Mechanical Design Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Mechanical Design Engineer designs and develops mechanical tools as part of the product development cycle.
Job Outlook
There were 423 Mechanical Design Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 14643 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Mechanical Engineer industry, which includes the Mechanical Design Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Mechanical 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 $101,138.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $92,788.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Mechanical Design Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $81,144.
Education and Experience
Posted Mechanical 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 | 62.26% |
| Master's Degree | 18.9% |
| Doctoral Degree | 5.29% |
| Other | 3.91% |
Posted Mechanical 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 | 20.92% |
| 3 to 5 years | 51.27% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.32% |
| 9+ years | 14.5% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Mechanical 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 (32.11%)
- Problem Solving (21.46%)
- Innovation (13.84%)
- Management (12.88%)
- Writing (12.37%)
- Detail Oriented (12.16%)
- Microsoft Office (12.12%)
- Leadership (11.96%)
- Research (10.78%)
- Operations (10.58%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Mechanical Design (57.72%)
- 3D Modeling (22.97%)
- Computer-Aided Design (29.68%)
- SolidWorks (CAD) (27.51%)
- AutoCAD (25.8%)
- Mechanical Engineering (43.63%)
- Physical Design (8.33%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Bill Of Materials (11.04%)
- Autodesk Revit (10.97%)
- HVAC (8.26%)
- Electrical Engineering (9.51%)
- Manufacturing Processes (11.68%)
- Automation (8.8%)
- Construction (7.72%)
- Sheet Metal (9.25%)
- Machining (10.4%)
- Prototyping (8.07%)
- Engineering Design Process (14.18%)
- Fabrication (8.47%)
- Engineering Drawings (7.31%)
- Project Management (22.06%)
- Mechanical Systems (12.43%)
- Product Design (7.69%)
- Machinery (4.08%)
- New Product Development (13.98%)
- Technical Drawing (3.58%)
- Tooling (13.86%)
- PTC Creo (CAD Suite) (9.81%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Tooling Design (5.6%)
- Autodesk Inventor (3.87%)
- PTC Creo Parametric (4.65%)
- Product Data Management (5.37%)
- Tolerance Analysis (6.41%)
- Design For Manufacturability (6.16%)
- Machinery Design (5.39%)
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.
- Mechanical Design (86.97%)
- Static Timing Analysis (4.52%)
- Tolerance Analysis (9.65%)
- Physical Design (12.55%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Mechanical Design Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Mechanical Designer
- Physical Design Engineer
- Tooling Engineer
- Lead Mechanical Design Engineer
- Staff Mechanical Design Engineer
- Mechanical Engineer/Designer
- Principal Mechanical Engineer
- Design Engineer
- Technical Designer
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.
- Mechanical Engineer (General)
- Manufacturing Process Engineer
- Automotive Engineer
- Mechanical Systems Engineer
- Product Design Engineer
- Mechanical Product Design Engineer
- Design Engineering Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Mechanical Design Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Actalent (1296)
- GE Aerospace (322)
- Intel (313)
- Jobot (273)
- Apple (235)
- Honeywell International (215)
- Tesla (212)
- Raytheon Technologies (182)
- Volt (170)
- Airborn (166)
North Carolina
- Actalent (51)
- Raytheon Technologies (40)
- Siemens (25)
- GE Aerospace (13)
- Siemens Energy (11)
- Jobot (10)
- Arinc International Of Canada Ulc (8)
- Insight Global (7)
- eXp (7)
- GE Vernova (6)
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.