Product Development Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Develops new products for companies, and participates in all phases of product development including research, design, production and marketing. Uses research on customer demand and industry trends to develop product ideas; builds and tests product prototypes; evaluates production options and costs. May specialize in a particular type of product or in products for a specific industry.
Job Outlook
There were 220 Product Development Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 7676 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Product Development Engineer industry, which includes the Product Development Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2012:
Salary
Many new Product Development 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 $87,658.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $82,867.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Product Development Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $78,479.
Education and Experience
Posted Product Development 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 | 2% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 65% |
| Master's Degree | 29% |
| Doctoral Degree | 2% |
| Other | 2% |
Posted Product Development 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 | 23% |
| 3 to 5 years | 55% |
| 6 to 8 years | 12% |
| 9+ years | 10% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Product Development 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 Skills (39%)
- Problem Solving (34%)
- Teamwork / Collaboration (34%)
- Research (23%)
- Microsoft Office (17%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Product Development (74%)
- Mechanical Engineering (25%)
- Project Management (25%)
- New Product Development (20%)
- Product Design (20%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Scheduling (12%)
- Budgeting (10%)
- Experiments (10%)
- Technical Support (10%)
- Data Analysis (10%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Computer Aided Drafting/Design (CAD) (7%)
- Materials Science (6%)
- Mechanical Design (6%)
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) (6%)
- Product Improvement (5%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Product Development Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Product Engineer
- Senior Product Development Engineer
- Senior Scientist
- Senior Scientist, Assay Development
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 Design Engineer
- Manufacturing Product Design Engineer
- Mechanical Product Design Engineer
- Mechanical Design Engineer
- Automotive Product Design Engineer
- Industrial Designer
- Mechanical Project Engineer
- Manufacturing Engineer
- Automotive Engineer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Product Development Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Intel Corporation (222)
- Ford Motor Company (205)
- The Boeing Company (135)
- Raytheon (132)
- Construction Specialties (107)
North Carolina
- Bsh Home Appliances Corporation (5)
- Cree, Inc. (5)
- Fujifilm (5)
- Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (4)
- Analog Devices Incorporated (4)
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!
- Engineering – 2+2 Undergraduate Degrees
- Engineering Management Master's Degrees
- Engineering Management Foundations Graduate Certificates
- Forest Biomaterials Master's Degrees
- Textile 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.