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The differences between staff design engineers and senior 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 senior design engineer. Additionally, a staff design engineer has an average salary of $128,071, which is higher than the $104,698 average annual salary of a senior design engineer.
The top three skills for a staff design engineer include architecture, RF and CAD. The most important skills for a senior design engineer are CAD, project management, and RF.
| Staff Design Engineer | Senior Design Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $128,071 | $104,698 |
| Hourly rate | $61.57 | $50.34 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 154,963 | 127,035 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| 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 senior design engineer is responsible for creating mechanical and electrical designs for machines and systems, following clients' specifications and business guidelines. Senior design engineers also assist junior design engineers with their tasks, sharing best practices and techniques, and suggesting adjustments as needed. They also oversee the manufacturing process, inspect possible inconsistencies, and revise plans without exceeding the agreed budget or compromising the quality. A senior design engineer must be keen with details and highly organizational, especially on meeting deadlines with the highest client satisfaction.
Staff design engineers and senior design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Staff Design Engineer | Senior Design Engineer | |
| Average salary | $128,071 | $104,698 |
| Salary range | Between $89,000 And $182,000 | Between $80,000 And $136,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Cupertino, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | HBO | |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a staff design engineer and a senior design engineer in terms of educational background:
| Staff Design Engineer | Senior Design Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northeastern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between staff design engineers' and senior design engineers' demographics:
| Staff Design Engineer | Senior Design Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.7% Female, 24.3% | Male, 91.8% Female, 8.2% |
| 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, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 17.1% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 5% |