How To Become A Tool Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a tool engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Andrea Welker Ph.D.

Tool engineers design and draft blueprints of tools or parts of vehicles, airplanes, heavy equipment, or customized parts majorly using Computer-Aided (CAD) software. Your job is to create the blueprints using CAD to develop two and three-dimensional prints, as well as validating and evaluating the products.

You will be required to provide technical assistance to manufacturing personnel and quality assurance and ensure that all procedures comply with operational standards such as ISO 9000. Some typical responsibilities you will be expected to carry out are managing PCB libraries, databases, and mold vendors in the refurbishment of existing tooling and new mold construction.

Tool engineers make an average of $91,000 every year or $43.78 per hour. Knowledge of Linux, Python, CAD, Java, and Jenkins is important for this role. In addition, you must be detail-oriented, possess strong problem-solving skills, mechanical skills, and creativity. Most tool engineers have bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering and industrial technology.

What general advice would you give to a tool engineer?

Andrea Welker Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Engineering Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Villanova University

Be open to new experiences. Find a good mentor. Become a valued employee. Always remember that you are designing something for someone.

ScoreTool EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $101,135

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 10.27%

Black or African American 3.44%

Hispanic or Latino 9.48%

Unknown 4.61%

White 72.09%

Gender

female 4.70%

male 95.30%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a tool engineer

Explore tool engineer education requirements

Most common tool engineer degrees

Bachelor's

59.4 %

Associate

23.7 %

Master's

7.5 %

Start to develop specific tool engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Python	15.94%
Java	7.67%
CAD	6.08%
Linux	5.92%
Jenkins	5.14%

Complete relevant tool engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New tool engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a tool engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real tool engineer resumes.

Research tool engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage mold vendors in the refurbishment of existing tooling and new mold construction.
Lead cross-functional teams that develop several emerging technology laser and CCD barcode scanner products.
Lead several independent, cross-functional projects and improve manufacturing quality, reduce cost, ensure environment are supported and FDA compliant.
Create Perl scripts and SQL store procedures for nightly batch job streams, data loads and corporate reporting.

Prepare your tool engineer resume

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