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Job outlook for staff field engineers in the United States
Are staff field engineer jobs in demand?
Staff field engineer job and salary trends over time
Staff field engineer jobs over time
Staff field engineer job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,580 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 1,573 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 1,576 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 1,584 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 1,558 | 0.00% |
Average staff field engineer salary over time
Staff field engineer salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $101,986 | $49.03 | +2.3% |
| 2024 | $99,659 | $47.91 | +2.0% |
| 2023 | $97,747 | $46.99 | +1.7% |
| 2022 | $96,149 | $46.23 | +0.9% |
| 2021 | $95,290 | $45.81 | +1.3% |
Staff field engineer jobs by state
Most common states for staff field engineers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 411 | 59% |
| 2 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 2,054 | 30% |
| 3 | Vermont | 623,657 | 143 | 23% |
| 4 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,872 | 22% |
| 5 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,535 | 21% |
| 6 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 1,192 | 21% |
| 7 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 277 | 21% |
| 8 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 119 | 21% |
| 9 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 1,188 | 20% |
| 10 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 845 | 20% |
| 11 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 589 | 19% |
| 12 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 255 | 19% |
| 13 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 144 | 19% |
| 14 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 994 | 18% |
| 15 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 563 | 18% |
| 16 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 186 | 18% |
| 17 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 2,173 | 17% |
| 18 | Arizona | 7,016,270 | 1,168 | 17% |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 2,006 | 16% |
| 20 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 1,717 | 16% |
Most common cities for staff field engineers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fridley | 5 | 18% | $83,849 |
| 2 | Richfield | 5 | 14% | $83,600 |
| 3 | Roseville | 5 | 14% | $83,833 |
| 4 | Edina | 5 | 10% | $83,576 |
| 5 | Saint Louis Park | 5 | 10% | $83,646 |
| 6 | Bloomington | 5 | 6% | $83,527 |
| 7 | Brooklyn Park | 5 | 6% | $83,806 |
| 8 | Saint Paul | 5 | 2% | $83,787 |
| 9 | Minneapolis | 5 | 1% | $83,731 |
| 10 | Santa Clara | 1 | 1% | $106,520 |
| 11 | Colorado Springs | 1 | 0% | $63,857 |
| 12 | San Jose | 1 | 0% | $106,324 |
Staff Field Engineer job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of staff field engineer experts
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Missouri - Kansas City
San Diego State University
Xavier University
State University of New York, Canton
Central Washington University
Old Dominion University
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Liberty University
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Northern Michigan University
Elon University
Merrimack College
Marietta College
University of Maryland
University of Baltimore
Kennesaw State University
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
What will help Staff Field Engineers increase their earning potential?
Todd Allen: -work hard to develop professional networks
- get the details right
- the way you present is as important as your technical knowledge
What general advice would you give to a Staff Field Engineer?
Arie Nakhmani: Electrical Engineering combines a dozen sub-fields such as power systems, telecommunications, embedded systems, machine learning/AI, hardware design, signal analysis, IoT, etc., and jobs in these different subfields could look completely different. Some involve office work with the computer designing algorithms or optimizing processes, others might involve inspecting power transmission lines with drones in the middle of the forest. Some jobs include testing airplane engines and others designing microchips and working in clean rooms.
What will help Staff Field Engineers increase their earning potential?
Arie Nakhmani: People who have EE degrees like being able to choose from a variety of EE sub-fields and being able to enter new areas because they learn science fundamentals and math, critical thinking, and the ability to solve difficult problems that are very helpful in life regardless of the job they pick. People dislike that solving difficult problems is difficult and requires a lot of effort. Not all are ready to put their effort in.
What general advice would you give to a Staff Field Engineer?
Dr. Alison Graettinger: Some common challenges for field based positions is the amount of travel involved or working in extreme weather conditions.
What will help Staff Field Engineers increase their earning potential?
Dr. Alison Graettinger: The demand for geology field engineers/techs is pretty constant. This is also a great way to get your foot in the door to a company and learn about how the company is structured and paths for advancement.
What Staff Field Engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Arif Engin: Electrical engineering graduates are sought by a wide range of employers in government and industry for many different types of work. The top occupations in electrical engineering fields are projected to grow and sometimes require an advanced degree.
Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer
Professor and ChairXavier University
Department Of Physics
What skills stand out on Staff Field Engineer resumes?
Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer: Programming languages, numerical design and simulation tools, knowledge of various measurement equipment.
What soft skills should all Staff Field Engineers possess?
Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer: Communication, teamwork.
What skills will help Staff Field Engineers earn the most?
Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer: Problem-solving, troubleshooting, independent learner.
Yilei Shi Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorState University of New York, Canton
Canino School of Engineering Technology
What technical skills for a Staff Field Engineer stand out to employers?
Yilei Shi Ph.D.: Hands-on testing experiences and computer skills, including professional software skills, caught up on eyes to employers.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Staff Field Engineers?
Yilei Shi Ph.D.: Yes. The civil engineering industry is heavily affected by the pandemic. A lot of private companies have already laid off employees because of lost future contracts. The public sector didn't appear to be affected much and is actually hiring some new employees. Recent graduates find it harder to secure a job.
What's a good job out of college for Staff Field Engineers?
Yilei Shi Ph.D.: It depends. I have heard some summer interns at consulting firms were accommodated with totally remote internships in summer 2020. Current employees, including new hires, mostly work at home if work allows. For construction industry, employees will go to actual job sites every day.
Greg Lyman
Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator, Electronics Engineering TechnologyCentral Washington University
Engineering Technologies, Safety, and Construction
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Staff Field Engineers?
Greg Lyman: There won't be an enduring impact because manufacturing and automation will continue in the future.
What type of skills will young Staff Field Engineers need?
Greg Lyman: Automation, control, networking and soft skills like communication - being responsive to internal and external customers, working in teams, and oral and written presentation skills.
What experience really stands out on Staff Field Engineer resumes?
Greg Lyman: -Internships at technology or manufacturing are the best and past experiences where graduates can show they are reliable and responsible.
-Extracurricular activities such as involvement with student clubs, volunteer activities, etc.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Staff Field Engineers?
Michel Audette Ph.D.: My take on this is what I've seen with my wife's work in industry, which suggests that the industrial landscape is going to be increasingly equipped for, and open to, remote work. I think that the implication for graduates is that they may need to be flexible about working within a geographically distributed team. If company deciders feel that someone is worth employing because of a unique skill set, then they would typically be more willing to hire that person even if unable to make it to work regularly, if that is feasible given the nature of the work; some work, such as hardware testing or industrial production, may not lend itself to remote contributions.
Nonetheless, for those areas that accommodate geographically distributed activity, such as software development, graduates can expect to interact with team members all over the US, possibly all over the world, if someone is deemed unique enough to hire despite living abroad. This places a high premium on the ability and willingness to work in a heterogeneous team, where not only will members look different, but also have myriad accents in their English, which will also impose a certain adaptability and tolerance to team members.
A related impact could also be that global hiring will make it easier for multi-national companies to hire a portion of their talent in countries where wages are lower and motivate US-based engineers to seek out graduate degrees in order to increase their competitiveness and employability at US salaries.
Dr. Sohrab Asgarpoor
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, Professor of Electrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln
College of Engineering
How do you envision technology impacting Staff Field Engineers in the next 5 years?
Dr. Sohrab Asgarpoor: Adopting new technology should be an exciting (and expected) reality for those with an engineering degree. The virtual space will continue to grow as folks seek jobs and work online more. But what holds paramount, no matter what particular technological changes arise, is the ability to adapt-and to demonstrate that critical aptitude in their application documents and through their interviews, always highlighting those moments they've done so and articulating their propensity for learning.
What experience really stands out on Staff Field Engineer resumes?
Robert Rich: -Certification such as green belt, black-belt, machine learning, Lean Manufacturing, and APICS supply chain/inventory
-Specialized undergraduate research projects that go deep into various leading-edge topics like integrating AI with manufacturing and logistics
-Consulting experience/real projects within areas of undergraduate research
Dr. Galen Duree
Head of the Department of Physics and Optical Engineering and ProfessorRose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Department of Physics and Optical Engineering
What experience really stands out on Staff Field Engineer resumes?
Dr. Galen Duree: It depends on what you are applying for. If you are working on product development, then internships or co-ops provide a definite advantage. If you are working on developing new ways of doing things, research experiences in academia or companies are advantageous. Either case, this shows a certain maturity in your career path - you have participated in an activity related to the career you are currently pursuing.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Staff Field Engineers?
Michael Rudisill: It depends on what you really mean by enduring, but for all practical purposes, once the pandemic has passed, the economy will return, and anyone in the engineering field who wants a job will have many opportunities. Obviously, the short-term effect can be brutal for new graduates as jobs are not as plentiful as "usual"-but in the long term, those that persevere will end up in great careers. In some ways, it will be harder on the senior engineers who haven't stayed employed, as they are missing out on years when their income should be the highest. New graduates are missing relatively low earning years, so the long-term effects should not be as bad looking at lifetime earnings.
What type of skills will young Staff Field Engineers need?
John Ring: While our universities consistently educate engineering students with hard skills and strong engineering fundamentals, tomorrow's engineers need to be strong communicators, collaborators, and critical thinkers. Our professional environments are filled with data and information, and the constraint is typically how much time individuals can dedicate to solving a problem. At Elon University, we educate tomorrow's engineers to have the hard skills necessary to analyze the information and situations, apply critical thinking techniques to determine ways to solve the issue, and then concisely and efficiently communicate with colleagues as solutions are being set in motion.
Rickey Caldwell Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Mechanical EngineeringMerrimack College
Departmet of Mechanical Engineering
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Staff Field Engineers to find work opportunities?
Rickey Caldwell Ph.D.: The engineering centers of the US seem to have strong job markets. Boston, West Coast, Silicon Prairie, DC area are just a few. There are employment opportunities in every industry and every state. It just may take 6 - 18 months to land that first job. Students may have to cast a bigger and wider search net. For example, if you only want to work in city A, it may take longer to find a job. A better strategy is to search regionally. For example, New England, Mid Atlantic, or the Southwest. Additionally, there are sectors that are always looking for new talent, such as energy production, food companies such as Unilever, and the civilian government work at federally funded research and development laboratories (FFRDC) and University Affiliated Research Centers (UARC) such as The MITRE Corporation and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Staff Field Engineers?
Rickey Caldwell Ph.D.: In terms of job opportunities, no. It may take longer to secure that first job, and it may be an employer's job market for the next several years. This means starting salaries may not be as high as a year ago, and yearly raises may be near zero up to 3% (depending on career fields and markets). Additionally, some benefits, such as tuition reimbursement, may not be available at some companies.
However, I strongly suspect that things will get better (as a wild guess) in 3 - 5 years as the economy rebounds. For the immediate future, the full economic effects of the pandemic have not been fully realized. As companies restructure to deal with their impact on their bottom lines and workers are laid-off, more experienced employees are entering the job marking and seeking jobs. This is very similar to the financial system crash around 2008, so that could be referenced for a similar environment, especially its effect on the Midwest. Job seekers must be persistent.
For enduring changes, the pandemic has presented a great opportunity to change the nature of where we do work. This experiment has been tried before at places like Yahoo, for example. Pre-pandemic, some companies allowed workers to work from home several times per month under flexible scheduling. I believe the coronavirus pandemic will make these types of work options a larger part of the business workplace culture. Additionally, many companies are actively working to enhance their diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. With this renewed attention, there may be more opportunities for workers that are women, BIPOC, LBGQT+, and others to rewrite and form new workplace norms to have new working environments. I strongly encourage people to take their seats at this table and create the world you wish to work in.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Staff Field Engineers?
Ben Ebenhack: I believe that the impact of the pandemic on the US economy is still unfolding and that we won't be able to see any kind of robust turnaround until vaccines are widely available and seen, in practice, to be effective. Until that time, I suspect that we'll continue to see a lot of volatility as investors speculate about recovery, reopening, etc., but the trends will probably vacillate.
Once the pandemic is clearly seen to be reasonably well-controlled, I think that there will be a good deal of pent-up demand for energy and its services. I expect to see a modest recovery in energy prices, but that may not translate to jobs for a few years. Ultimately, the world's need for energy will drive prices up, and there will probably be another boom. Everyone should remember that half of humanity (~3.5 billion people) lack access to modern energy, on which development depends. With global economic recovery, I would expect that to apply considerable upward pressure on energy (and related resource) demands for the next several decades. Alternative energy will continue to grow, but I don't think it can grow as fast as some optimists expect.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Staff Field Engineers?
Craig Carignan: Yes, it will have an enduring impact on aerospace grads, especially those going into aeronautical engineering. The airline industry has been hit especially hard by the pandemic, and commercial aircraft manufacture has come to a screeching halt. That means not just the airplane manufacturers being affected but all of the hundreds of aircraft parts suppliers too. The other factor is that people are learning how to attend conferences and meetings virtually, through applications like Zoom and Teams, which also saves a lot of money on travel. So even when things do start returning to normal, I think that the demand for air travel will not return to the same levels as before.
Some long term impact may also be felt by the space industry. Even though there are quarantine precautions in place (before and after a flight), human space flight might be seen as riskier due to possible infection from viruses that may not show symptoms. So we might try to do more from the ground using robotics. Also, the density of workers in a lot of places in the aerospace industry is very high, and I would expect telecommuting to become more common.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Staff Field Engineers?
Dr. Giovanni Vincenti: COVID-19 put into perspective the importance of technology for everyone. Those people who would typically work in fully staffed offices and took IT systems for granted have now realized how the lack of dedicated personnel and resources is a significant issue as everyone is working from home. The same realization has also reached upper-management, often creating a nearly immediate need for innovation that would have otherwise remained just a plan for the future. Graduates in the IT field and technology, in general, will benefit from this realization, as projects move from the planning stage into implementation and eventually maintenance. This increment in reliance on IT-related resources will create a greater need for employment.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Staff Field Engineers to find work opportunities?
Dr. Giovanni Vincenti: Cities that are typically associated with technology will probably remain hubs of innovation, especially if they have local administrations that are favorable towards entrepreneurship. However, the recent need for companies to leverage the ability to work remotely has opened up the possibilities of workers who may not otherwise be willing to relocate. This trend is probably here to stay for a while, so the ability of graduates to work with virtual collaborators will bring tech jobs to parts of the country that are not typically known for innovation. Even though there probably will not be clusters that will identify new equivalents of Silicon Valley out of nowhere, the fact that the reach of potential employees has extended beyond their geographical immediacy will create major opportunities for any location.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Staff Field Engineers?
Hai Ho Ph.D.: I believe the impact is short term, and once vaccines are effective and available, our graduates will have expected graduation and access to a responsive job market.
Robert Saunders P.E.
Assistant Department HeadUniversity of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Electrical Engineering Department
What general advice would you give to a Staff Field Engineer?
Robert Saunders P.E.: The job market for an electrical engineering student coming out of college is challenging right now. Many companies are still hiring electrical engineering students but, the students can't be as finicky about what jobs they are accepting. More than half of the students are starting their new jobs working remotely, which is a large shift from normal but the companies seem to be using this time to bring the new hires up to speed on policy, procedures, and industry regulations.