What are the best Engineering job titles for you and your team? I reviewed 265 Engineering titles searched for by candidates (and employers!) to find the best titles for you to choose from. This is the latest chapter in Ongig’s series called Job Titles: The Definitive Guide.

In this article, you’ll find:

  • Types of Engineering — 15 types of engineering with examples of top companies currently hiring these types of engineers.
  • Engineering Hierarchy — The standard org chart for Engineering department positions with examples from each of the major 6 Engineering levels. I include examples of top employers and what they call their titles.
  • The Top 30 Most Searched-For Engineering Titles — A column chart of the top 30 Engineering positions that candidates search for on Google.
  • 22 Engineering Job Titles and Descriptions — A list of the top 22 Engineering job titles and descriptions that employers request.
  • Funny Engineering Job Titles – A few funny job titles we found for engineers.

 

What are the types of engineering?

There are many hundreds of job titles when recruiting engineers. Here are 15 top engineering disciplines with examples of companies hiring engineers for them:

  • Aerospace Engineering (NASA)
  • Biomedical Engineering (Kaiser Permanente)
  • Chemical Engineering (Tesla)
  • Civil Engineering (Department of Energy)
  • Computer Engineering (AT&T)
  • Data Engineering (Salesforce)
  • Electrical Engineering (General Electric)
  • Environmental Engineering (Chevron)
  • Hardware Engineering (Apple)
  • Network Engineering (Pinterest)
  • Manufacturing Engineer (Amazon)
  • Mechanical Engineering (Facebook)
  • Quality Engineering (Honeywell)
  • Robotics Engineering (Postmates)
  • Software Engineering (Google)

 

Developer vs Engineer

A quick note on software engineering. Although the companies above hire engineers, some also hire developers.We have found that these job titles can be used interchangeably. You can read more about the developer vs engineer debate in our top 50 software developer job titles blog. 

For this blog, we decided to focus on job titles with the word “engineer” or “engineering” in them. Now, let’s have a look at a typical org chart of engineering job titles.

 

Engineering Hierarchy

Below is an engineering hierarchy chart with top seniority listed at the top down to entry-level jobs at the bottom:

engineering hierarchy chart
  • Chief Engineer –  Chief Engineering Officer, Head of Engineering,
  • VP Engineering – Vice President of Engineering, Engineering Executive, VP Software Engineering
  • Director of Engineering – Principal Engineer, Lead Engineer, Director Engineering
  • Engineering Manager – Software Engineering Manager, Engineering Program Manager, Manager of Engineering, Principal Software Engineering Manager, Senior Engineering Manager
  • Individual Contributors – Software Engineer, Network Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Quality Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Engineer, Data Engineer, Product Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Engineering Technician
  • Entry Level – Engineering Intern, Apprentice Engineer, Engineering Aide, Engineering Clerk, Entry Level Engineer, New Grad Engineer, Junior  Engineer.

Here’s a longer list of titles by each row of the pyramid with little more texture on each:

 

Job Titles for Engineering Leaders

Top engineering leaders do not always have the word “engineer” in their title. At Adobe, the Chief Information Officer, Abhay Parasnis, is responsible for leading the engineering department. The current Chief Technical Officer at Siemens, Ankur Rawat, leads the engineering team and is an engineer himself.

Below are the top 5 titles I found candidates and employers using for Engineering leaders.

  1. Chief Engineer (Lockheed Martin)
  2. Head of Engineering (Airbnb)
  3. Chief Engineering Officer (Salesforce)
  4. Chief Information Officer (CIO)
  5. Chief Technical Officer (CTO)

 

VP of Engineering Titles

Here are the top titles I found candidates and employers using for Engineering Vice President titles:

  1. VP Engineering (FitBit)
  2. Vice President of Engineering (Zazzle, Inc.)
  3. VP of Engineering (HPE)
  4. Engineering Executive
  5. Vice President Engineering (Yelp)
  6. VP Software Engineering
  7. Vice President Software Engineering
  8. Executive Vice President of Engineering (Zendesk)

 

Director of Engineering Titles

Here are the most used Engineering director titles:

  1. Director of Engineering (Glassdoor)
  2. Principal Engineer (Automattic)
  3. Lead Engineer (Magic Leap)
  4. Director Engineering (Instacart)
  5. Director of Software Engineering (Salesforce)
  6. Systems Engineering Director
  7. Director of Mechanical Engineering (Samsung)
  8. Director of Manufacturing Engineering (JUUL Labs)
  9. Civil Engineering Director

 

Engineering Manager Titles

There are numerous Engineering Manager alternative titles to use. Here are the top job titles I found candidates and employers using:

  1. Engineering Manager (Redfin)
  2. Software Engineering Manager (Zillow)
  3. Mechanical Engineering Manager (Lyft)
  4. Industrial Engineering Manager (Ulta Beauty)
  5. Sales Engineering Manager (Google)
  6. Manufacturing Engineering Manager (Tesla)
  7. Electrical Engineering Manager (Northrop Grumman)
  8. Senior Engineering Manager (HPE)
  9. Civil Engineering Manager (Shell)
  10. Engineering Program Manager (Apple)
  11. Design Engineering Manager (DoorDash)
  12. Project Engineering Manager (Duke Energy)
  13. Automation Engineering Manager (Facebook)
  14. Manager of Engineering (Splunk)

 

Individual Contributor Engineering Titles

When you get to the individual contributor level of Engineering positions, there is more granularity. Here are the top 25 I found candidates and employers using:

  1. Software Engineer (Elastic.co)
  2. Network Engineer (Pinterest)
  3. Mechanical Engineer (JUMP Bikes)
  4. Quality Engineer (Honeywell)
  5. Electrical Engineer (Samsara)
  6. Engineer (Google)
  7. Data Engineer (Salesforce)
  8. Product Engineer (Y Combinator)
  9. Manufacturing Engineer (Amazon)
  10. Engineering Technician (Tesla)
  11. Machine Learning Engineer (Facebook)
  12. Chemical Engineer (Duke Energy)
  13. Civil Engineer (Kimley-Horn)
  14. DevOps Engineer (Glassdoor)
  15. Design Engineer (Uber)
  16. Systems Engineer (Cloudflare)
  17. Computer Engineer (AT&T)
  18. System Engineer (TripActions)
  19. Automation Engineer (Apple)
  20. Field Engineer (Microsoft)
  21. Industrial Engineer (Home Depot)
  22. Security Engineer (Zendesk)
  23. Computer Hardware Engineer (Cisco)
  24. QA Engineer (Lyft)
  25. Environmental Engineer (Chevron)

 

Entry-Level Engineering Job Titles

Here are the top 20 entry-level Engineering titles I found candidates and employers using:

  1. Entry Level Software Engineer (Reynolds and Reynolds)
  2. New Grad Software Engineer (L3Harris)
  3. Junior Software Engineer (Google)
  4. Entry Level Network Engineer
  5. Junior Network Engineer (Booz Allen Hamilton)
  6. Engineering Intern (Red Hat)
  7. Entry Level Data Engineer
  8. Software Engineer Intern (Capital One)
  9. Apprentice Engineer (Linkedin)
  10. Junior Data Engineer
  11. Engineering Aide (Lockheed Martin)
  12. Civil Engineering Intern
  13. Mechanical Engineering Intern (Facebook)
  14. Entry Level Embedded Software Engineer
  15. Electrical Engineering Intern (Apple)
  16. Engineering Clerk (Kohler)
  17. Process Engineering Intern (Tiffany & Co.)
  18. Chemical Engineering Intern (Tesla)
  19. Manufacturing Engineering Intern
  20. Design Engineering Intern

 

Top Engineering Job Titles (Candidates)

Below is a list of the top 30 Engineering job titles based on Google queries we found on ahrefs.

Software Engineer is the top searched-for job by candidates and also the most requested engineering job description by employers (see Top 22 list below).

chart of the top 30 engineering job titles

 

Top 22 Engineering Job Titles and Descriptions (Employers)

Below are the top 22 Engineering Job Description titles employers request on Google, according to ahrefs.

I’ve included a brief description for each as well as the # of job title searches per month by employers.

Software Engineer

A Software Engineer designs computer software. A Software Engineer is also responsible for:

  • Software Development
  • Software Systems Maintenance
  • Software Evaluation
  • Software Testing

# of job title searches per month: 4,100

 

Electrical Engineer

An Electrical Engineer designs and develops electrical systems and equipment. An Electrical Engineer tests and manages the manufacturing of electrical devices like phones, motors, and power equipment. An Electrical Engineer may also develop new processes or standards for electrical product manufacturing.

# of job title searches per month: 1,200

 

Systems Engineer

A Systems Engineer develops and implements computer network systems for an organization. A Systems Engineer is also responsible for:

  • Testing Software and Servers
  • Improving Systems Processes
  • Upgrading Hardware
  • Managing Server Workstations and Network Computers

# of job title searches per month: 1,200; System Engineer: 1,000; Network Engineer: 1,000

 

Data Engineer

A Data Engineering collaborates with the data science team to build data solutions for a company. A Data Engineer develops information processes for data management, data acquisition, data migration, and data mining. Using various programming languages, a Data Engineer create a company’s data infrastructure.

# of job title searches per month: 1,100

 

Project Engineer

A Project Engineer manages large engineering projects. A Project Engineer is responsible for:

  • Coordinating Engineering Project Teams
  • Scheduling Project Milestones
  • Assessing Risks
  • Acquiring Project Resources
  • Off-site Project Supervision

# of job title searches per month: 1,100; Field Engineer: 300, Field Service Engineer: 250

 

Mechanical Engineer

A Mechanical Engineer is part of the design, testing, and production of various mechanical products for a company. A Mechanical Engineer develops prototypes for testing, oversees the manufacturing process, and investigates equipment failures. A Mechanical Engineer works across many industries and develops products like medical devices, electric generators, batteries, and elevators.

# of job title searches per month: 800

 

Quality Engineer

A Quality Engineer monitors the quality of an organization’s processes and fixes any issues that arise. A Quality Engineer is responsible for:

  • Designing Quality Standards
  • Testing Product & Process Quality
  • Collaborating with Engineering Team to Improve Quality

# of job title searches per month: 800; QA Engineer: 300

 

Civil Engineer

A Civil Engineer supervises and designs the construction of major public works projects. A Civil Engineer monitors the construction of bridges, dams, airports, and highways and also acts as a point of contact with government officials. A Civil Engineer also creates documents for project updates and technical reports.

# of job title searches per month: 800

 

Manufacturing Engineer

A Manufacturing Engineer develops and improves the manufacturing process for a company by studying manufacturing and product methods. A Manufacturing Engineer is responsible for:

  • Designing research programs to evaluate the manufacturing process
  • Improving manufacturing efficiency by studying workflow and resource management
  • Testing products after manufacturing
  • Maintaining manufacturing regulatory compliance

# of job title searches per month: 700; Product Engineer: 350

 

Engineer

An Engineer is a broad term for a professional who designs, builds, or maintains machines. An Engineer applies science and math principles to solve real-life problems and design products to meet consumer needs. An Engineer also tests prototypes, supervise production, estimate project costs, and monitor efficiency. The role of an Engineer may vary by industry, but has also has similarities.

# of job title searches per month: 700; Engineering Technician: 200

 

DevOps Engineer

A DevOps Engineer works with software developers and IT team members to facilitate code releases. A DevOps Engineer is responsible for:

  • Improving IT Infrastructure
  • Optimizing Release Cycles
  • Software Automation

# of job title searches per month: 500; Automation Engineer: 200

 

Security Engineer

A Security Engineer builds security systems and firewalls to protect organizations from cyber threats. A Security Engineer conducts security assessments, conduct tests, and create reports for senior management. A Security Engineer also evaluates new security options and makes recommendations.

# of job title searches per month: 350

 

Computer Hardware Engineer

A Computer Hardware Engineer designs and develops the physical equipment that makes up a computer. A Computer Hardware Engineer is responsible for:

  • Researching new types of hardware
  • Developing hardware
  • Testing hardware
  • Resolving hardware issues

# of job title searches per month: 300

 

Chemical Engineer

A Chemical Engineer designs systems and equipment used for chemical engineering processes. A Chemical Engineer produces a variety of chemicals used for production and manufacturing like fuels, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals.

# of job title searches per month: 250

 

Design Engineer

A Design Engineer creates products and systems in various engineering fields. A Design Engineer focuses on the science of how things are made and works for construction companies, research firms, product manufacturers, and government organizations.

# of job title searches per month: 250

 

Nuclear Engineer

A Nuclear Engineer researches and develops processes related to nuclear energy and radiation. A Nuclear Engineer is responsible for designing safe systems to use electricity and radioactive materials for the medical industry, power companies, and industrial production.

# of job title searches per month: 250

 

UX Engineer

A UX Engineer, also known as a User Experience Engineer, conceptualized and creates a user flow experience for customers. A UX Engineer evaluates existing applications and recommends user experience improvements. A UX Engineer also does initial studies with potential users to improve customer experience.

# of job title searches per month: 250

 

Environmental Engineer

An Environmental Engineer finds solutions to handle environmental waster and pollution. An Environmental Engineer applies physical, chemical, and biological principles to prevent and to solve problems related to the environment. An Environmental Engineer studies microorganisms and how they affect communities.

# of job title searches per month: 200

 

Chief Engineer

A Chief Engineer is the head of an engineering department. A Chief Engineer leads a team of engineers to complete different projects related to software, hardware, civil, and other engineering specialties. A Chief Engineer approves budgets, project plans, and project designs.

# of job title searches per month: 200

 

Applications Engineer

An Applications Engineer improves the functions of different types of software. An Applications Engineer also has an understanding of hardware and other IT solutions. An Applications Engineer works directly with a customer to identify software needs and requirements.

# of job title searches per month: 200

 

Database Engineer

A Database Engineer creates and manages databases for an organization. Database Engineers are responsible for:

  • Building new databases
  • Modifying existing databases
  • Updating database requirements

# of job title searches per month: 200

 

Machine Learning Engineer

A Machine Learning Engineer focuses on data science models and algorithms that produce working machines. A Machine Learning Engineer is responsible for:

  • Performing machine learning model testing
  • Implementing machine learning algorithms
  • Performing statistical analyses
  • Fine-tuning algorithms
  • Verifying data quality through data cleaning

# of job title searches per month: 100

 

Funny Engineering Job Titles

Below are some funny/creative engineering titles we’ve found.

  • Director of Spam Reception (Spam Data Engineer)
  • Happiness Engineer (Support Engineer) (Automattic uses it)
  • Miracle Worker (Engineer)
  • Random Engineer (Developer)…Albert Sheu, Quora Software Developer
  • Software Ninjaneer (Software Engineer)

Want more funny techie job titles. Check out our 100+ Creative & Funny Job Titles [by Department & Position] (there are 20+ funny IT titles, 13 software engineering titles and many more for sales/marketing/finance/ops, etc.

Other Resources on Engineering Job Titles

In addition to the sources cited above, special thanks to these experts on Engineering titles:

  1. Alex Holderness’s article on What’s The Difference Between a Developer and an Engineer?
  2. Emily Rose Prats’s article on What Do Software Engineers Do?
  3. Danielle Ganon’s article on What Does an Electrical Engineer Do?
  4. Pedro Martinez’s article on What Makes a Good IT Systems Engineer?
  5. Vik Paruchuri’s article on What is a Data Engineer?
  6. Donal Tobin’s article on Data Engineering: What Does a Data Engineer Do? How Do I Become One?
  7. Learn.org’s article on What Is a Project Engineer?
  8. Bureau of Labor Statistics article on Mechanical Engineers
  9. Jayne Thompson’s article on What Does a Quality Engineer Do?
  10. Michael Roberts’s article on What Does a Civil Engineer Do?
  11. Monster.com’s Manufacturing Engineer Job Description
  12. CareerBright’s article on What Does the Job of an Engineer Involve?
  13. Studentscholarships.org’s article on Engineers – What They Do
  14. Tivix’s blog on What Does a DevOps Engineer Actually Do?
  15. Cyber Degree’s article on How To Become a Security Engineer
  16. Learn.org’s article on What Is a Computer Hardware Engineer?
  17. UNSW’s article About chemical engineering
  18. Mary Kearl’s article on How (And Why) to Become a Design Engineer
  19. Indeed.com’s article on A Definitive Guide: What Do Nuclear Engineers Do?
  20. Alex Ewerlöf’s article on Who is a “UX Engineer”?
  21. Daniel A. Vallero’s article Environmental Engineer
  22. Betterteam’s Chief Engineer Job Description
  23. Stephen Watt’s blog on Application Engineer Roles and Responsibilities
  24. Crystal McKee’s article on The Database Engineer Skills That Employers are Looking for
  25. Cogito Tech’s article on What Does A Machine Learning Engineer Do: Role & Duties

Why I wrote this?

My team and I share this research on Engineering job titles to help you optimize your own titles. This supports our mission to transform job descriptions. Check out Ongig.com to see how our software transforms your job titles and job descriptions.

by in Job Titles