Hardware Engineer (General)
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Hardware Engineer designs and develops computer hardware such as circuit boards, chips, modems, and keyboards. Works with computer software engineers and developers to improve technology.
Job Outlook
There were 179 Hardware Engineer (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 9981 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Hardware Engineer industry, which includes the Hardware Engineer (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Hardware 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 $113,586.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $103,950.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Hardware Engineer (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $93,552.
Education and Experience
Posted Hardware 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 | 3.07% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 63.03% |
| Master's Degree | 32.99% |
| Doctoral Degree | 10.69% |
| Other | 4.59% |
Posted Hardware 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 | 16.68% |
| 3 to 5 years | 42.65% |
| 6 to 8 years | 18.87% |
| 9+ years | 21.8% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Hardware 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 (32.7%)
- Problem Solving (15.38%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (14.91%)
- Management (12.78%)
- Leadership (12.13%)
- Operations (9.73%)
- Planning (9.15%)
- Research (9.08%)
- Innovation (8.78%)
- Writing (8.64%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Electrical Engineering (37.91%)
- Hardware Architecture (35.87%)
- SystemVerilog (Direct Programming Interface) (21.32%)
- Debugging (32.05%)
- Formal Verification (5.77%)
- Application Specific Integrated Circuits (13.85%)
- Computer Engineering (33.39%)
- PCI Express (9.06%)
- Simulations (25.52%)
- VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) (16.74%)
- Verilog (18.65%)
- Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (31.57%)
- Python (Programming Language) (25.59%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Linux (9.97%)
- Oscilloscope (10.68%)
- Hardware Design (13.94%)
- Design Verification (17.99%)
- Embedded Systems (10.9%)
- Firmware (12.46%)
- Perl (Programming Language) (13.87%)
- Test Planning (18.01%)
- Computer Science (18.03%)
- MATLAB (9.38%)
- Automation (12.66%)
- Project Management (8.95%)
- C (Programming Language) (14.03%)
- Printed Circuit Board (13.62%)
- Digital Design (8.31%)
- Digital Electronics (7.85%)
- Scripting (19.75%)
- Software Engineering (8.66%)
- Electronic Engineering (3.4%)
- Git (Version Control System) (4.45%)
- New Product Development (14.26%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (16.07%)
- Electronics (9.68%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Vivado (6.12%)
- Microarchitecture (3.77%)
- Digital Logic (3.26%)
- Computer Architecture (4.67%)
- Hardware Description Language (HDL) (7.37%)
- Oracle Virtual Machine (4.79%)
- Register-Transfer Level (5.45%)
- ModelSim (3.34%)
- Linux Virtual Server (1.61%)
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.
- Computer Architecture (10.31%)
- Microarchitecture (8.32%)
- Formal Verification (12.75%)
- Hardware Description Language (HDL) (16.28%)
- Oracle Virtual Machine (10.58%)
- PCI Express (20%)
- Register-Transfer Level (12.04%)
- SystemVerilog (Direct Programming Interface) (47.07%)
- Verilog (41.18%)
- VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) (36.96%)
- Linux Virtual Server (3.56%)
- Vivado (13.51%)
- Application Specific Integrated Circuits (30.58%)
- ModelSim (7.38%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Hardware Engineer (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Hardware Engineer
- FPGA Engineer
- Design Verification Engineer
- Hardware Systems Engineer
- FPGA Verification Engineer
- Verification Engineer
- Lead Hardware Engineer
- Layout Engineer
- Digital Hardware Engineer
- Formal Verification 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.
- Hardware Design Engineer
- Integrated Circuit (IC) Design Engineer
- Electronic Design Engineer
- Firmware Engineer
- Electronics Engineer (General)
- Signal Processing Engineer
- Computer Circuit Design Engineer
- Research & Development Engineer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Hardware Engineer (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Actalent (473)
- Intel (406)
- Apple (329)
- AMD (213)
- Northrop Grumman (196)
- Randstad (129)
- Ford (127)
- Lockheed Martin (120)
- Nvidia (108)
- Meta (99)
North Carolina
- Actalent (17)
- Lenovo (9)
- Northrop Grumman (8)
- Randstad (7)
- Cisco (5)
- First Citizens Bank (4)
- Microsoft (4)
- Apple (4)
- Ford (3)
- Reperio Human Capital (3)
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!
- ASIC Design and Verification Graduate Certificates
- Computer Engineering Master's Degrees
- Computer Engineering Graduate Certificates
- Engineering – 2+2 Undergraduate 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.