Also called: Program Director
Owns the budget, schedule, and customer relationship for a big aircraft, satellite, or rocket program.
You review where every dollar went this month, meet with the customer (often the Air Force or NASA), and pull engineers together to rescue a slipping schedule.
Uses BLS architectural and engineering managers figures.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in engineering plus years of experience; many earn an MBA or PMP certification.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school, Certification. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering, Business Administration, Systems Engineering.
Growing faster than average (about 7% over 10 years).
Low risk for 10 years. AI drafts schedules, reports and risk lists; customer trust, trade-offs and leading teams stay human.
Classes: Business, Physics, Speech or debate, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-9041.
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