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The differences between senior product design engineers and project lead engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a senior product design engineer, becoming a project lead engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a project lead engineer has an average salary of $106,946, which is higher than the $102,291 average annual salary of a senior product design engineer.
The top three skills for a senior product design engineer include CAD, solidworks and prototype. The most important skills for a project lead engineer are project management, renewable energy, and project execution.
| Senior Product Design Engineer | Project Lead Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $102,291 | $106,946 |
| Hourly rate | $49.18 | $51.42 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 175,933 | 98,018 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 41 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
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.
Project lead engineers are engineering professionals who are responsible for leading other professionals in completing a particular project. These engineers must develop a project management framework to be implemented throughout the organization based on the inputs from internal stakeholders and team members. They are required to train junior team members so that they can provide proper technical support functions. Project lead engineers must also prepare and review cost estimates for a variety of projects during bidding, construction, and post-construction phases.
Senior product design engineers and project lead engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Product Design Engineer | Project Lead Engineer | |
| Average salary | $102,291 | $106,946 |
| Salary range | Between $79,000 And $131,000 | Between $78,000 And $146,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cupertino, CA | Cupertino, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Mexico | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Automotive |
There are a few differences between a senior product design engineer and a project lead engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Product Design Engineer | Project Lead Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Michigan Technological University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between senior product design engineers' and project lead engineers' demographics:
| Senior Product Design Engineer | Project Lead Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 42 |
| 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, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 15.2% White, 66.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 4% |