PCB Layout and Design Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A PCB Layout and Design Engineer designs and develops layout for printed circuit boards (PCB) used in electronics and communications systems. Develops the applications and hardware used in PCB manufacturing.
Job Outlook
There were 44 PCB Layout and Design Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 1826 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Hardware Engineer industry, which includes the PCB Layout and Design Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new PCB Layout and Design 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 $121,713.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $121,713.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for PCB Layout and Design Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $95,415.
Education and Experience
Posted PCB Layout and Design 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 | 55.91% |
| Master's Degree | 23% |
| Doctoral Degree | 5.64% |
| Other | 3.5% |
Posted PCB Layout and Design 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 | 10.12% |
| 3 to 5 years | 49.11% |
| 6 to 8 years | 20.39% |
| 9+ years | 20.39% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills PCB Layout and Design 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.
- Communication (40.03%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (14.57%)
- Detail Oriented (13.96%)
- Problem Solving (13.64%)
- Management (11.66%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (10.51%)
- Reliability (10.35%)
- Mathematics (10.19%)
- Multitasking (9.8%)
- Innovation (9.47%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Xpedition Enterprise (Siemens EDA) (21%)
- Rigid-Flex Printed Circuit Board Design (15.82%)
- Schematic Capture (27.89%)
- Signal Integrity (20.77%)
- Printed Circuit Board Design (65.79%)
- OrCAD (8.37%)
- Electronic Packaging (9.39%)
- Design For Manufacturability (25.27%)
- Printed Circuit Board (85.66%)
- Electrical Engineering (46.44%)
- Altium Designer (14.85%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- I2C (4.15%)
- Valor PBC (Software) (15.48%)
- Industry Standards (12.69%)
- Serial Peripheral Interface (4.04%)
- Scripting (8.25%)
- Test Equipment (4.04%)
- Process Improvement (12.35%)
- Network Routing (19.07%)
- Simulations (14.51%)
- Radio Frequency (7.63%)
- Prototyping (5.81%)
- New Product Development (11.78%)
- Mechanical Engineering (15.2%)
- Manufacturing Processes (10.7%)
- Python (Programming Language) (4.44%)
- Product Lifecycle Management (9.62%)
- Logic Analyzer (3.41%)
- Hardware Architecture (8.54%)
- Hardware Design (5.69%)
- Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (11.72%)
- Firmware (7.97%)
- Electronic Engineering (4.61%)
- Electronics (14.57%)
- Embedded Systems (4.21%)
- Electronic Design Automation (27.43%)
- Debugging (11.38%)
- Digital Electronics (8.94%)
- Electronic Components (8.65%)
- Computer Engineering (8.14%)
- Circuit Design (10.47%)
- Electronic Circuits (13.55%)
- Blueprinting (10.47%)
- Electrical Wiring (4.21%)
- Soldering (3.24%)
- Adjudication (8.25%)
- Oscilloscope (8.76%)
- Schematic Diagrams (13.43%)
- Computer-Aided Design (24.7%)
- Assembly Drawing (7.97%)
- Bill Of Materials (6.32%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- High-Speed Printed Circuit Board Design (5.52%)
- DxDesigner (Software) (3.13%)
- Impedance Control (7%)
- HyperLynx (3.19%)
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.
- HyperLynx (3.62%)
- High-Speed Printed Circuit Board Design (6.27%)
- Altium Designer (16.87%)
- Design For Manufacturability (28.7%)
- Electronic Packaging (10.67%)
- Impedance Control (7.95%)
- OrCAD (9.5%)
- Printed Circuit Board Design (74.73%)
- Schematic Capture (31.67%)
- Signal Integrity (23.59%)
- DxDesigner (Software) (3.56%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with PCB Layout and Design Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- PCB Designer
- PCB Design Engineer
- Layout Engineer
- PCB Layout Engineer
- Hardware Engineer
- PCB Layout Designer
- Printed Circuit Board Designer
- Layout Designer
- CAD Designer
- Board Director
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.
- Electronic Design Engineer
- Circuit Design Engineer
- Electronics Engineer (General)
- Hardware Design Engineer
- Hardware Engineer (General)
- Integrated Circuit (IC) Design Engineer
- Electrical Engineer (General)
- Radio Frequency (RF) Engineer
- Manufacturing Process Engineer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most PCB Layout and Design Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Raytheon Technologies (146)
- Actalent (139)
- Entegee (31)
- Apple (30)
- L3Harris Technologies (29)
- Insight Global (29)
- Blue Origin (26)
- Micron Technology (22)
- Etched Agency (21)
- Nvidia (20)
North Carolina
- Actalent (12)
- Qorvo (4)
- Moseley Technical Services (3)
- Entegee (3)
- Honeywell International (2)
- Skyworks (2)
- Encore Semi (2)
- Schneider Electric (1)
- Cubic Corporation (1)
- General Dynamics (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!
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.