What does a senior structural engineer do?
A Senior Structural Engineer is responsible for investigating and analyzing different construction problems. They must determine the causes of defects of buildings' envelopes, roofs, walls, and other parts of construction.
Senior structural engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior structural engineer resumes:
- 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.
- Prepare new templates in MathCAD for engineers to use such as anchor bolts and weld design.
- Prepare parking garage condition assessment reports and repair design, using carbon fiber material for some repairs per ACI 440.2R-02.
- Provide retrofit and renovation on existing structures.
- Design HVAC systems for paper manufacturing facilities.
- Use state-of-the-art spreadsheet calculations using MathCad to expedite repetitive calculations.
- Study energy efficiency of commercial and residential building HVAC systems.
- Maintain the website including UI redesign and redevelopment, advertisement releasing.
- Implement Terraform modules for deployment of applications across multiple cloud providers.
- Provide engineering analysis, repair, and retrofit design for structural corrections.
- Develop python scripts for automate data quality analysis for aerial imagery database.
- Perform system administration with Linux for software configuration for proper system functionality.
Senior structural engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Senior Structural Engineers are proficient in Structural Analysis, Rehabilitation, and RISA. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Organizational skills, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Structural Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Structural Analysis, 9%
Executed Fastener analysis and thermal/deflection/stress in structural analysis * Performed vibration and shock analyses on a composite component
- Rehabilitation, 6%
Conducted thorough analysis on the structures and identified rehabilitation procedures to be done.
- RISA, 5%
Produced finite element model in RISA in order to evaluate the adequacy of the mat foundation for strength design and stability.
- ACI, 5%
Verify or design Steel Structure using STADD pro and per AISC code, Foundation using ACI and ASTM codes etc.
- Project Management, 5%
Project management: Team organization and supervision, tasks management, manufacturing technical assistance, and logistics of products.
- CAD, 4%
Involved in preparation of tender documents which include CAD detailed drawings, specifications and cost estimates.
"structural analysis," "rehabilitation," and "risa" are among the most common skills that senior structural engineers use at work. You can find even more senior structural engineer responsibilities below, including:
Organizational skills. Many senior structural engineer duties rely on organizational skills. "civil engineers often oversee several projects at the same time and must be able to allocate resources effectively.," so a senior structural engineer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways senior structural engineer responsibilities rely on organizational skills: "instituted process improvements and collaborative organizational strategies through the atlassian suite (jira, confluence, etc. )"
Math skills. Another crucial skill for a senior structural engineer to carry out their responsibilities is "math skills." A big part of what senior structural engineers relies on this skill, since "civil engineers use calculus, trigonometry, and other mathematics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting." How this skill relates to senior structural engineer duties can be seen in an example from a senior structural engineer resume snippet: "analyzed and designed concrete and steel structures with enercalc, ram structural system, mathcad computer software. "
Problem-solving skills. Lastly, "problem-solving skills" is an important element of what a senior structural engineer does. Senior structural engineer responsibilities require this skill because "civil engineers may encounter problems during each stage of their work." This resume example highlights how senior structural engineer duties rely on this skill: "directed construction drawing & submittal preparation, reviewed shop-drawings, supervised construction, resolved change requests and responded to rfi s."
The three companies that hire the most senior structural engineers are:
- Burns & McDonnell46 senior structural engineers jobs
- Raytheon Technologies32 senior structural engineers jobs
- Sargent & Lundy25 senior structural engineers jobs
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Compare different senior structural engineers
Senior structural engineer vs. Representative projects
A Civil Designer plans, scales, and drafts drawings and maps for roads, bridges, and other construction projects. They work with engineers and project managers in determining material, labor, and other costs of the assigned projects.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior structural engineers and representative projects. For instance, senior structural engineer responsibilities require skills such as "structural analysis," "rehabilitation," "risa," and "aci." Whereas a representative projects is skilled in "construction projects," "construction management," "infrastructure," and "osha." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Representative projects really shine in the technology industry with an average salary of $64,096. Comparatively, senior structural engineers tend to make the most money in the transportation industry with an average salary of $96,818.representative projects tend to reach lower levels of education than senior structural engineers. In fact, representative projects are 16.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 4.9% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Senior structural engineer vs. Civil designer
Civil engineer interns work to improve their knowledge about construction and its relevant works. An internship provides them insight into various aspects of construction and how things run at the site. Through an internship, they learn how to differentiate between reality and engineering. Civil engineering interns will typically perform various tasks, including preparing and monitoring documents, working closely with the civil engineer to resolve issues and review complaints, and preparing plans and maps. They are also expected to visit construction sites to do their planning, quality control, documentation, and site execution.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior structural engineer responsibilities requires skills like "structural analysis," "rehabilitation," "risa," and "aci." But a civil designer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "civil 3d," "autocad," "civil engineering," and "civil design."
On average, civil designers earn a lower salary than senior structural engineers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, civil designers earn the most pay in the construction industry with an average salary of $74,665. Whereas senior structural engineers have higher pay in the transportation industry, with an average salary of $96,818.In general, civil designers achieve lower levels of education than senior structural engineers. They're 24.4% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 4.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior structural engineers in the next 3-5 years?
Alan Hancock
Civil Engineering Technology Instructor, Dakota County Technical College
Senior structural engineer vs. Civil engineering internship
An assistant project engineer performs support tasks to assist project engineers in overseeing and managing engineering projects. Their responsibilities include conducting inspections and assessments, performing research and analyses, processing documents and certifications, managing schedules, liaising with internal and external parties, and providing technical support to staff as necessary. Besides reporting directly to the project engineer, they also work together in implementing policies and monitoring operations to ensure that engineering projects adhere to project guidelines and requirements.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, senior structural engineers are more likely to have skills like "rehabilitation," "risa," "cad," and "aisc." But a civil engineering internship is more likely to have skills like "civil 3d," "gis," "roadway design," and "powerpoint."
Civil engineering interns earn the best pay in the construction industry, where they command an average salary of $65,780. Senior structural engineers earn the highest pay from the transportation industry, with an average salary of $96,818.When it comes to education, civil engineering interns tend to earn lower degree levels compared to senior structural engineers. In fact, they're 17.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 3.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior structural engineer vs. Assistant project engineer
Types of senior structural engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
