PurPassionCity

Product Design Engineer

The pull to bring into existence

Creation · Nothing → Something

The shape of the work

Pace
  • A steady rhythm with room to breathe
  • A hard push you keep up for a long stretch
What your week looks likeQuiet stretches, then deadline storms
How much you move around at workMostly at a desk, but you get up for site visits or other work
Whether you can work from anywhereSome days in, some days wherever you want
How quickly you receive feedback on your workTakes a season or a project cycle
What you're actually working withNumbers, measurements, records — things you read on a screen / Concepts, theories, designs, stories — things you think up / Materials, organisms, land, equipment — things you can touch

Behaviours this work is made of

Core
  • Conceptual architecture. Figuring out how something should work before it exists.
  • Improving through rapid cycles — testing, learning, revising until it works.
  • Making rough versions fast to test whether an idea works.
  • Verifying whether something is true or works as claimed.
Also present
  • Working with others toward a shared thing.
  • Applying systematic problem-solving to make things work reliably.
  • Taking something that works and making it work better.

In words

A product design engineer takes a physical product from idea to something a factory can make in large numbers. The product might be a kettle, a bike helmet, a pair of wireless earbuds, a child's toy or a power tool. The engineer is responsible for the whole object: how it looks and feels, how it works, what it is made of and what it costs to make. The main pull is Creation, with a strong share of Resolution and Aesthetic, because a product has to function and also be something people want to pick up.

The work moves in loops. The engineer sketches, builds a 3D model, prints or machines a rough prototype, and tests it with real people. Something is always wrong with the first version: the button is awkward, the lid cracks, or it costs twice the target. So the design is changed and tested again, many times. Late in the project the engineer works with the factory on how the product will be moulded or assembled and on how to keep it cheap.

The job differs from a mechanical design engineer, who usually works on a component or system inside a larger machine. A product design engineer owns a finished consumer or professional product and sits closer to the user and to the look of the thing. It also differs from a UX or digital product designer, who designs software.

There's a guide here if you want one

Kitsune can talk through anything on this page — whether it might suit you, what to do next, questions this page doesn't answer. Everything here is yours to read either way.

The best idea rarely wins. Cost, tooling lead times and what the factory can make decide a lot, and a design that costs 20 pence more per unit may never ship. Engineers learn to love constraints, because they usually push the design to be simpler.

Many products are redesigns of existing ones, and a graduate often starts on one part of a product line. Consultancies give variety, with different clients every few months, while in-house roles give depth in one company's products. Pay is similar to other mechanical engineering roles, and the jobs cluster near consumer goods and manufacturing regions.

The usual route is a degree in product design engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial design or a similar subject, with a portfolio of things you have actually built. Placement years, internships and personal projects, such as a design built at home and tested, count for a lot. Some countries offer degree apprenticeships or technician routes that lead to design roles. Professional registration as an engineer exists in most countries and can help later in a career, though it is rarely needed to get a first job.

Before you go