Why Design Engineers Change Jobs: Survey of 106 in Europe
Roles We FillWhat We DoPricingTestimonials
Talk to us
← Home
Last month I asked 106 design engineers what it would take to make them leave their current job. 91 wrote something back. My favourite came from someone six-plus years in, on €150k or more:
"Remote work, I value my work life balance, it's just the internet kids!"<br>6+ years, €150k+
Money came up more than anything else, in 44% of answers. It also wasn't what most people led with, and the further into their career someone was, the less it featured at all.
What people actually said they wanted
44%Compensation. The most common single theme, and rarely mentioned alone.
34%The work itself. An interesting product, a problem worth solving, something they believed in.
25%Remote or flexibility, usually stated as a condition rather than a preference.
21%Team and culture. Who they'd be working with, and whether those people are any good.
15%Growth, ownership, or a clearly defined role.
Based on 91 written answers. Most people mentioned several things, so these add up to more than 100%.
Almost nobody named one thing. The typical answer was a list, and the list nearly always had money in it alongside two or three other conditions, all of which had to hold at once.
"Same or more money, but also fully remote, some hybrid, interesting work, nice colleagues, working on something that has purpose, not just making profits for investors."<br>6+ years, €130–150k
That answer is representative in structure rather than content. Money first, then four more things, and the offer only works if all five land.
Seniority changes what people want, and it isn't subtle
Split the answers at four years of experience and the priorities move.
UNDER 4 YEARS · n=36
50%
mentioned money
6%
mentioned remote work
4+ YEARS · n=55
40%
mentioned money
25%
mentioned remote work
Money slips as people get more senior. Flexibility climbs steeply, from a footnote among the newer engineers to a quarter of the experienced ones, and it usually appears as a hard condition rather than a nice-to-have. Several people said plainly that they would not consider a role that required relocation, whatever it paid.
"I wouldn't. There are plenty of remote roles with top salaries that no on-site can match. I'm fine with travelling a dozen times a year."<br>4–6 years, €150k+
"Not interested in moving now that remote is an option for many companies. I would have pre-Covid because it was the only way to find great opportunities."<br>6+ years, €100–130k
The experienced group is also simply harder to shift. Roughly one in ten said they weren't looking at all, against one in sixteen of the newer engineers. So the experienced end of the market is both the hardest to reach and the least responsive to the lever most companies reach for first.
The people who lean design want different things
The other split that showed up cleanly was between people who describe their work as mostly code and people who describe it as mostly design.
Among the code-leaning half, 50% mentioned money and 26% mentioned the work being interesting. Among the design-leaning group those numbers roughly invert: 31% money, 46% the work. Read alongside the last piece, where the design-leaning group also earned €25k less, that's an uncomfortable pairing. The people paid least for this role are also the least likely to name pay as what would move them.
The design-leaning sample here is small, 13 people, so treat the direction as real and the exact figures as soft.
The lever a small company actually has
Money, remote work and an interesting product are all things a well-funded company can offer more of than a seed-stage one. But two themes came up that work the other way round.
Equity and upside appeared in 10% of answers, and growth, scope or seniority in 15%. Together that's a meaningful share of people describing something other than salary, and describing it in terms a small company can actually deliver.
"Equity and salary increase, with the right idea and hungry people."<br>0–2 years, €100–130k, currently at a non-startup
"More upside, getting in at an earlier stage with equity. And working on an interesting product."<br>2–4 years, €130–150k, currently Series B
Both of those are people at larger or later-stage companies saying they would move earlier down the funding ladder for a bigger stake. Which is worth knowing if you're seed-stage and assuming you can't compete for this talent because you can't match a Series C salary. The people who said this weren't asking to be paid more. They were asking to own more of what they build.
The same is true of scope. A few respondents named a specific level they wanted rather than a specific number.
"Staff or principal level IC role in a design or product org, with a mix of design and code."<br>0–2 years, €80–100k, currently at a large company
That's someone two years into their career naming the level and remit they...