Engineering Job Hierarchy

Engineering is a vast field, consisting of several streams and sub fields, which are defined and divided on the basis of the function they perform and the purpose they fulfill.  Engineers either work in engineering companies or may be employed at other firms, depending upon their exact qualification and job requirement.

Within an engineering company, there are many job positions and divisions, forming a hierarchical structure.  The position in the pyramid of an engineer job is decided on the basis of experience, work duties, decision making power and authority. The following is a detailed look of engineering job hierarchy.

A) Administrative Engineering Jobs

The highest level of hierarchy in engineering jobs can be termed as administrative engineering jobs.  The power of decision making and supervision of subordinates lies with the executives of the administrative engineering branch.  There are many job positions in this branch and they are given as follows:

  • Engineering president
  • Engineering chairman
  • Engineering vice president
  • Engineering director
  • Chief executive engineer
  • Chief information officer
  • Information director
  • Electrical engineering officer
  • Senior administrator
  • Project planning senior manager
  • MIS director

B) Managerial Engineering Jobs

The second most important and second highest ranking job branch in engineering is referred to as the managerial engineering jobs.  These executives work as per the instructions of the administrative branch and execute and implement the core tasks.  They also manage the entry level position holders and lie in the middle of the job hierarchy pyramid of engineering jobs. The following is the hierarchy of the managerial engineering jobs.

  • Project leader
  • Project manager
  • Network architect
  • Hardware systems manager
  • Senior programming manager
  • Senior database manager
  • Information engineering manager
  • Equipment manager
  • I&C engineering manager
  • Environment engineer
  • Head of engineering department
  • Staff engineer
  • Engineering HR manager
  • Telecommunications manager
  • Senior firmware engineer
  • Industrial engineer

C) Operational Engineering Jobs

This branch of engineering is the entry level job branch within an engineering company or department and consists of those employees who are fresh engineers and have the most basic task and duties. The following is the hierarchy followed within the operational job branch.

  • Programmer
  • Cost engineer
  • Help desk technician
  • Database administrator
  • Engineering analyst
  • Network engineer
  • Security specialist
  • Hardware engineer
  • Desktop technician
  • Engineering analyst
  • System administrator
  • Application engineer
  • Technical content writer
  • Software testing technician
  • Engineering associate
  • Software programmer engineer
  • Security specialist
  • I&C engineering analyst
  • Engineering intern
  • Engineering trainee

Depending upon the exact type of company, these job positions may change or vary but the given positions are the most common ones in engineering companies.