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Senior product designer vs engineer

The differences between senior product designers and 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 designer and an engineer. Additionally, a senior product designer has an average salary of $120,587, which is higher than the $92,077 average annual salary of an engineer.

The top three skills for a senior product designer include sketch, user research and user experience. The most important skills for an engineer are python, cloud, and C++.

Senior product designer vs engineer overview

Senior Product DesignerEngineer
Yearly salary$120,587$92,077
Hourly rate$57.97$44.27
Growth rate2%2%
Number of jobs121,037618,207
Job satisfaction-4.33
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Average age4141
Years of experience66

What does a senior product designer do?

A senior product designer is responsible for coordinating with clients to identify their requirements and specifications for the development of new products and services that also comply with the company's regulations and functions. Senior product designers work with a whole project management team to identify opportunities that would generate more revenue resources by analyzing public demands on industry trends. They handle the allocation of materials and must be able to utilize digital tools and equipment to create content for brand awareness on different media platforms. A senior product designer reviews consumers' reviews to facilitate any adjustments with the product's features.

What does an engineer do?

Engineers are highly trained professionals who determine the feasibility of various projects, usually related to the construction industry. They are considered experts in mathematics and science, two disciplines that they need to use in designing and coming up with plans for projects. They should also be well-versed in different construction or industrial materials, and they ensure that appropriate materials are used for the project. They also ensure that the projects meet the requirements of the groups that hired them. They create spaces that would both address the needs of the end-users and the industry standards. They also ensure that the projects they make would stand the test of time.

Senior product designer vs engineer salary

Senior product designers and engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Product DesignerEngineer
Average salary$120,587$92,077
Salary rangeBetween $87,000 And $165,000Between $65,000 And $130,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CAHuntsville, AL
Highest paying stateCaliforniaNew Hampshire
Best paying companyByteDanceFort Bend County
Best paying industryStart-upAutomotive

Differences between senior product designer and engineer education

There are a few differences between a senior product designer and an engineer in terms of educational background:

Senior Product DesignerEngineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Most common majorGraphic DesignMechanical Engineering
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityMichigan Technological University

Senior product designer vs engineer demographics

Here are the differences between senior product designers' and engineers' demographics:

Senior Product DesignerEngineer
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 81.4% Female, 18.6%Male, 86.3% Female, 13.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 10.3% White, 72.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 15.0% White, 67.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage5%5%

Differences between senior product designer and engineer duties and responsibilities

Senior product designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage the move of digital product design, development and prototyping from vendor to in-house.
  • Manage company PDM management system.
  • Focuse on clean design and utilize HTML and CSS to deliver online content for mobile devices from the web.
  • Coordinate design activities of analyst utilizing high-level FEA to predict and verify system design margins.
  • Utilize AutoCAD Revit cad software.
  • Create HTML and Javascript prototypes for usability testing.
  • Show more

Engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage startup, trouble shooting and testing of PLC control equipment.
  • Lead project team to design and FDA validate 10-up extreme accuracy vial dosing system and CIP/SIP automate cleaning equipment.
  • Automate the creation of a WebLogic Admin and manage server deployment scheme within an installer for secure application deployment.
  • Install and test PLC in client own equipment on site - solve some logical and hardware issues to accomplish goal
  • Implement and manage continuous delivery systems and methodologies on AWS.
  • Manage Terraform and refactore from monolithic to application specific components.
  • Show more

Senior product designer vs engineer skills

Common senior product designer skills
  • Sketch, 32%
  • User Research, 9%
  • User Experience, 7%
  • Interaction Design, 6%
  • Prototyping, 6%
  • UI, 6%
Common engineer skills
  • Python, 8%
  • Cloud, 6%
  • C++, 5%
  • C #, 5%
  • AWS, 5%
  • Java, 4%

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