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 21 Signal Processing Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 3544 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 $138,460.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $138,460.
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 $114,009.
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 | 71.25% |
| Master's Degree | 56.83% |
| Doctoral Degree | 28.67% |
| Other | 1.16% |
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 | 10.58% |
| 3 to 5 years | 40.03% |
| 6 to 8 years | 21.41% |
| 9+ years | 27.97% |
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 (42.47%)
- Mathematics (35.64%)
- Research (25.06%)
- Leadership (19.27%)
- Innovation (18.65%)
- Problem Solving (18.14%)
- Operations (12.9%)
- Teamwork (12.39%)
- Management (10.86%)
- Writing (10.13%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Radar (23%)
- Software Engineering (20.89%)
- Signal Processing (65.06%)
- Simulations (31.39%)
- Radio Frequency (29.5%)
- Physics (28.56%)
- MATLAB (52.93%)
- Python (Programming Language) (54.56%)
- Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (20.92%)
- Estimation Theories (9.56%)
- Linux (22.03%)
- Digital Signal Processing (52.05%)
- Computer Science (30.44%)
- Computer Engineering (27.32%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (58.74%)
- Modulation (8.81%)
- Software Development (29.73%)
- Electrical Engineering (45.04%)
- Systems Engineering (27.01%)
- Algorithms (60.94%)
- C (Programming Language) (39.89%)
- Software Defined Radio (SDR) (6.78%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Programming Languages (11.99%)
- Sensors (13.59%)
- Scripting (6.12%)
- Verilog (7.87%)
- VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) (9.3%)
- Systems Design (8.9%)
- Software Design (7.93%)
- Simulink (7.64%)
- Prototyping (8.38%)
- Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) (7.75%)
- New Product Development (5.04%)
- Machine Learning (19.4%)
- R (Programming Language) (6.72%)
- Firmware (8.53%)
- Electronic Warfare (13.73%)
- Electronics (3.83%)
- Embedded Systems (8.35%)
- Embedded Software (4.98%)
- Debugging (17.71%)
- Software Development Life Cycle (8.58%)
- Programming Tools (4.78%)
- Signals Intelligence (14.25%)
- Nvidia CUDA (9.73%)
- Version Control (4.69%)
- Unix (9.7%)
- Automation (4.03%)
- Telecommunications (10.36%)
- Data Analysis (7.44%)
- Antenna (7.95%)
- Adjudication (7.38%)
- Agile Methodology (14.82%)
- Artificial Intelligence (12.45%)
- Algorithm Design (24.84%)
- Oscilloscope (5.38%)
- Git (Version Control System) (7.58%)
- Digital Communications (14.11%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Energy Transport (3.81%)
- Phenomenology (5.35%)
- Clock Recovery (1.09%)
- Digital Signals (2.95%)
- Communication Theory (7.07%)
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.
- Computer Science (36.22%)
- Estimation Theories (11.37%)
- Physics (33.97%)
- Radio Frequency (35.09%)
- Simulations (37.34%)
- Software Engineering (24.85%)
- Clock Recovery (1.29%)
- Radar (27.37%)
- Phenomenology (6.36%)
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
- Algorithm Engineer
- Principal Engineer
- Analog/Mixed Signal Design Engineer
- Principal Systems 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 (502)
- Leidos (108)
- Northrop Grumman (105)
- Meta (103)
- Apple (94)
- MITRE Corporation (71)
- Actalent (64)
- Amazon (55)
- MIT Lincoln Laboratory (52)
- L3Harris Technologies (51)
North Carolina
- MITRE Corporation (3)
- Applied Research Associates (2)
- Lockheed Martin (2)
- Actalent (1)
- Lenovo (1)
- Rambus (1)
- Insight Global (1)
- Motion Recruitment (1)
- CyberCoders (1)
- Meta (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.