A senior software engineer supervises a team of software engineers in the development of information systems. He/she oversees the designing, development, and installation of software solutions for websites or other software programs.
They usually work closely with other IT professionals such as data scientists, system architects, development teams, and senior management. Senior software engineers can work in almost all organizations, including healthcare facilities, government agencies, computer systems design companies, logistics companies, non-profit organizations, or electronic product manufacturing companies. A successful senior software engineer should have coding and programming knowledge. He/she should have working experience with Ruby, Java, Python, C++, etc.
He/she should also have analytical skills, communication skills, and attention to detail. Senior software engineers often work in an office setting. They usually work 40 hours a week Monday to Friday but may be required to work extra hours to meet urgent deadlines.
Senior Software Engineer/Architect Overview
Senior Software Engineer/Architect Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior software engineer/architect. For example, did you know that they make an average of $55.27 an hour? That's $114,966 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 284,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Senior Software Engineer/Architect Do
There are certain skills that many senior software engineers/architect have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and creativity.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior software engineer/architect, we found that a lot of resumes listed 8.1% of senior software engineers/architect included architecture, while 7.9% of resumes included web services, and 6.0% of resumes included java. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the senior software engineer/architect job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior software engineers/architect actually find jobs in the technology and professional industries.
How To Become a Senior Software Engineer/Architect
If you're interested in becoming a senior software engineer/architect, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 48.9% of senior software engineers/architect have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 40.2% of senior software engineers/architect have master's degrees. Even though most senior software engineers/architect have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior software engineer/architect. When we researched the most common majors for a senior software engineer/architect, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior software engineer/architect resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior software engineer/architect. In fact, many senior software engineer/architect jobs require experience in a role such as senior software engineer. Meanwhile, many senior software engineers/architect also have previous career experience in roles such as software engineer or software developer.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
Senior Software Engineer/Architect Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a senior software engineer/architect can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as senior software architect, progress to a title such as director of software development and then eventually end up with the title president & chief technology officer.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Senior Software Engineer/Architect
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Management Decisions, Inc. Senior Software Data Engineer and Architect Senior Software Data Engineer and Architect | Management Decisions, Inc. Management Decisions, Inc. | 04/20/2020 04/20/2020 | $150,00004/20/2020 $150,000 |
Skyrocket Ventures Sr/Staff C++ Software Engineer/Architect (IOT Startup, Up To) Sr/Staff C++ Software Engineer/Architect (IOT Startup, Up To) | Skyrocket Ventures Skyrocket Ventures | 03/10/2020 03/10/2020 | $200,00003/10/2020 $200,000 |
Entrata Senior Software Engineer/Architect Senior Software Engineer/Architect | Entrata Entrata | 02/28/2020 02/28/2020 | $110,00002/28/2020 $110,000 |
Skyrocket Ventures Senior Software Engineer/Architect Senior Software Engineer/Architect | Skyrocket Ventures Skyrocket Ventures | 12/31/2019 12/31/2019 | $200,00012/31/2019 $200,000 |
Sterling Engineering Senior Software Engineer/Architect Senior Software Engineer/Architect | Sterling Engineering Sterling Engineering | 11/30/2019 11/30/2019 | $120,00011/30/2019 $120,000 |
Calculate your salary
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Top Colleges for Senior Software Engineer/Architects
1. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
2. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
3. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
4. Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA • Public
5. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
6. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
7. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Public
8. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA • Private
9. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
10. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
Top Skills For a Senior Software Engineer/Architect
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 8.1% of senior software engineers/architect listed architecture on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.
- Architecture, 8.1%
- Web Services, 7.9%
- Java, 6.0%
- Software Development, 5.7%
- Javascript, 5.2%
- Other Skills, 67.1% See All Senior Software Engineer/Architect Skills
Best States For a Senior Software Engineer/Architect
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior software engineer/architect. The best states for people in this position are Washington, California, Massachusetts, and New York. Senior software engineers/architect make the most in Washington with an average salary of $155,701. Whereas in California and Massachusetts, they would average $148,071 and $129,109, respectively. While senior software engineers/architect would only make an average of $128,479 in New York, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Washington
$155,701
Avg. Salary
2. California
$148,071
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$127,137
Avg. Salary
How Do Senior Software Engineer/Architect Rate Their Jobs?
Top Senior Software Engineer/Architect Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ senior software engineers/architect and discovered their number of senior software engineer/architect opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Wipro was the best, especially with an average salary of $106,646. Inovalon follows up with an average salary of $120,723, and then comes Science Applications International .. with an average of $97,320. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a senior software engineer/architect. The employers include New Relic, Alliance Data, and Medtronic
Senior Software Engineer/Architect Videos
