Electrical Engineer (General)
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Electrical Engineer designs, develops, and tests products and systems that use or produce electricity, including power generators, electric motors, radar and navigation systems, and communication systems. Works on larger electrical systems rather than small electronic products or devices.
Job Outlook
There were 2407 Electrical Engineer (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 79884 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Electrical Engineer industry, which includes the Electrical Engineer (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Electrical Engineer (General) jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $97,253.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $90,513.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Electrical Engineer (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $85,794.
Education and Experience
Posted Electrical Engineer (General) jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 3.68% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 77.05% |
| Master's Degree | 22.6% |
| Doctoral Degree | 6.29% |
| Other | 2.21% |
Posted Electrical Engineer (General) jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 18.95% |
| 3 to 5 years | 45.29% |
| 6 to 8 years | 16.6% |
| 9+ years | 19.16% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Electrical Engineer (General) positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (39.58%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (22.99%)
- Management (19.34%)
- Coordinating (17.64%)
- Problem Solving (17.61%)
- Writing (17.13%)
- Leadership (17.03%)
- Operations (16.32%)
- Planning (15.66%)
- Research (14.11%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Electrical Engineering (86.67%)
- Human Machine Interfaces (7.66%)
- Electrical Systems (23.27%)
- Printed Circuit Board (8.8%)
- Electric Power Systems (17.08%)
- Power Distribution (13.16%)
- Transformers (Electrical) (6.4%)
- SKM (Power System Software) (7.77%)
- Project Management (22.97%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Commissioning (6.71%)
- Procurement (8.31%)
- Autodesk Revit (10.58%)
- Construction (10.45%)
- Automation (10.81%)
- Engineering Design Process (15.59%)
- Debugging (7.91%)
- AutoCAD (22.85%)
- Programmable Logic Controllers (10.72%)
- Computer-Aided Design (9.52%)
- Electrical Wiring (7.4%)
- Electrical Equipment (9.3%)
- Project Engineering (4.75%)
- Machinery (3.57%)
- New Product Development (8.99%)
- Control Systems (11.95%)
- Electronics (10.22%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Electrical Substation (3.2%)
- Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) (5.48%)
- Hardware Design (3.47%)
- Schematic Capture (4.89%)
- Control Engineering (3.34%)
- Wiring Diagram (5.36%)
- ETAP (6.75%)
- Motor Control (4.4%)
- Engineering Documentation (1.47%)
- Programmable Logic Controllers Programming (3.74%)
- Electric Power Distribution (4.16%)
- Load Flow Analysis (3.38%)
- Short Circuits (7.01%)
- Microcontrollers (3.47%)
- One-Line Diagram (5.17%)
- Circuit Design (5.1%)
- Analog Electronics (3.37%)
- Medium Voltage (4.29%)
- Oscilloscope (6.61%)
- National Electrical Safety Code (4.6%)
- Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (5.66%)
- High Voltage (7.95%)
- Power Electronics (3.39%)
- Arc Flash (2.96%)
- Engineering Calculations (5.66%)
- Switchgear (4.94%)
- National Electrical Codes (5.32%)
- Printed Circuit Board Design (3.93%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Engineering Documentation (3.55%)
- Power Electronics (8.2%)
- Circuit Design (12.33%)
- ETAP (16.3%)
- Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (13.67%)
- Hardware Design (8.39%)
- Load Flow Analysis (8.18%)
- National Electrical Safety Code (11.12%)
- Printed Circuit Board Design (9.49%)
- Electric Power Systems (41.27%)
- Schematic Capture (11.83%)
- Short Circuits (16.94%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Electrical Engineer (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Electrical Engineer
- Controls Engineer
- Electrical Design Engineer
- Principal Electrical Engineer
- Transmission Line Engineer
- Lead Electrical Engineer
- Electrical Engineering Intern
- Electrical Power Engineer
- Electrical Systems Engineer
- Staff Electrical Engineer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Electrical Engineering Manager
- Electrical Design Manager
- Electrical Controls Engineer
- Utilities & Power Distribution Engineer
- Automotive Engineer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Electrical Engineer (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Actalent (4430)
- Black & Veatch (2743)
- Raytheon Technologies (1855)
- CDM Smith (1113)
- Sargent & Lundy (1001)
- Randstad (997)
- GPAC (821)
- L3Harris Technologies (738)
- ManpowerGroup (709)
- Jacobs Engineering Group (689)
North Carolina
- Black & Veatch (281)
- Actalent (217)
- Sargent & Lundy (57)
- Siemens (40)
- Randstad (38)
- Kiewit Corporation (34)
- CDM Smith (34)
- Pike Electric (31)
- Leidos (28)
- Duke Energy (21)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- 5G Technology Graduate Certificates
- ASIC Design and Verification Graduate Certificates
- Electrical Engineering Master's Degrees
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.