What skills should a Solar Energy Systems Engineer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, Speaking, and Writing among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Solar Energy Systems Engineer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Ansys Fluent, Aurora HelioScope, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD LT, and Autodesk Revit. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Solar Energy Systems Engineer work?

O*NET records 34 titles for this occupation, including Power Systems Engineer, Project Engineer, Solar Design Engineer, and Solar Designer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Solar Energy Systems Engineer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 56% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Solar Energy Systems Engineer role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Solar Energy Systems Engineer resume example

A resume for a Solar Energy Systems Engineer needs to show the work itself: perform site-specific engineering analysis or evaluation of energy efficiency and solar projects involving residential, commercial, or industrial customers. Day to day that means work like this: conduct engineering site audits to collect structural, electrical, and related site information for use in the design of residential or commercial solar power systems; create plans for solar energy system development, monitoring, and evaluation activities. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Power Systems Engineer
Project Engineer
Solar Design Engineer
Solar Designer
Consulting Engineer
Engineer
Photovoltaic System Designer
PV System Designer
Research Engineer
Solar Energy Engineer
Solar Engineer
Solar PE
Solar PV Designer
Solar PV Engineer
Solar PV Product Development Engineer
Solar PV Systems Engineer
Applications Engineer
Renewable Energy Specialist

O*NET records 34 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Conduct engineering site audits to collect structural, electrical, and related site information for use in the design of residential or commercial solar power systems.
Create plans for solar energy system development, monitoring, and evaluation activities.
Design or coordinate design of photovoltaic (PV) or solar thermal systems, including system components, for residential and commercial buildings.
Provide technical direction or support to installation teams during installation, start-up, testing, system commissioning, or performance monitoring.
Create electrical single-line diagrams, panel schedules, or connection diagrams for solar electric systems, using computer-aided design (CAD) software.
Perform computer simulation of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation system performance or energy production to optimize efficiency.
Review specifications and recommend engineering or manufacturing changes to achieve solar design objectives.
Develop design specifications and functional requirements for residential, commercial, or industrial solar energy systems or components.
Develop standard operation procedures and quality or safety standards for solar installation work.
Create checklists for review or inspection of completed solar installation projects.
Perform thermal, stress, or cost reduction analyses for solar systems.
Test or evaluate photovoltaic (PV) cells or modules.

13 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Conduct engineering site audits to collect structural, electrical, and related site information for use in the design of residential or commercial solar power systems, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Create plans for solar energy system development, monitoring, and evaluation activities, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Design or coordinate design of photovoltaic (PV) or solar thermal systems, including system components, for residential and commercial buildings, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Provide technical direction or support to installation teams during installation, start-up, testing, system commissioning, or performance monitoring, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Ansys Fluent
Aurora HelioScope
Autodesk AutoCAD
Autodesk AutoCAD LT
Autodesk Revit
Bash
C++
Computer aided design and drafting CADD software
Dassault Systemes SolidWorks
Data acquisition software
Data visualization software
Database software
Debugging software
Energy-10

57 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Abrasion testers
Accelerated weathering machines
Adhesion testers
Apparent power meters
Atomic absorption spectrometers
Auger electron spectrometers
Bench ovens
Chronopotentiometers
Compression testers
Copy machines
Coulometers
Creep testers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

AutoCAD
ETAP
Google Workspace

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Critical Thinking
02Reading Comprehension
03Complex Problem Solving
04Speaking
05Writing
06Active Listening
07Judgment and Decision Making
08Mathematics
09Active Learning
10Monitoring

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Engineering and Technology
Design
Building and Construction
Mathematics
Mechanical
Computers and Electronics
Physics
Administration and Management

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

56%Bachelor's Degree
11%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school
11%Associate's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Solar Energy Systems Engineer do?: Perform site-specific engineering analysis or evaluation of energy efficiency and solar projects involving residential, commercial, or industrial customers. Day to day that includes work like conduct engineering site audits to collect structural, electrical, and related site information for use in the design of residential or commercial solar power systems and Create plans for solar energy system development, monitoring, and evaluation activities.
What skills should a Solar Energy Systems Engineer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, Speaking, and Writing among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Solar Energy Systems Engineer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Ansys Fluent, Aurora HelioScope, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD LT, and Autodesk Revit. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Solar Energy Systems Engineer work?: O*NET records 34 titles for this occupation, including Power Systems Engineer, Project Engineer, Solar Design Engineer, and Solar Designer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Solar Energy Systems Engineer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 56% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Solar Energy Systems Engineer role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.