How To Become A Senior Piping Designer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior piping designer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Piping designers are responsible for creating drawings of piping structures, laying down the pipes, and maintaining them afterward. These professionals move utilities like water, natural gas, and oil between places through intricate piping systems. Without a piping designer, piping systems wouldn't be as efficient or elaborate as they are today.

A senior piping designer leads a team and oversees its duties. His/Her or her responsibilities extend beyond designing and laying pipe. He/She or she may also review other professionals' work on their team and ensure that they do their jobs according to specified standards. Senior piping designers may also choose which designers go on their team.

To become a senior piping designer, you need a bachelor's or associate degree in piping design. You'll also require years of experience to climb the ladder.

ScoreSenior Piping DesignerUS Average

Salary

8.4

Avg. Salary $130,020

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 10.36%

Black or African American 3.37%

Hispanic or Latino 9.18%

Unknown 4.59%

White 72.40%

Gender

female 6.21%

male 93.79%

Age - 39

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 - 39

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior piping designer

Explore senior piping designer education requirements

Most common senior piping designer degrees

Associate

55.6 %

Bachelor's

25.2 %

Diploma

6.5 %

Start to develop specific senior piping designer skills

Skills	Percentages
Autocad	17.64%
Equipment Layout	11.94%
Refinery	6.43%
Navisworks	5.33%
ISO	5.09%

Complete relevant senior piping designer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior piping designers 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 piping designer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior piping designer resumes.

Research senior piping designer duties and responsibilities

Work with JPL / NASA packaging and fabrication engineering leads (on-site).
Perform field surveys, prepare piping plans & sections, fabrication and construction ISO's and BOM's.
Fabricate steel platforms, column, ladders and stairs associate with containment tanks, pipe racks and pumps.
Animate NAVISWORKS models to help clarify maintenance clearances.

Get senior piping designer experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a senior piping designer. The most common roles before becoming a senior piping designer include piping designer, senior designer team lead and designer.

Prepare your senior piping designer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior piping designer 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 piping designer 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 piping designer resume templates

Build a professional senior piping designer 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 piping designer resume.

Apply for senior piping designer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior piping designer 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 piping designers rate their job?

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Senior piping designer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019

Pros

I liked working in oil and gas at Chevron in Pascagoula, MS. I worked there right after finishing college. I drew flow sheets in isometric inserting valves. I'm wanting another pipe draftsman/designer job.