Senior system designer vs firmware engineer

The differences between senior system designers and firmware engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a senior system designer and a firmware engineer. Additionally, a senior system designer has an average salary of $117,540, which is higher than the $97,183 average annual salary of a firmware engineer.

The top three skills for a senior system designer include sketch, CAD and control systems. The most important skills for a firmware engineer are python, C, and C++.

Senior system designer vs firmware engineer overview

	Senior System Designer	Firmware Engineer
Yearly salary	$117,540	$97,183
Hourly rate	$56.51	$46.72
Growth rate	21%	21%
Number of jobs	73,999	99,014
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	2	2

Senior system designer vs firmware engineer salary

Senior system designers and firmware engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior System Designer	Firmware Engineer
Average salary	$117,540	$97,183
Salary range	Between $90,000 And $152,000	Between $73,000 And $129,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	Washington
Best paying company	Meta	Meta
Best paying industry	Transportation	Automotive

Differences between senior system designer and firmware engineer education

There are a few differences between a senior system designer and a firmware engineer in terms of educational background:

	Senior System Designer	Firmware Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	-	Harvard University

Senior system designer vs firmware engineer demographics

Here are the differences between senior system designers' and firmware engineers' demographics:

	Senior System Designer	Firmware Engineer
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 90.3% Female, 9.7%	Male, 88.4% Female, 11.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 29.7% White, 52.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 4.6% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 31.6% White, 50.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between senior system designer and firmware engineer duties and responsibilities

Senior system designer example responsibilities.

Manage relationships through CRM documentation and complete post-sale customer follow ups.
Work in the entire SDLC.
Improve architecture and design of website.
Participate in HEB's first venture into UNIX.
Provide IP routing and switching networks training to the internal engineering team.
Service orient architecture are used to isolate the services independent of each other.

Firmware engineer example responsibilities.

Use of python to automate code generation and communicate over Wi-Fi with several printers.
Manage firmware of automate bench top devices that utilize a microprocessor.
Design and develop Linux device drivers for hardware components: I2C, GPIO, UART/RS-485, Ethernet, and J1708.
Develop display tool using ARM7, SPI, UART and PC hyper-terminal program.
Allow for efficient core development, providing advance features such as source-level debugging, break points and watch windows.
Perform regression testing using Jenkins.

Senior system designer vs firmware engineer skills

Common senior system designer skills

Sketch, 33%
CAD, 10%
Control Systems, 6%
SR, 5%
Java, 5%
UI, 4%

Common firmware engineer skills

Python, 6%
C, 5%
C++, 5%
Debugging, 5%
SPI, 5%
Embedded Systems, 5%

Senior System Designer vs. similar jobs

Senior System Designer related careers

Senior System Designer related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Computer and Mathematical Industry
Senior System Designer
Senior System Designer vs Firmware Engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse computer and mathematical jobs