Someone who is licensed by the government to call themselves an Engineer, and is personally financially and criminally liable for any harm caused by defects in the things they design.
The profession came first. And then licensure was added to make sure that bridges and buildings didn't fail all the time and kill people.
But it never quite reached the level of "Attorney" or "Physician" so we have this ambiguity depending on the field of practice, especially since the explosion of Software Engineer jobs.
