Who is a Design Engineer?

A design engineer is a general term covering a range of engineering disciplines including electrical, mechanical design, industrial and civil engineering, architectural engineers in the U.S. and building engineers in the UK.

The design engineer is distinguished from the designer / drafter by the fact that a design engineer to take care of the total system as well as the inner / engineering design. A design engineer to create the initial blueprints and schematics for various structures, systems, machinery, or equipment. He or she is part of the design team that includes designers and civil engineers or mechanical lead.

While the industrial designer may be responsible for aspects of aesthetic and ergonomic design of the conceptual, design engineers usually work with a team of engineers and designers to develop designs, conceptual and detailed initial and most critical part. He / she may be working with industrial designers and marketing to develop product concepts and specifications, and he / she may direct the design effort from that point. Products are usually designed with input from several sources such as marketing, manufacturing, purchasing, tool making and packaging techniques. In addition to dealing with system design engineers and scientific technology is much more complex (aircraft, spacecraft, rockets, trains, ships, dams, bridges, building structures, urban infrastructure, machines, production systems, propulsion systems, oil, gas, and the system exploration of mining, manufacturing processes, military systems, cars, electronics, computers, power systems - nuclear, fossil, wind, marine, and power distribution systems). In many areas of engineering, distinction is made between design engineers and planning engineers in the design. Planning engineers are more concerned with designing at the system level is more engineering, and overlap into the operational side is often required. Design engineers, by contrast, are more concerned with designing a specific new product or system. Analysis is important for planning engineers, while the synthesis is essential for design engineers.

Most advance design engineers use computer technology and applications, such as computer-aided (CAD) design software, to help them create and test virtual models. Depending on the type of structure or machine being built, a design engineer may be asked to build a physical model or prototype to test in a realistic situation. Designers work in many different government organizations and industry, including research and development companies, construction companies, and plants manufacturing products.

When the design involves public safety, the design engineer is usually required for a license, for example a Professional Engineer in the U.S. and Canada. Usually there is an 'industrial exemption' for design engineers working on internal projects for the company and does not provide professional services directly to the public.