Research & Development Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Research & Development Engineer researches and invents new methods or improves existing ones within engineering and manufacturing.

Job Outlook

There were 234 Research & Development Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 9207 in the United States.

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

Salary

Many new Research & 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 $119,286.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $114,760.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Research & Development Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $96,819.

Education and Experience

Posted Research & 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	0%
Bachelor's Degree	67.93%
Master's Degree	40.52%
Doctoral Degree	27.07%
Other	2.17%

Posted Research & 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	23.1%
3 to 5 years	47.66%
6 to 8 years	18.15%
9+ years	11.08%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Research & 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.

Research (48.66%)
Communication (38.37%)
Innovation (26.99%)
Problem Solving (26.3%)
Leadership (20.38%)
Operations (19.06%)
Management (17.58%)
Writing (15.88%)
Presentations (14.1%)
Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (13.46%)

Defining Skills

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

Python (Programming Language) (25.04%)
R (Programming Language) (23.07%)
New Product Development (34.45%)

Necessary Skills

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

Ansys Simulation Software (3.72%)
Materials Science (10.9%)
Computer-Aided Design (12.52%)
Electrical Engineering (21.3%)
Agile Methodology (6.81%)
C (Programming Language) (9.09%)
Medical Devices (15.48%)
C++ (Programming Language) (14.91%)
Automation (9.01%)
3D Modeling (7.98%)
Artificial Intelligence (10.66%)
Algorithms (10.79%)
Software Development (9.07%)
SolidWorks (CAD) (15.99%)
Systems Engineering (8.46%)
Linux (5.82%)
Computer Science (18.43%)
Electronics (5.44%)
Data Analysis (15.56%)
Test Planning (6.55%)
Machine Learning (13.1%)
Mechanical Engineering (26.82%)
Chemical Engineering (9.55%)
Computer Engineering (9.42%)
Software Engineering (10.74%)
Physics (9.14%)
Simulations (8.41%)
Lean Manufacturing (5.95%)
Process Development (8.72%)
Project Management (20.17%)
MATLAB (10.66%)
Manufacturing Processes (11.65%)
Prototyping (14.23%)
Risk Analysis (6.35%)
Product Design (8.41%)
Research And Development (17.45%)
Scripting (4.47%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

Modal Analysis (2.09%)
Structural Mechanics (2.25%)

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.

Python (Programming Language) (100%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Research & Development Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

RD Engineer
Research Engineer
Research and Development Engineer
Principal Engineer
Research and Development Software Engineer
Process Engineer
Mechanical Engineer
Engineering Intern
Lead Electrical Engineer
Lead Software 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 Research & Development Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Sandia Corporation (275)
GAF Materials Corporation (250)
Stryker (232)
Meta (200)
Medtronic (165)
Stoughton Trailers (162)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (154)
Boston Scientific (129)
Ansys (122)
Southwest Research Institute (106)

North Carolina

Hitachi (29)
TE Connectivity (26)
ABB (13)
Teleflex (11)
GAF Materials Corporation (9)
Cook Medical (8)
Raytheon Technologies (7)
General Motors (7)
Murray Agency (4)
Broadcom (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!

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