Engineering Technician Family
Career series with 7 positions across 4 levels
In New Jersey civil service, Engineering Technician names a 4-level progression covering 7 distinct titles.
Entry is typically through Engineering Technician 1, advancing through the ladder toward Engineering Technician 4. Pay across the family spans $50,990 to $101,951, around the 31st percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 66 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Transportation.
Engineering Technician is a common next step after Electronic Systems Technician.
Positions in This Family
- ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN 1 (10117) $50,990 - $73,902/year
- ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN 2 (10118) $55,691 - $81,008/year
- ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN 3 (10120) $60,876 - $88,743/year
- ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN 4 (10122) $69,668 - $101,951/year
- ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN 4 (59954) $63,663 - $92,953/year
- ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN 3 (59955) $55,691 - $81,008/year
- ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN 2 (59956) $50,990 - $73,902/year
What the Engineering Technician family covers
Engineering Technician is a graded series in the New Jersey civil service classification plan, running 7 title codes across 4 levels. Every title in it is a state title, so the employer is a state department, commission or authority rather than a county or municipality.
Engineering series in New Jersey are organized by discipline and then by responsibility, so a family usually reads assistant, then senior, then principal, then supervising. Professional Engineer licensure appears at the senior end rather than at entry, which lets the state hire graduates and license them in post. Transportation is the largest employer of these titles by a wide margin, with Environmental Protection, Treasury property management and the county engineering offices behind it. Construction inspection titles sit nearby but belong to the regulatory side.
The ladder, ordered by pay
Ordered by what they actually pay rather than by the number in the title, the Engineering Technician rungs look like this. Here the numbering happens to agree with the pay order, which is not guaranteed elsewhere in New Jersey's plan.
- Engineering Technician 4 — $69,668 to $101,951 (a high school diploma and 6 years of experience)
- Engineering Technician 4 — $63,663 to $92,953 (a high school diploma and 6 years of experience)
- Engineering Technician 3 — $60,876 to $88,743 (a high school diploma and 4 years of experience)
- Engineering Technician 3 — $55,691 to $81,008 (a high school diploma and 4 years of experience)
- Engineering Technician 2 — $55,691 to $81,008 (a high school diploma and 3 years of experience)
- Engineering Technician 2 — $50,990 to $73,902 (a high school diploma and 3 years of experience)
- Engineering Technician 1 — $50,990 to $73,902 (a high school diploma)
The distance from the bottom of Engineering Technician 1 to the top of Engineering Technician 4 is $50,960, an increase of about 100% over the entry minimum.
What each title does
Each title in the family carries its own published definition. These are the opening lines of each one, which is usually where the difference between two neighboring rungs is actually stated.
- Engineering Technician 1: Under close supervision of a supervising engineer title or higher level engineering technician in a state department, institution, or agency, performs various…
- Engineering Technician 2: Under limited supervision of a supervising engineer title or higher level technician in a state department, institution, or agency, performs the more technically…
- Engineering Technician 3: Under general direction of a supervising engineer title or other supervisor in a state department, institution, or agency, supervises a unit of technicians…
- Engineering Technician 4: Under general direction of a supervising engineer title or other supervisory official in a state department, institution, or agency, supervises two or more units…
What it takes to qualify
Across the 7 titles we have parsed, the education requirements read as a high school diploma on 7 of them. Stated experience runs from 3 years at the lowest rung to 6 at the highest, which is the main thing separating one level from the next.
On how the jobs are filled: 7 are competitive, filled from an eligible list after an open competitive or promotional examination.
Who actually employs these titles
66 people appear on the state payroll under 4 of these titles, at 3 agencies. Transportation alone accounts for about 95% of them.
- Transportation — 63 employees
- Environmental Protection — 2 employees
- Motor Vehicle Commission — 1 employee
Median actual pay varies across the family, from $55,907 for Engineering Technician 1 up to $92,265 for Engineering Technician 4. Those are medians of what people are really paid, not schedule minimums and maximums.
State payroll only, deduplicated by payroll title; local employers file separately, so a family with local codes looks smaller here than it is. How this is counted.
How the pay is set
Titles in this family are paid on the A-P-R-S salary schedule. See every step in that schedule. Bargaining is handled by CWA. Union contracts and rights are collected here.
Where these jobs exist
Hiring for this family runs through state service. Departments, commissions and boards fill these titles from eligible lists built by the Civil Service Commission, so the route in is an announcement and a filing deadline rather than a posting you apply to directly. What state jurisdiction means, and a breakdown of who employs what.
Related titles elsewhere in the plan
These titles sit elsewhere in the classification plan but share vocabulary with Engineering Technician, which usually means overlapping duties or a related eligible list.
- Engineering Technician Apprentice ($46,727 to $67,528, state jurisdiction)
- Drafting Technician/Engineering Aide Drafting Technician (local jurisdiction)
- Senior Engineering Aide (local jurisdiction)
- Section Chief, Engineering ($105,267 to $155,359, state jurisdiction)
- Principal Engineering Clerk (local jurisdiction)
- Supervising Engineering Aide (local jurisdiction)
Common questions about Engineering Technician jobs
How many separate Engineering Technician classifications does New Jersey have?
The Engineering Technician family holds 7 title codes arranged across 4 levels. Each code is a separate classification with its own published specification, requirements and salary treatment.
How much is an Engineering Technician paid?
Published salary data for this family runs from $50,990 at the bottom of Engineering Technician 1 to $101,951 at the top of Engineering Technician 4. Those are schedule figures. Where the title appears on the state payroll, actual median pay is listed on the page above.
Is there a civil service test for Engineering Technician?
Yes for most of the family. 7 of the 7 titles are in the competitive division, which means appointment comes from an eligible list built by an open competitive or promotional examination.
What are the requirements to become an Engineering Technician?
The most common education requirement in this family is a high school diploma, named on 7 of the 7 titles. Stated experience ranges from 3 to 6 years depending on the rung. Read the individual specification for the exact wording, including any experience substitution.
Which agencies employ Engineering Technician staff?
State payroll records show 66 people in this family across 3 agencies, with Transportation the largest at 63. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.