Skip to content

Technical > Application Engineer

Salary National Average

Low Medium High
70030.0000 87080.0000 106420.0000

Change from Previous Year:

+4%

Supply and Demand

Candidate Supply: 14,883 Job Openings: 709,430

0 50 100

More Difficult Less Difficult

Salary Variance

Enter City, State to view local salaries and candidate demand.

Short Description:

Applications Engineers are essential to the development and building of software. They assess customer and business needs, and design and test software. Applications Engineers also improve software architecture by engineering hardware components to further their performance. An Applications Engineer is responsible for designing and developing software for a wide range of uses – from consumer applications to systems that control devices and networks.  

Duties / Responsibilities:

  • Gathering information from customers or business leaders to meet needs
  • Designing all components of programs and determining how they will work together
  • Creating diagrams and models to guide programmers
  • Ensuring software works properly after maintenance and testing
  • Collaborating with designers, programmers and developers
  • Strategizing and building releases for future upgrades and maintenance

Skills / Requirements / Qualifications

  • Programming: Writing computer programs for various purposes.
  • Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
  • Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
  • Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  • Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
  • Operations Analysis: Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
  • Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Job Zones

  • Title: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
  • Education: Most of these occupations require a bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering or a related field, but some may not.
  • Related Experience: Though not required, the candidate may have also completed an internship in a related company to further software development skills and possess a strong background in computer programming, expertise on current tools and computer languages. 
  • Job Training: Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
  • Job Zone Example: Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include real estate brokers, sales managers, database administrators, graphic designers, chemists, art directors, and cost estimators.
  • Specific Vocational Preparation in years: (7.0 to < 8.0)
Return to job listings