21231 – Software engineers and designers
Lead statement
Software engineers and designers research, design, evaluate, integrate and maintain software applications, technical environments, operating systems, embedded software, information warehouses and telecommunications software.
Main duties
- Collect and document users' requirements and develop logical and physical specifications
- Research, evaluate and synthesize technical information to design, develop and test computer-based systems including mobile applications
- Develop data, process and network models to optimize architecture and to evaluate the performance and reliability of designs
- Plan, design and coordinate the development, installation, integration and operation of computer-based systems including mobile applications
- Assess, test, troubleshoot, document, upgrade and develop maintenance procedures for operating systems, communications environments and applications software
- May lead and coordinate teams of information systems professionals in the development of software and integrated information systems, process control software and other embedded software control systems.
Employment requirements
- A bachelor's degree, usually in computer science, computer systems engineering, software engineering or mathematics orcompletion of a college program in computer science is usually required.
- A master's or doctoral degree in a related discipline may be required.
- Licensing by a provincial or territorial association of professional engineers is required to approve engineering drawings and reports and to practise as a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.).
- Engineers are eligible for registration following graduation from an accredited educational program, three or four years of supervised work experience in engineering, and passing a professional practice examination.
- Experience as a computer programmer is usually required.
Example job titles
systems applications engineer · systems engineer - software · software designer · software systems designer · computer telecommunications software specialist · software design supervisor · software design engineer · application architect · embedded software engineer · computer software engineer · software engineer · software design verification engineer · software testing engineer · systems architect · software systems integration engineer · software technical architect · software architect · telecommunications software engineer · simulation software design engineer · telecommunications software specialist · computer applications engineer · cloud engineer · cloud administrator · cloud architect · software and information technology project manager · mobile development lead · software design project manager · cloud infrastructure engineer · cloud operations engineer · site reliability engineer · software engineering lead · software quality assurance (QA) engineer · software development engineer · lead development and operations (DevOps) engineer · development and operations (DevOps) engineer · test automation engineer – software · automation engineer – software · backend engineer · computer systems platform engineer - software · lead software engineer
Wages (per hour)
| Province / territory | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | $35.00 | $56.49 | $91.35 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $33.48 | $48.88 | $71.24 |
| Nova Scotia | $32.32 | $52.50 | $98.56 |
| New Brunswick | $26.44 | $52.88 | $81.73 |
| Quebec | $35.00 | $53.60 | $86.54 |
| Ontario | $36.06 | $56.73 | $88.00 |
| Manitoba | $20.00 | $46.15 | $69.23 |
| Saskatchewan | $33.65 | $50.48 | $74.71 |
| Alberta | $36.06 | $51.92 | $100.00 |
| British Columbia | $35.00 | $62.50 | $99.04 |
Source: Job Bank wages, 2025 release (ESDC). Low and high are the 10th and 90th percentiles.
Occupation details: ESDC OaSIS 2025, based on NOC 2021.