How To Become A Senior Structural Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior structural engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Bin (Brenda) Zhou Ph.D.

A Senior Structural Engineer's key purpose is to lead a team of structural engineers in analyzing, designing, and delivering structural engineering designs on large building projects in a way that meets client expectations.

They also oversee the construction of projects to completion and ensure that structures are safe and durable. Structural engineers work on structures such as buildings, dams, bridges, commercial areas, telecommunication structures, taking into account their technical, safety, economic and environmental concerns.

A Senior Structural Engineer's main duties are leading design process and review, creating structural models using computer-aided technology, budgeting, and resolving construction problems. They usually work very closely with stakeholders such as civil engineers, architects, and construction managers.

A successful Senior Structural Engineer must have strong leadership skills because they provide guidance to the junior engineers. The working hours for a Senior Structural Engineer role are usually 9 to 5 and 40 hours a week. Occasionally, they may work over the weekends.

What general advice would you give to a senior structural engineer?

Dr. Bin (Brenda) Zhou Ph.D.

Professor, Central Connecticut State University

It is going to be difficult to land a dream job this year, and probably next year too. Be open-minded and try different fields, types of jobs, and sizes of firms. Be adaptive to the changing environment; a virtual career fair may sound strange, but it can and will work for those who are prepared. Be proactive; communicate with people in your network (e.g., family, friends, classmates, professors) and let them know that you're looking for a job in "broad" civil engineering.

ScoreSenior Structural EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.4

Avg. Salary $94,406

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.30%

Asian 17.81%

Black or African American 3.54%

Hispanic or Latino 10.44%

Unknown 4.57%

White 63.34%

Gender

female 8.99%

male 91.01%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior structural engineer

Explore senior structural engineer education requirements

Most common senior structural engineer degrees

Bachelor's

61.4 %

Master's

27.3 %

Doctorate

6.2 %

Start to develop specific senior structural engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Structural Analysis	8.53%
Rehabilitation	5.73%
RISA	5.31%
ACI	5.28%
Project Management	5.14%

Complete relevant senior structural engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior structural engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior structural engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior structural engineer resumes.

Research senior structural engineer duties and responsibilities

Authore substantiation documents in compliance with FAA regulations and customer requirements to achieve type certifications and supplemental type certifications.
Perform project programming, project scheduling and detail cost estimates used to establish priorities in rehabilitation and construction projects.
Train to use SAP2000 to analyze highway RC bridges.
Analyze existing wing of a light aircraft for increase loading using FEMAP and NASTRAN.

Get senior structural engineer experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a senior structural engineer. The most common roles before becoming a senior structural engineer include structures engineer, project engineer team lead and civil/structural engineer.

Prepare your senior structural engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior structural engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior structural engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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