Product Design Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Product Design Engineer is responsible for the complete production of a product from original idea through to fully functioning product. May be responsible for engineering of materials and manufacturing the product. May be responsible for graphic design, ergonomics and aesthetics of the product.
Job Outlook
There were 121 Product Design Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 4319 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Industrial Designer industry, which includes the Product Design Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Product 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 $105,540.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $92,235.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Product Design Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $80,129.
Education and Experience
Posted Product 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 | 73.03% |
| Master's Degree | 24.31% |
| Doctoral Degree | 5.65% |
| Other | 1.6% |
Posted Product 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 | 18.47% |
| 3 to 5 years | 47.4% |
| 6 to 8 years | 21.87% |
| 9+ years | 12.26% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Product 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 (40.4%)
- Problem Solving (32.65%)
- Innovation (22.6%)
- Leadership (18.48%)
- Management (17.94%)
- Operations (15.72%)
- Sales (15.35%)
- Research (15.24%)
- Detail Oriented (14.05%)
- Microsoft Excel (13.29%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- 3D Modeling (31.25%)
- Computer-Aided Design (30.1%)
- SolidWorks (CAD) (26.23%)
- Mechanical Engineering (43.04%)
- Prototyping (23.07%)
- Product Design (61.28%)
- New Product Development (48.62%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Bill Of Materials (13.27%)
- Mechanical Design (17.02%)
- Product Improvement (4.71%)
- Industrial Design (11.25%)
- Project Engineering (6.42%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (8.27%)
- Systems Engineering (6.87%)
- AutoCAD (8.65%)
- Computer Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA) (9.96%)
- Engineering Change Order (9.05%)
- Finite Element Methods (8.23%)
- Electrical Engineering (14.65%)
- Engineering Management (5.95%)
- Design For Manufacturability (14.46%)
- Engineering Drawings (9.92%)
- Engineering Design Process (12.78%)
- Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (3.89%)
- Product Lifecycle Management (12.49%)
- Design Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (10.17%)
- Electronics (4.76%)
- Sheet Metal (6.07%)
- Manufacturing Processes (20.25%)
- Geometric Dimensioning And Tolerancing (10.74%)
- Machining (6.92%)
- Marketing (15.33%)
- Purchasing (6.09%)
- Injection Molding (8.02%)
- Root Cause Analysis (7.41%)
- Tooling (10.97%)
- Project Management (17.53%)
- Product Engineering (25.01%)
- Tolerance Analysis (15.68%)
- Technical Drawing (3.73%)
- Product Lining (6.07%)
- Product Management (9.7%)
- Test Planning (9.68%)
- PTC Creo (CAD Suite) (10.57%)
- Systems Design (6.28%)
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.
- 3D Modeling (54.12%)
- Computer-Aided Design (52.13%)
- Prototyping (39.95%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Product Design Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Product Engineer
- Product Designer
- Engineering Intern
- Project Engineer
- Engineer
- Electric Motor Mechanic
- Product Review Engineer
- Systems Engineer
- Craftsman
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.
- Product Development Engineer
- Manufacturing Process Engineer
- Mechanical Product Design Engineer
- Automotive Engineer
- Mechanical Design Engineer
- Research & Development Engineer
- Industrial Designer
- Mechanical Engineer (General)
- Manufacturing Product Design Engineer
- Product Designer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Product Design Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Ford (253)
- Apple (223)
- Meta (185)
- Actalent (76)
- Gast Manufacturing (76)
- Eaton Corporation (58)
- Cummins (55)
- Boeing (47)
- Amazon (47)
- Parker Hannifin (46)
North Carolina
- Actalent (13)
- Siemens Energy (6)
- Ford (5)
- Apex Tool Group (4)
- ABB (4)
- Dover Corporation (3)
- Hayward Industries (3)
- Flexsteel Industries (3)
- Stefanini (3)
- WernerCo (2)
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!
- Design Doctoral Degrees
- Forest Biomaterials Master's Degrees
- Watershed Assessment and Restoration Graduate Certificates
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.