Design engineers use technical knowledge, mathematical expertise and design skills to create innovative solutions to problems across a range of industries. As a design engineer you are involved in the initial concept, design, development and management of projects in a range of sectors such as construction and the built environment, materials, software, components, machinery and vehicles.

You will need strong technical knowledge, as well as problem solving, communication, leadership and project management skills. Depending on their specialist area, design engineers may also be known as CAD engineers, consulting engineers and product design engineers.

You can usually specialise in one area of design engineering, such as:

• chemical engineering
• civil engineering
• electrical engineering
• electronic engineering
• mechanical engineering
• product/industrial design engineering
• software engineering

Particular ethical concerns related to design engineering include the environmental impacts of products and processes.