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The differences between senior product design engineers and product development engineers 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 product design engineer and a product development engineer. Additionally, a senior product design engineer has an average salary of $102,291, which is higher than the $86,075 average annual salary of a product development engineer.
The top three skills for a senior product design engineer include CAD, solidworks and prototype. The most important skills for a product development engineer are CAD, solidworks, and product development.
| Senior Product Design Engineer | Product Development Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $102,291 | $86,075 |
| Hourly rate | $49.18 | $41.38 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 175,933 | 202,155 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A senior product design engineer oversees system development, developing processes, and methodologies geared at promoting customer satisfaction. They are charged with analyzing and directing recommendations for resolving problems to fulfill client expectations. Their responsibilities include planning projects, conducting standard functional analysis of products to translate customer specification into product performance criteria, conducting benchmarking studies, and analyzing products' market performance to facilitate competitive delivery of designs.
A Product Development Engineer is responsible for creating and testing new product designs. They collaborate with market researchers to evaluate market needs, existing competition, and potential costs.
Senior product design engineers and product development engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Product Design Engineer | Product Development Engineer | |
| Average salary | $102,291 | $86,075 |
| Salary range | Between $79,000 And $131,000 | Between $64,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cupertino, CA | Sunnyvale, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Mexico | California |
| Best paying company | Amazon | |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior product design engineer and a product development engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Product Design Engineer | Product Development Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Michigan Technological University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between senior product design engineers' and product development engineers' demographics:
| Senior Product Design Engineer | Product Development Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 94.5% Female, 5.5% | Male, 86.8% Female, 13.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 15.4% White, 67.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 16.7% White, 67.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |