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The differences between staff design engineers and contracting engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a staff design engineer and a contracting engineer. Additionally, a staff design engineer has an average salary of $128,071, which is higher than the $122,620 average annual salary of a contracting engineer.
The top three skills for a staff design engineer include architecture, RF and CAD. The most important skills for a contracting engineer are C++, C #, and R.
| Staff Design Engineer | Contracting Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $128,071 | $122,620 |
| Hourly rate | $61.57 | $58.95 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 154,963 | 115,631 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 45 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
Staff design engineers are tasked to assess the efficiency of instruments, technologies, and equipment by collaborating with the engineering team to plan, design, and develop technologies efficiently. Their responsibilities include building and setting up, as wells as improving systems and procedures. They should possess strong attention to detail, good visual and spatial awareness, creativity, problem-solving, excellent verbal, written, and project management skills, and strong mathematical and IT skills to become efficient and effective staff design engineers.
A contracting engineer specializes in overseeing engineering projects, focusing on the legalities of contracts between clients and engineers to ensure fairness in all parties involved. Most of their duties are administrative, such as gathering and analyzing data, conducting research and analyses, setting budgets and guidelines, drafting commercial tenders and other paperwork, maintaining records, and executing contracts. They are also responsible for handling contract issues and concerns, solving them promptly and efficiently. Additionally, a contracting engineer maintains an open communication line with all parties to ensure a smooth workflow.
Staff design engineers and contracting engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Staff Design Engineer | Contracting Engineer | |
| Average salary | $128,071 | $122,620 |
| Salary range | Between $89,000 And $182,000 | Between $86,000 And $173,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | HBO | EquiLend |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Professional |
There are a few differences between a staff design engineer and a contracting engineer in terms of educational background:
| Staff Design Engineer | Contracting Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northeastern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between staff design engineers' and contracting engineers' demographics:
| Staff Design Engineer | Contracting Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.7% Female, 24.3% | Male, 88.2% Female, 11.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 23.8% White, 57.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 11.8% White, 70.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 5% |