What does a Senior Mechanical Engineer do?
A senior mechanical engineer is responsible for designing and improving mechanical equipment, as well as industrial devices and machinery. Senior mechanical engineers verify the materials and resources, ensuring that the processes meet the budget goals from clients' specifications and requirements. They also monitor the manufacturing process, developing strategic procedures for operations improvement, and maximizing staff productivity. A senior mechanical engineer runs multiple diagnostic tests to guarantee the stability and efficiency of the item and coordinating with the client for any plan adjustments as needed.
Senior mechanical engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior mechanical engineer resumes:
- Create DFMEA documents to help manage risks and improve initial quality.
- Set up and manage PCB manufacturing including all chemical baths, lasers, and exposure equipment.
- Restructure VHDL code and chip/module hierarchy to achieve timing goals for the dual cache controller and the chip.
- Achieve timely convergence of complex designs by building RTL models from validation area and integrating them, before official model release.
- Lead FPGA development of key digital communication component used in successful demonstration of spacecraft radio link.
- Provide mechanical design and sustaining engineering expertise to troubleshoot manufacturing defect trends and achieve a more robust and producible product.
- Prepare conceptual design drawings and equipment capacity calculations for HVAC and facility relate mechanical equipment.
- Facilitate product development by producing creative ultrasound test fixtures & the first generation targeting catheter designs using SolidWorks.
- Design development team leadership providing; capitol and product cost estimates, prototyping coordination and testing, design-documentation reviews and release.
- Develop a 2nd order delta sigma ADC/DAC chip for cell phone.
- Accelerate the PSA vessel fatigue analysis by automating FEA model creations and standardizing the report template.
- Generate innovative designs with cross-functional teams (CATIA V5) optimize for manufacturing and assembly processes.
- Coordinate design efforts of mechanical and electrical designers to insure product compliance with regulatory agency (UL).
- Design all the elements of this module starting from architecture, RTL modeling, synthesis, APR and layout verification.
- Perform thermal analysis on new designs with natural convection and force air cooling using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software.
Senior mechanical engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Senior Mechanical Engineers are proficient in Mechanical Engineering, CAD, and Solidworks. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Listening skills, and Math skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Mechanical Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Mechanical Engineering, 15%
Estimated, designed, implemented, and provided project mechanical engineering for capital facility improvements and overhead engineering projects for ATK.
- CAD, 7%
Scrutinized the organization to determine the direction including allegiances to CAD, political complexities, future productivity and staffing complement.
- Solidworks, 7%
Create 3-dimensional designs and drawings with SolidWorks software of innovative safety equipment for new and existing product development and manufacturing.
- Mechanical Design, 5%
Manage mechanical design, stress analysis, and machined parts manufacturing processes with outside suppliers to satisfy test facility delivery requirements.
- Mechanical Systems, 5%
Established and managed all technical aspects of engineering solutions associated with rotating equipment, piping, and mechanical systems.
- HVAC, 4%
Prepared conceptual design drawings and equipment capacity calculations for HVAC and facility related mechanical equipment.
Most senior mechanical engineers use their skills in "mechanical engineering," "cad," and "solidworks" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential senior mechanical engineer responsibilities here:
Creativity. One of the key soft skills for a senior mechanical engineer to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what senior mechanical engineers do because "mechanical engineers design and build complex pieces of equipment and machinery." Additionally, a senior mechanical engineer resume shows how senior mechanical engineers use creativity: "utilized autocad inventor software and 3d modeling structural analysis techniques to increase drawing accuracy and reduce errors. "
Listening skills. Many senior mechanical engineer duties rely on listening skills. "mechanical engineers often work on projects with others, such as architects and computer scientists," so a senior mechanical engineer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways senior mechanical engineer responsibilities rely on listening skills: "communicated with project management and client regarding status and technical issues. "
Math skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of senior mechanical engineers is math skills. This skill is critical to many everyday senior mechanical engineer duties, as "mechanical engineers use the principles of calculus, statistics, and other advanced subjects in math for analysis, design, and troubleshooting in their work." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "modeled with cad, fea, mathcad and excel. "
Mechanical skills. A big part of what senior mechanical engineers do relies on "mechanical skills." You can see how essential it is to senior mechanical engineer responsibilities because "mechanical skills allow engineers to apply basic engineering concepts and mechanical processes to the design of new devices and systems." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical senior mechanical engineer tasks: "provided baseline thermal analysis (cfd) using floefd and supervised initial mechanical build of new products. "
Problem-solving skills. A commonly-found skill in senior mechanical engineer job descriptions, "problem-solving skills" is essential to what senior mechanical engineers do. Senior mechanical engineer responsibilities rely on this skill because "mechanical engineers need good problem-solving skills to take scientific principles and discoveries and use them to design and build useful products." You can also see how senior mechanical engineer duties rely on problem-solving skills in this resume example: "worked with sub-contractors and dod platform owners to insure a universal overall design solution. "
The three companies that hire the most senior mechanical engineers are:
- Burns & McDonnell62 senior mechanical engineers jobs
- Ghafari Associates37 senior mechanical engineers jobs
- Bechtel Corporation36 senior mechanical engineers jobs
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Compare different senior mechanical engineers
Senior mechanical engineer vs. Lead design engineer
A Lead Design Engineer produces design solutions that can be purchased, installed, and commissioned effectively. They are also responsible for the cost-effectiviness and safety of new designs.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior mechanical engineer are more likely to require skills like "mechanical engineering," "mechanical systems," "creo," and "autocad." On the other hand, a job as a lead design engineer requires skills like "fea," "matlab," "asic," and "ip." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Lead design engineers earn the highest salaries when working in the agriculture industry, with an average yearly salary of $112,898. On the other hand, senior mechanical engineers are paid more in the energy industry with an average salary of $105,778.The education levels that lead design engineers earn slightly differ from senior mechanical engineers. In particular, lead design engineers are 4.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior mechanical engineer. Additionally, they're 0.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior mechanical engineer vs. Design engineer
A design engineer is responsible for creating systems and applications based on their expertise. Design engineers work through client specifications based on business needs. A design engineer also provides recommendations on improving existing systems to boost its performance and increase efficiency. Design engineers must have an excellent command of computer systems, programming codes, and technical data to ensure the system's stability and high-quality processes. A design engineer should also have strong analytical and time-management skills to perform tasks and meet deadlines.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, senior mechanical engineer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "mechanical engineering," "cad," "solidworks," and "mechanical systems." Meanwhile, a design engineer has duties that require skills in areas such as "c++," "work ethic," "auto cad," and "ip." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Design engineers may earn a lower salary than senior mechanical engineers, but design engineers earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $86,213. On the other hand, senior mechanical engineers receive higher pay in the energy industry, where they earn an average salary of $105,778.In general, design engineers achieve lower levels of education than senior mechanical engineers. They're 6.1% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Senior Mechanical Engineers in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Richard Onyancha
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Department Head, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Senior mechanical engineer vs. Staff engineer
Staff engineers are responsible for designing, developing, and inspecting various products, equipment, or structures. These professionals may perform varied duties depending on their specialization that includes overseeing the design and construction of buildings, bridges, sewer systems, and other infrastructure, estimating the financial costs of construction projects, and ensuring compliance with health and safety laws and regulations. Other duties include designing and developing machinery, tools, and engines, solving design problems, and building the manufacturing equipment needed to create their products.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, senior mechanical engineers are more likely to have skills like "mechanical engineering," "solidworks," "mechanical design," and "mechanical systems." But a staff engineer is more likely to have skills like "java," "python," "architecture," and "software development."
Staff engineers make a very good living in the telecommunication industry with an average annual salary of $119,079. On the other hand, senior mechanical engineers are paid the highest salary in the energy industry, with average annual pay of $105,778.staff engineers typically earn similar educational levels compared to senior mechanical engineers. Specifically, they're 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior mechanical engineer vs. Tool engineer
A tooling engineer is responsible for creating and adjusting tools or parts for cars, heavy equipment, and other products that need customized or personalized components. Your duties and responsibilities will include creating design blueprints, using computer-aided (CAD) software to develop two- and three-dimensional prints, and validating and evaluating products. As a tooling engineer, it is your responsibility to ensure compliance with operational standards such as the ISO 9000. You also have to provide technical assistance to manufacturing personnel and quality assurance.
Types of senior mechanical engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
