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Site engineer vs planning engineer

The differences between site engineers and planning engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a site engineer, becoming a planning engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a planning engineer has an average salary of $82,521, which is higher than the $75,719 average annual salary of a site engineer.

The top three skills for a site engineer include project management, infrastructure and site safety. The most important skills for a planning engineer are project management, infrastructure, and transmission planning.

Site engineer vs planning engineer overview

Site EngineerPlanning Engineer
Yearly salary$75,719$82,521
Hourly rate$36.40$39.67
Growth rate7%10%
Number of jobs42,33356,792
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 77%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age4142
Years of experience64

What does a site engineer do?

A Site Engineer supervises the building work and contracted staff, and ensures that all projects meet the agreed specifications, budgets, and timescales. They provide technical advice and solve various problems on-site.

What does a planning engineer do?

A planning engineer is in charge of developing plans and systems to organize and schedule project procedures, ensuring efficiency and timeliness. Their responsibilities revolve around learning and understanding the extent of all operations, setting schedules and objectives, liaising with external parties such as vendors or distributors, and maintaining an active communication line with other departments. Furthermore, a planning engineer must monitor the progress of the workflow and the performance of the workforce, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

Site engineer vs planning engineer salary

Site engineers and planning engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Site EngineerPlanning Engineer
Average salary$75,719$82,521
Salary rangeBetween $53,000 And $106,000Between $61,000 And $110,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyFitbitMeta
Best paying industryManufacturingEnergy

Differences between site engineer and planning engineer education

There are a few differences between a site engineer and a planning engineer in terms of educational background:

Site EngineerPlanning Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 77%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorCivil EngineeringElectrical Engineering
Most common collegeMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyNorthwestern University

Site engineer vs planning engineer demographics

Here are the differences between site engineers' and planning engineers' demographics:

Site EngineerPlanning Engineer
Average age4142
Gender ratioMale, 93.0% Female, 7.0%Male, 83.2% Female, 16.8%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 10.3% Asian, 17.4% White, 63.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 15.6% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage5%4%

Differences between site engineer and planning engineer duties and responsibilities

Site engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage standard sub contract RFP package.
  • Manage production of full sets of contract documents (grading, drainage, water, sewer, paving and SWPPP).
  • Create a standardize ISO accept template for requisition and purchase order that are used across the organization.
  • Construct a SQL database to analyze all legacy network connections in order to access which ones need upgrading.
  • Assist in and conduct daily operations and maintenance of plumbing, electrical, HVAC and general maintenance requirements of buildings.
  • Direct broadband engineering team for implementation of hardware.
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Planning engineer example responsibilities.

  • Create and automate customize KPI dashboard reports using a combination of SQL and visual basic scripts.
  • Manage retrofit projects for progressive stamping equipment.
  • Manage IP address inventory and bandwidth capacity.
  • Manage multiple projects involving both internal and vendor resources affecting national production infrastructure.
  • Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
  • Configure OSPF and BGP on the L3 switches, route redistribution.
  • Show more

Site engineer vs planning engineer skills

Common site engineer skills
  • Project Management, 17%
  • Infrastructure, 15%
  • Site Safety, 7%
  • RF, 6%
  • CAD, 4%
  • Ericsson, 4%
Common planning engineer skills
  • Project Management, 11%
  • Infrastructure, 10%
  • Transmission Planning, 8%
  • NERC, 7%
  • Cost Estimates, 4%
  • Transmission Systems, 4%

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