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The differences between senior supplier quality engineers and product 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 supplier quality engineer, becoming a product engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a senior supplier quality engineer has an average salary of $91,025, which is higher than the $89,645 average annual salary of a product engineer.
The top three skills for a senior supplier quality engineer include continuous improvement, sigma and ISO. The most important skills for a product engineer are CAD, product design, and project management.
| Senior Supplier Quality Engineer | Product Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $91,025 | $89,645 |
| Hourly rate | $43.76 | $43.10 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 74,475 | 157,888 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A senior supplier quality engineer is in charge of overseeing the delivery of supplies in a company, ensuring its quality and efficiency by designing and developing quality assurance systems and procedures. Their responsibilities include gathering and analyzing data, analyzing existing systems to identify areas needing improvement, and implementing solutions against problem areas. They may also monitor the performance of the suppliers, building positive relationships with them. Furthermore, a senior supplier quality engineer must maintain an active communication line with staff, all while enforcing the company's policies and regulations.
A product engineer specializes in designing and developing commercial materials and services. They are primarily responsible for conducting thorough research and analysis of the latest trends and marketing conditions to come up with new ideas and products for the public. Moreover, they are also responsible for producing reports and presentations, coordinating with the development team of their company. Product engineers also reach out to vendors and suppliers for the raw materials, set regulations and standards for the product, and even conduct a rigorous and regular quality check.
Senior supplier quality engineers and product engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Supplier Quality Engineer | Product Engineer | |
| Average salary | $91,025 | $89,645 |
| Salary range | Between $71,000 And $115,000 | Between $68,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | Mountain View, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior supplier quality engineer and a product engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Supplier Quality Engineer | Product Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between senior supplier quality engineers' and product engineers' demographics:
| Senior Supplier Quality Engineer | Product Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.8% Female, 13.2% | Male, 87.8% Female, 12.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.6% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.3% Asian, 13.1% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 17.0% White, 67.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 5% |