Solar Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Solar Engineer designs and develops technologies that produce and store energy from solar power.
Job Outlook
There were 81 Solar Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2104 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Solar Engineer industry, which includes the Solar Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Solar Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $99,989.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $96,343.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Solar Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $88,550.
Education and Experience
Posted Solar Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 79.13% |
| Master's Degree | 28.56% |
| Doctoral Degree | 3.33% |
| Other | 6.13% |
Posted Solar Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 26.01% |
| 3 to 5 years | 44.38% |
| 6 to 8 years | 15.97% |
| 9+ years | 13.64% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Solar Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (49.19%)
- Management (31.99%)
- Operations (30.18%)
- Problem Solving (23.53%)
- Planning (20.77%)
- Microsoft Office (19.63%)
- Microsoft Excel (19.3%)
- Coordinating (18.77%)
- Detail Oriented (17.68%)
- Quality Control (16.78%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- PVsyst (25.47%)
- Solar Design (6.84%)
- Solar Engineering (13.17%)
- AutoCAD (25.37%)
- Business Development (18.58%)
- Electrical Engineering (39.87%)
- Passive Solar Building Design (5.46%)
- Project Management (44.26%)
- Subcontracting (16.79%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Bill Of Materials (2.86%)
- Construction Monitoring (7.61%)
- Medium Voltage (8.17%)
- Project Schedules (11.94%)
- Project Engineering (10.57%)
- Equipment Selection (4.44%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (15.21%)
- SKM (Power System Software) (11.43%)
- Data Analysis (9.85%)
- Arc Flash (7.76%)
- Asset Management (7.2%)
- Financial Modeling (6.38%)
- Civil Engineering (10.67%)
- Construction (33.28%)
- Relays (6.64%)
- Customer Communications Management (3.22%)
- Construction Management (17.82%)
- Cost Estimation (2.35%)
- Engineering Calculations (6.64%)
- Procurement (12.86%)
- Electrical Systems (4.8%)
- Engineering Design Process (13.22%)
- Switchgear (7.2%)
- ETAP (12.97%)
- Due Diligence (17.82%)
- Mechanical Engineering (18.58%)
- Renewable Energy (13.94%)
- Project Management Life Cycle (5.72%)
- National Electrical Codes (7.35%)
- Market Research (4.29%)
- Electrical Equipment (7.4%)
- Python (Programming Language) (10.21%)
- Short Circuits (10.57%)
- Financial Analysis (6.18%)
- Resource Planning (6.43%)
- Marketing (6.48%)
- Load Flow Analysis (8.07%)
- Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) (6.13%)
- Project Finance (4.75%)
- Low Voltage (6.69%)
- Safety Standards (5.56%)
- Software Technical Review (4.08%)
- One-Line Diagram (6.99%)
- Process Improvement (11.08%)
- Statistics (4.08%)
- Energy Production (5.36%)
- Performance Testing (2.71%)
- Transformers (Electrical) (8.98%)
- Submittals (Construction) (12.3%)
- Systems Design (13.53%)
- Proposal Writing (5.31%)
- Cable Sizing (7.76%)
- Commissioning (6.84%)
- Financial Close (3.47%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Solar Photovoltaic Design (4.19%)
- Helioscope (Software) (5.62%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Solar Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Field Engineer
- Project Engineer/Superintendent
- Solar Design Engineer
- Lead Electrical Design Engineer
- Director of Engineering
- Performance Leader
- Retail Solar Consultant
- Solar Pv Installer
- Solar Designer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Electrical Engineering Manager
- Utilities & Power Distribution Engineer
- Electrical Project Engineer
- Electrical Engineer (General)
- Engineering Project Manager
- Design Engineering Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Solar Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Black & Veatch (261)
- DNV (102)
- Res Agency (71)
- NextEra Energy (69)
- First Solar (65)
- Iea Management Services (49)
- Burns & McDonnell (43)
- Depcom Power (34)
- Jacobs Solutions (29)
- M. A. Mortenson Company (28)
North Carolina
- Black & Veatch (23)
- Burns & McDonnell (8)
- Rise Technical Recruitment Ltd (7)
- Depcom Power (3)
- Jobot (3)
- Strata Solar (3)
- TE Connectivity (2)
- DNV (2)
- Cypress Creek Renewables (2)
- Yes Solar Solutions (2)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Electrical Engineering Master's Degrees
- Renewable Energy Assessment and Development Graduate Certificates
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.