Solar Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Solar Engineer designs and develops technologies that produce and store energy from solar power.

Job Outlook

There were 75 Solar Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2174 in the United States.

We do not have this data at this time.

Salary

Many new Solar 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 $112,252.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $99,891.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Solar Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $89,186.

Education and Experience

Posted Solar 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	79.21%
Master's Degree	26.45%
Doctoral Degree	2.44%
Other	11.36%

Posted Solar 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	23.72%
3 to 5 years	49.42%
6 to 8 years	13.97%
9+ years	12.88%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Solar 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 (49.86%)
Operations (36.43%)
Management (33.12%)
Problem Solving (26.17%)
Microsoft Excel (23.51%)
Planning (23%)
Microsoft Office (19.37%)
Detail Oriented (18.54%)
Coordinating (18.4%)
Quality Control (18.31%)

Defining Skills

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

Electrical Engineering (35.66%)
Project Management (50.74%)
Construction (36.38%)
Business Development (17.7%)
Continuous Improvement Process (14.21%)
Engineering Design Process (12.83%)
PVsyst (24.32%)
Solar Engineering (12.62%)
Cable Sizing (3.03%)
Solar Design (7.18%)
Passive Solar Building Design (5.8%)

Necessary Skills

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

AutoCAD (27.3%)
Engineering Calculations (2.57%)
Procurement (12.47%)
Subcontracting (13.6%)
ETAP (8.72%)
Project Schedules (7.75%)
Renewable Energy (20.11%)
SKM (Power System Software) (6.82%)
Short Circuits (6.52%)
Construction Management (24.58%)
Change Management (0.92%)
Medium Voltage (3.75%)
Transformers (Electrical) (4.77%)
Load Flow Analysis (3.8%)
Electrical Equipment (3.08%)
Mechanical Engineering (24.83%)
Arc Flash (3.23%)
Due Diligence (16.98%)
Switchgear (2.98%)
Low Voltage (2.21%)
Relays (1.95%)
Performance Management (0.51%)
Network Switches (1.23%)
Fiber Optic Cable (1.23%)
Project Implementation (5.9%)
Constructability (7.59%)
Systems Design (12.83%)
Project Engineering (9.59%)
Submittals (Construction) (17.6%)
Construction Engineering (3.69%)
Commissioning (7.08%)
Material Selection (0.77%)
Contract Management (4%)
Resource Planning (1.8%)
Engineering Management (3.64%)
Process Improvement (10.01%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

Solar Photovoltaic Design (2.21%)
Helioscope (Software) (6.16%)

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.

Solar Photovoltaic Design (6.08%)
PVsyst (67.04%)
Solar Design (19.8%)
Solar Engineering (34.79%)
Helioscope (Software) (16.97%)
Passive Solar Building Design (15.98%)
Photovoltaic Systems (12.16%)

Alternative Job Titles

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

Field Engineer
Renewable Energy Engineer
Project Engineer/Superintendent
Solar Consultant
Director of Engineering
Performance Leader
Solar Design Engineer
Electrical Engineer
Solar Designer

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 Solar Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Black & Veatch (163)
Wanzek Construction (109)
DNV (94)
NextEra Energy (81)
Res Agency (72)
Iea Management Services (49)
Burns & McDonnell (47)
First Solar (46)
Depcom Power (32)
M. A. Mortenson Company (32)

North Carolina

Black & Veatch (15)
Burns & McDonnell (8)
Rise Technical Recruitment Ltd (7)
Depcom Power (3)
Jobot (3)
Brookfield Renewable (3)
TE Connectivity (2)
DNV (2)
Wanzek Construction (2)
Cypress Creek Renewables (2)

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