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The differences between team lead engineers and senior staff 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 team lead engineer and a senior staff engineer. Additionally, a senior staff engineer has an average salary of $136,031, which is higher than the $114,867 average annual salary of a team lead engineer.
The top three skills for a team lead engineer include python, architecture and java. The most important skills for a senior staff engineer are python, java, and architecture.
| Team Lead Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $114,867 | $136,031 |
| Hourly rate | $55.22 | $65.40 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 235,155 | 239,752 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A team leads engineer is in charge of spearheading and overseeing the efforts of an engineering team, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Although the duties may depend on one's industry of employment, it typically includes designing and developing systems according to project requirements, setting objectives and construction guidelines, delegating tasks, managing budgets and schedules, and monitoring the workflow, performing corrective measures as needed. Furthermore, as a team leads engineer, it is essential to encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while enforcing the company's safety standards and regulations.
A senior staff engineer is responsible for supervising a team of engineers, chemists, software developers, or molecular biologists. His/Her or her responsibilities include generating Structured Query Language (SQL) performance audit checklist template, creating SQL data query routines and functions for data extraction, and working directly with stakeholders. The job requires strong mechanical, listening, and mathematical skills and proficiency in Python programming language and computer architecture and hardware. The education requirements for the job include a bachelor's or master's degree in electrical engineering, business, mechanical engineering, or a related field.
Team lead engineers and senior staff engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Team Lead Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Average salary | $114,867 | $136,031 |
| Salary range | Between $84,000 And $156,000 | Between $95,000 And $194,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Telecommunication |
There are a few differences between a team lead engineer and a senior staff engineer in terms of educational background:
| Team Lead Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | California State Polytechnic University, Pomona |
Here are the differences between team lead engineers' and senior staff engineers' demographics:
| Team Lead Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.7% Female, 13.3% | Male, 78.4% Female, 21.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 14.5% White, 68.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 16.8% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |