What does a staff design engineer do?
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.
Staff design engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real staff design engineer resumes:
- Manage aspects of commercial architecture projects, develop solutions to problems that arise during construction.
- Manage complex resolution of provisioning issues and develop practices and procedures for circuit installation and maintenance.
- Design parts and Verilog libraries for PCB system level integration.
- Design ASIC base control electronics for an army smart sub-munition (SADARM).
- Re-Implement porting and connecting script for design auto generation from scratch using Perl.
- Design of VSWR protection circuit for CMOS power amplifiers integrate in WLAN product lines.
- Work very closely with cellular DVT group for successful ASIC chip bring up and verification.
- Modify and verify in Verilog an existing LDPC min-sum decoder core to meet final product specifications.
- Design PCB level circuit for quick prototyping of the system.Worked with software team to develop multi-pixel sensing algorithm.
- Develop a python error checking tool written in object orient fashion to check for disconnect nodes/edges in a given graph/tree.
- Analyze, debug, and resolve EMI/ESD issues on different print systems which results passing scan tests and getting EMC certificate.
- Investigate physical sensitivities limiting DAC performance.
- Develop data extraction data from DDR calibration data.
- Participate in developing a java base video capture system.
- Design various LabView applications for accelerometer testing and characterization.
Staff design engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 6% of Staff Design Engineers are proficient in Architecture, RF, and CAD. They’re also known for soft skills such as Initiative, Speaking skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Staff Design Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Architecture, 6%
Managed aspects of commercial architecture projects, developed solutions to problems that arose during construction.
- RF, 6%
State machines controlled Register interface to dynamically configure RF chip registers.
- CAD, 5%
Led CAD team in effort to replace Ford Microelectronics network with Intel networking infrastructure in 1 week.
- Synthesis, 5%
Perform physical synthesis using Physical Compiler on timing challenge books.
- Analog, 5%
Designed continuous-time CMOS 7-pole 2-zero filter/equalizer for disk-drive read-channel Designed CCD analog front-end for digital camcorders and cameras
- SOC, 4%
Designed hardware reference electronics for demonstration and evaluation of DVD Players using a SOC device.
Most staff design engineers use their skills in "architecture," "rf," and "cad" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential staff design engineer responsibilities here:
Initiative. One of the key soft skills for a staff design engineer to have is initiative. You can see how this relates to what staff design engineers do because "electrical and electronics engineers must apply their knowledge to new tasks in every project they undertake." Additionally, a staff design engineer resume shows how staff design engineers use initiative: "provided cost savings initiatives as described by policies, including process improvements, design changes and manufacturing streamlining. "
Speaking skills. Many staff design engineer duties rely on speaking skills. "electrical and electronics engineers work closely with other engineers and technicians," so a staff design engineer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways staff design engineer responsibilities rely on speaking skills: "developed, edited, and presented end-user training on microsoft office and autocad applications to corporate staff. "
Writing skills. staff design engineers are also known for writing skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to staff design engineer responsibilities, because "electrical and electronics engineers develop technical publications related to equipment they develop, including maintenance manuals, operation manuals, parts lists, product proposals, and design methods documents." A staff design engineer resume example shows how writing skills is used in the workplace: "designed fpga logic writing verilog targeting the xilinx spartan-3 xc3s400 incorporating the 'self-managed' redundant gigabit invention. "
Math skills. A big part of what staff design engineers do relies on "math skills." You can see how essential it is to staff design engineer responsibilities because "electrical and electronics engineers must use the principles of calculus and other advanced math in order to analyze, design, and troubleshoot equipment." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical staff design engineer tasks: "performed design, analysis, and detailing tasks using mathcad and autocad rel. "
The three companies that hire the most staff design engineers are:
- Silicon Labs33 staff design engineers jobs
- Samsung Electronics Device Solutions (Semiconductor & Display)33 staff design engineers jobs
- Qualcomm17 staff design engineers jobs
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Compare different staff design engineers
Staff design engineer vs. Engineering trainee
An engineering trainee is responsible for shadowing engineers in their duties and performing administrative tasks as needed. Engineering trainees assist the engineers in inspecting construction sites and conducting field research. They also identify cost-efficient materials and resources that meet quality standards and client specifications. An engineering trainee must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in writing reports, attending meetings, and ensuring that all reports are submitted for management's reviews, such as contracts from suppliers and vendors.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, staff design engineer responsibilities require skills like "architecture," "cad," "synthesis," and "analog." Meanwhile a typical engineering trainee has skills in areas such as "fire protection," "technical support," "boilers," and "geotechnical." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Engineering trainees really shine in the energy industry with an average salary of $63,253. Comparatively, staff design engineers tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $127,511.The education levels that engineering trainees earn slightly differ from staff design engineers. In particular, engineering trainees are 3.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a staff design engineer. Additionally, they're 3.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Staff design engineer vs. Senior principal engineer
A senior principal engineer is responsible for leading engineering tasks within an organization and reports project updates to senior management. Senior principal engineers develop strategic methods and principles to improve the technical stability and efficiency of the company's systems, creating business proposals according to clients' specifications, and negotiating contracts with suppliers and other service providers. They also train new staff and identify innovations and business opportunities that would generate more revenue resources for the company.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real staff design engineer resumes. While staff design engineer responsibilities can utilize skills like "cad," "synthesis," "analog," and "verilog," senior principal engineers use skills like "python," "java," "cloud," and "c #."
Senior principal engineers may earn a higher salary than staff design engineers, but senior principal engineers earn the most pay in the professional industry with an average salary of $123,997. On the other hand, staff design engineers receive higher pay in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $127,511.In general, senior principal engineers achieve similar levels of education than staff design engineers. They're 2.3% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 3.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Staff design engineer vs. Principal engineer
A principal engineer is responsible for monitoring the overall design phase of the construction process, including coordinating with the client for progress and updates, as well as performing adjustments as needed based on clients' specifications and requirements. Principal engineers also inspect the materials and resources used to ensure that the project stays within the budget goals and set timeframe. They should have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in preparing reports and training new staff.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from staff design engineer resumes include skills like "synthesis," "analog," "circuit design," and "ip," whereas a principal engineer is more likely to list skills in "java," "python," "c #," and "software development. "
Principal engineers earn the best pay in the telecommunication industry, where they command an average salary of $125,415. Staff design engineers earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $127,511.When it comes to education, principal engineers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to staff design engineers. In fact, they're 3.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 2.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Staff design engineer vs. Project controls engineer
A Project Controls Engineer creates project cost reports and progress charts. These professionals interpret the company contract and deal with the existing cost control database and financial risk. Project Controls Engineers reconcile and organize the project cost information with the clients' status reports. Also, they evaluate cash flow reports and project cost reports prepared by CMA.
Types of staff design engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
