans, assessing and analyzing product specifications and requirements, and mapping out testing strategy. Technical testers also frame the test environments or support network management staff and system administrators. Qualifications for this position include knowledge of the database or structured query language, proficiency in Linux commands, and proficiency in defect tracking tools.

On average, testers earn a $45,180 lower salary than senior performance engineers a year.A few skills overlap for senior performance engineers and testers. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "java," "linux," and "test results. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior performance engineer responsibilities requires skills like "jmeter," "performance issues," "splunk," and "profiling." But a tester might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "digital transformation," "web application," "metasploit," and "regression test cases."

Testers earn a lower average salary than senior performance engineers. But testers earn the highest pay in the telecommunication industry, with an average salary of $74,239. Additionally, senior performance engineers earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $116,983 annually.testers earn lower levels of education than senior performance engineers in general. They're 14.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior performance engineers in the next 3-5 years?

Dr. Galen Duree

Head of the Department of Physics and Optical Engineering and Professor, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

People with knowledge, even introductory experience, in quantum effects, quantum computing, optics in general (communication, measurements, imaging, illumination, detection), material science and engineering, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, will be in high demand.

Senior performance engineer vs. Quality assurance

The primary role of quality assurance specialists is to inspect the quality system's implementation and perform quality assurance audits. They are responsible for monitoring and recording results from procedures and processes within manufacturing industries. They are also responsible for some other tasks, including keeping up-to-date manufacturing and auditing documentation, training less experienced QA team members, and creating standard operating procedures. To be a quality assurance specialist, you must have a high school diploma, organizational skills, and strong attention to detail.

An average quality assurance eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of senior performance engineers. The difference in salaries amounts to quality assurances earning a $59,069 lower average salary than senior performance engineers.By looking over several senior performance engineers and quality assurances resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "java," "linux," and "test results." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, senior performance engineers are more likely to have skills like "jmeter," "performance issues," "splunk," and "profiling." But a quality assurance is more likely to have skills like "food handling," "selenium," "data entry," and "test procedures."

Quality assurances earn the best pay in the finance industry, where they command an average salary of $68,731. Senior performance engineers earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $116,983.When it comes to education, quality assurances tend to earn lower degree levels compared to senior performance engineers. In fact, they're 14.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Senior performance engineer vs. Quality assurance specialist

A quality assurance specialist is an individual who is responsible for monitoring, inspecting, and proposing measures to correct and improve a company's product. Quality assurance specialists need to outline quality assurance policies and procedures, making sure that quality standards are assured. It is important that a quality assurance specialist should have strong attention to detail and is excellent in data collection. This work may require a minimum of bachelor's degree and certification to get certified.

Quality assurance specialists average a lower salary than the annual salary of senior performance engineers. The difference is about $46,939 per year.While both senior performance engineers and quality assurance specialists complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like test results, test scripts, and unix, the two careers vary in some skills.

Even though a few skill sets overlap between senior performance engineers and quality assurance specialists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a senior performance engineer might have more use for skills like "java," "jmeter," "linux," and "performance issues." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of quality assurance specialists require skills like "gmp," "patients," "fda," and "capa. "

In general, quality assurance specialists earn the most working in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $76,157. The highest-paying industry for a senior performance engineer is the technology industry.quality assurance specialists reach lower levels of education compared to senior performance engineers, in general. The difference is that they're 13.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of senior performance engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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