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The differences between senior production engineers and product support engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior production engineer, becoming a product support engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a senior production engineer has an average salary of $115,075, which is higher than the $90,379 average annual salary of a product support engineer.
The top three skills for a senior production engineer include continuous improvement, technical support and SR. The most important skills for a product support engineer are product support, technical support, and troubleshoot.
| Senior Production Engineer | Product Support Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $115,075 | $90,379 |
| Hourly rate | $55.32 | $43.45 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 94,542 | 201,554 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A senior production engineer supervises and improves plant and factory production. They manage engineering teams, update the manager about various issues, create safety protocols, and draw up strategies to enhance profit and production efficiency. Besides overseeing the production processes and ensuring the engineering teams perform quality work, senior production engineers also work hand-in-hand with other engineers to draw up programs that enhance the required labor, costs, and production. Moreover, these professionals identify, document, and report unsafe practices.
A product support engineer is responsible for resolving technical issues of end-users regarding the products and services offered by the company. Product support engineers conduct troubleshooting operations for system failures and write resolution reports for reference. They also support the product analysts in improving the product's features and processes to prevent the reoccurrence of defects and maintain optimal performance. A product support engineer designs automation procedures and runs multiple diagnostic tests to ensure high-quality outputs and avoid operational delays.
Senior production engineers and product support engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Production Engineer | Product Support Engineer | |
| Average salary | $115,075 | $90,379 |
| Salary range | Between $85,000 And $154,000 | Between $67,000 And $121,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Ep Energy | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior production engineer and a product support engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Production Engineer | Product Support Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between senior production engineers' and product support engineers' demographics:
| Senior Production Engineer | Product Support Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 87.8% Female, 12.2% | Male, 80.7% Female, 19.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 14.9% White, 66.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 13.0% White, 69.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 5% |