Hardware Test Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Hardware Test Engineer designs and develops test processes for computer hardware and computer-related equipment. Creates test plans and equipment, implements and monitors test processes, and completes hardware product validations.

Job Outlook

There were 13 Hardware Test Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 974 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Hardware Engineer industry, which includes the Hardware Test Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Hardware Test Engineer 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 $129,299.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $129,299.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Hardware Test Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $113,086.

Education and Experience

Posted Hardware Test Engineer 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	0%
Bachelor's Degree	75.46%
Master's Degree	35.63%
Doctoral Degree	9.75%
Other	1.75%

Posted Hardware Test Engineer 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	19.74%
3 to 5 years	39.35%
6 to 8 years	19.32%
9+ years	21.59%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Hardware Test Engineer 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.

Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (37.78%)
Communication (33.26%)
Management (17.45%)
Problem Solving (17.25%)
Mathematics (15.5%)
Operations (15.09%)
Planning (13.76%)
Leadership (13.55%)
Self-Motivation (12.42%)
Reliability (11.19%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Oscilloscope (23.91%)
Electrical Engineering (38.41%)
Automation (29.81%)
Test Planning (34.99%)
Test Engineering (71.84%)
Python (Programming Language) (38.51%)
Test Equipment (30.12%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Multimeters (7.97%)
Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) (0.83%)
Design Verification (6%)
Atlassian Confluence (3.21%)
Agile Methodology (10.14%)
Data Analysis (14.08%)
C (Programming Language) (11.8%)
Software Testing (12.32%)
Computer-Aided Design (3.42%)
Avionics (2.9%)
JIRA (7.87%)
Test Automation (26.4%)
Printed Circuit Board (6.94%)
Debugging (30.64%)
Continuous Improvement Process (7.45%)
Operating Systems (3%)
Digital Electronics (1.97%)
Code Coverage (4.66%)
Computer Science (14.08%)
Version Control (4.24%)
Linux (15.73%)
Development Environment (3.73%)
Hardware Architecture (8.7%)
Functional Testing (5.59%)
Signal Generators (7.25%)
Manufacturing Processes (2.59%)
Systems Engineering (9.11%)
Integration Testing (10.25%)
Automatic Test Equipment (3.83%)
Logic Analyzer (5.69%)
MATLAB (15.01%)
Software Development (16.25%)
Product Testing (2.9%)
Electronics (12.63%)
C# (Programming Language) (8.9%)
Electrical Wiring (3.21%)
Schematic Capture (3.62%)
C++ (Programming Language) (19.67%)
Printed Circuit Board Design (2.8%)
Testability (5.18%)
Radio Frequency (9.32%)
Computer Engineering (19.05%)
Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (4.66%)
Engineering Design Process (2.59%)
System Testing (8.07%)
Application Specific Integrated Circuits (1.76%)
Firmware (9.21%)
Development Testing (4.97%)
Power Electronics (1.66%)
Project Management (8.28%)
Mechanical Engineering (7.35%)
Hardware Design (11.18%)
Product Design (3.83%)
LabVIEW (14.8%)
New Product Development (21.12%)
Robotics (4.55%)
Test Design (3.83%)
Test Data (19.46%)
Software Engineering (8.28%)
Simulations (4.76%)
Root Cause Analysis (7.56%)
Sensors (9.21%)
Test Execution Engine (6.31%)
Scripting (17.81%)
Microcontrollers (3.62%)
Industry Standards (3.31%)

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.

Electrical Engineering (50.75%)
C++ (Programming Language) (25.99%)
Debugging (40.49%)
Test Planning (46.24%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Hardware Test Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Principal Systems Engineer
Principal Engineer
Principal Software Engineer
Test Engineer
Electrical Hardware Engineer
Antenna Engineer
Principal
Hardware Engineer
Test Automation 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.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Hardware Test Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Northrop Grumman (133)
Actalent (80)
Raytheon Technologies (31)
SpaceX (23)
Amazon (22)
Insight Global (13)
ASML (11)
Teradyne (10)
Anduril Industries (10)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (10)

North Carolina

Northrop Grumman (2)
Thermo Fisher Scientific (1)
Cubic Corporation (1)
Insight Global (1)

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!

Computer 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.

Engineering