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The differences between staff design engineers and lead design 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 lead design engineer. Additionally, a staff design engineer has an average salary of $128,071, which is higher than the $108,490 average annual salary of a lead design engineer.
The top three skills for a staff design engineer include architecture, RF and CAD. The most important skills for a lead design engineer are CAD, project management, and lead design.
| Staff Design Engineer | Lead Design Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $128,071 | $108,490 |
| Hourly rate | $61.57 | $52.16 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 154,963 | 118,073 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| 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 Lead Design Engineer produces design solutions that can be purchased, installed, and commissioned effectively. They are also responsible for the cost-effectiviness and safety of new designs.
Staff design engineers and lead design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Staff Design Engineer | Lead Design Engineer | |
| Average salary | $128,071 | $108,490 |
| Salary range | Between $89,000 And $182,000 | Between $82,000 And $143,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | HBO | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Agriculture |
There are a few differences between a staff design engineer and a lead design engineer in terms of educational background:
| Staff Design Engineer | Lead Design Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northeastern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between staff design engineers' and lead design engineers' demographics:
| Staff Design Engineer | Lead Design Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.7% Female, 24.3% | Male, 90.9% Female, 9.1% |
| 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, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 15.5% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 5% |