Signal Processing Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Signal Processing Engineer develops, tests, and implements digital signal processing algorithms.
Job Outlook
There were 24 Signal Processing Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 3474 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Electrical Engineer industry, which includes the Signal Processing Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Signal Processing 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 $139,516.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $139,516.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Signal Processing Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $120,571.
Education and Experience
Posted Signal Processing 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 | 73.14% |
| Master's Degree | 58.38% |
| Doctoral Degree | 27.66% |
| Other | 1.07% |
Posted Signal Processing 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 | 12.07% |
| 3 to 5 years | 40.11% |
| 6 to 8 years | 21.65% |
| 9+ years | 26.17% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Signal Processing 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 (44.21%)
- Mathematics (38.51%)
- Research (26.22%)
- Leadership (20.87%)
- Problem Solving (18.16%)
- Innovation (17.9%)
- Teamwork (12.84%)
- Operations (12.26%)
- Management (11.6%)
- Writing (10.05%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- C (Programming Language) (43.14%)
- Software Defined Radio (SDR) (7.33%)
- Algorithms (63.67%)
- Software Development (31.06%)
- Modulation (10.06%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (62.51%)
- Computer Science (31.38%)
- Electrical Engineering (46.19%)
- Computer Engineering (30.13%)
- Estimation Theories (10.24%)
- Communication Theory (8.61%)
- Linux (23.71%)
- Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (21.7%)
- MATLAB (55.99%)
- Digital Signal Processing (54.33%)
- Python (Programming Language) (55.15%)
- Machine Learning (20.71%)
- Radio Frequency (30.95%)
- Signal Processing (68.27%)
- Simulations (31.62%)
- Radar (23.65%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Digital Communications (15.79%)
- Git (Version Control System) (7.62%)
- Electro-Optics (6.28%)
- Agile Methodology (16.38%)
- Artificial Intelligence (13.15%)
- Systems Engineering (28.71%)
- Data Analysis (7.62%)
- Java (Programming Language) (7.62%)
- Development Environment (4.13%)
- Adjudication (8.26%)
- Telecommunications (12.04%)
- Electronic Warfare (14.92%)
- Version Control (5.09%)
- Algorithm Design (27.11%)
- Antenna (8.7%)
- Unix (10.33%)
- Communications Systems (7.68%)
- Programming Tools (4.86%)
- Signals Intelligence (14.4%)
- Software Development Life Cycle (8.81%)
- Data Processing (4.6%)
- Engineering Support (6.6%)
- R (Programming Language) (6.78%)
- Nvidia CUDA (10.44%)
- Debugging (16.9%)
- Electronics (3.49%)
- Firmware (8.93%)
- Embedded Systems (8.03%)
- Embedded Software (5.82%)
- Prototyping (9.16%)
- Physics (29.52%)
- Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) (8.46%)
- Project Management (3.87%)
- New Product Development (4.92%)
- Scripting (5.96%)
- Product Software Implementation Method (6.2%)
- Software Design (8.52%)
- Simulink (9.05%)
- Software Engineering (21.64%)
- Systems Design (8.93%)
- Verilog (7.33%)
- VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) (10.47%)
- Sensors (13.47%)
- Programming Languages (12.59%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Baseband (2.85%)
- Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (2.85%)
- Channel State Information (2.21%)
- Information Theory (2.85%)
- Link Budget (2.73%)
- Stochastic Process (3.55%)
- Wireless Protocols (2.53%)
- Energy Transport (4.45%)
- Clock Recovery (1.05%)
- Phenomenology (6.11%)
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.
- Wireless Protocols (3.24%)
- Baseband (3.65%)
- Channel State Information (2.83%)
- Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (3.65%)
- Communication Theory (11.02%)
- Computer Science (40.17%)
- Estimation Theories (13.1%)
- Information Theory (3.65%)
- Link Budget (3.5%)
- Radio Frequency (39.61%)
- Stochastic Process (4.54%)
- Simulations (40.47%)
- Clock Recovery (1.34%)
- Radar (30.27%)
- Phenomenology (7.82%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Signal Processing Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Digital Signal Processing Engineer
- DSP Software Engineer
- DSP Engineer
- FPGA Engineer
- Principal Engineer
- Algorithm Engineer
- Principal Systems Engineer
- Radar Signal Processing Engineer
- Principal 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 Signal Processing Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Raytheon Technologies (580)
- Meta (117)
- Leidos (106)
- Northrop Grumman (99)
- Apple (87)
- MITRE Corporation (80)
- MIT Lincoln Laboratory (65)
- Actalent (62)
- Amazon (54)
- L3Harris Technologies (49)
North Carolina
- MITRE Corporation (3)
- Applied Research Associates (2)
- Actalent (1)
- Lenovo (1)
- Insight Global (1)
- Motion Recruitment (1)
- CyberCoders (1)
- Meta (1)
- Synerfac (1)
- Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton Llp (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.