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 44 Signal Processing Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 4163 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 2015:

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 $98,142.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $88,985.

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 $60,297.

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	9.06%
Bachelor's Degree	57.94%
Master's Degree	45.35%
Doctoral Degree	22.75%
Other	13.26%

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	24.3%
3 to 5 years	35.25%
6 to 8 years	17.36%
9+ years	23.08%

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 (44.94%)
Mathematics (21.96%)
Research (21.84%)
Writing (13.02%)
Planning (12.8%)
Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (12.52%)
Problem Solving (12.2%)
Leadership (11.34%)
Innovation (10.91%)
Customer Service (10.67%)

Defining Skills

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

Simulations (36.67%)
C++ (Programming Language) (44.98%)
Algorithms (47.7%)
Interlock System (8.63%)
C (Programming Language) (36.64%)
Electrical Engineering (50.87%)
Signal Processing (50.18%)
Digital Signal Processing (38.09%)
MATLAB (50.74%)

Necessary Skills

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

Software Development (12.51%)
Linux (21.67%)
Project Management (5.23%)
SPICE (Simulation Tool) (4.25%)
Physics (24.29%)
Systems Integration (10.11%)
Python (Programming Language) (43.53%)
Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) (15.44%)
Systems Design (9.05%)
Radar (19.64%)
Systems Engineering (14.18%)
Computer Engineering (21.62%)
Signal Integrity (11.09%)
Electrical Connections (7.37%)
Algorithm Design (21.94%)
Electronic Warfare (9.95%)
Software Engineering (14.31%)
Sensors (11.91%)
Rail Operations (7.73%)
Debugging (12.38%)
Traffic Control (7.92%)
Java (Programming Language) (10.64%)
VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) (4.94%)
Electrical Switches (7.37%)
Digital Communications (9.16%)
Machine Learning (13.7%)
Communications Systems (10.96%)
Radio Frequency (15.97%)
Oscilloscope (5.99%)
Painting (7.39%)
Embedded Systems (6.94%)
Housekeeping (8.05%)
Printed Circuit Board (6.02%)
New Product Development (6.94%)
Simulink (8.26%)
Scripting (6.49%)
Firmware (5.99%)
Computer Science (25.4%)

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.

Digital Signal Processing (81.53%)
Interlock System (18.47%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Signal Processing Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Signal Integrity Engineer
DSP Engineer
Digital Signal Processing Engineer
Electrical Apprentice
DSP Driver
Radar Signal Processing Engineer
DSP Software Engineer
Signal Engineer
Audio DSP 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 (292)
Norfolk Southern (279)
Leidos (138)
Actalent (100)
SpaceX (83)
L3Harris Technologies (78)
Lockheed Martin (66)
The Aerospace Corporation (63)
Meta (51)
Apple (51)

North Carolina

Skill Creations (16)
Actalent (4)
CyberCoders (4)
Delviom (2)
Analog Devices (1)
Qualcomm (1)
MITRE Corporation (1)
Insight Global (1)
Norfolk Southern (1)
Accentuate Staffing (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!

Electrical 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.

Engineering