Also called: Airworthiness Engineer, FAA Designated Engineering Representative
Proves to the FAA, with tests and paperwork, that a new aircraft or modification is safe enough to fly passengers.
Your day is part engineer, part lawyer: you match every design feature to a specific federal safety rule and plan the test that proves it. You might fly to a test site to witness a seat being crash-tested on a sled.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in engineering plus years of experience; senior people get FAA designee authority.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Part of BLS aerospace engineers category.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI drafts compliance reports and tracks regulations, trimming paperwork roles; witnessing tests and FAA negotiation stay human.
Classes: English composition, AP Physics, Government or civics, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.