Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between supplier development engineers and product development engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a supplier development engineer, becoming a product development engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a supplier development engineer has an average salary of $89,484, which is higher than the $86,075 average annual salary of a product development engineer.
The top three skills for a supplier development engineer include supplier development, supply chain and sigma. The most important skills for a product development engineer are CAD, solidworks, and product development.
| Supplier Development Engineer | Product Development Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $89,484 | $86,075 |
| Hourly rate | $43.02 | $41.38 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 88,396 | 202,155 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
The job of a supplier development engineer is to source, negotiate, and buy goods, services, and materials in order to meet an organization's operational requirements. You will supervise teams in developing new supply sources to improve the company's cost competitiveness. Typical duties include researching entrepreneurial companies to identify potential suppliers and sources, assessing new and existing supplier capabilities to meet cost, product, capacity, and quality, and driving improvements using lean methodologies. You will also perform benchmarking studies to determine future trends and best practices.
A Product Development Engineer is responsible for creating and testing new product designs. They collaborate with market researchers to evaluate market needs, existing competition, and potential costs.
Supplier development engineers and product development engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Supplier Development Engineer | Product Development Engineer | |
| Average salary | $89,484 | $86,075 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $113,000 | Between $64,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | South San Francisco, CA | Sunnyvale, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Amazon | |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | Technology |
There are a few differences between a supplier development engineer and a product development engineer in terms of educational background:
| Supplier Development Engineer | Product Development Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Most common major | Business | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between supplier development engineers' and product development engineers' demographics:
| Supplier Development Engineer | Product Development Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 81.9% Female, 18.1% | Male, 86.8% Female, 13.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 16.7% White, 67.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 5% |