Also called: CFD Analyst, Simulation Engineer
Builds computer simulations of air, fuel, and heat flowing through and around aircraft.
You set up a 3D mesh of an engine inlet with millions of tiny cells, launch the job on a supercomputer, and check results the next morning. A lot of the day is detective work: why did the simulation blow up, and does it match the wind-tunnel data?
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 6 years after high school. Bachelor's in aerospace/mechanical engineering, usually plus a master's focused on fluids or numerical methods.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computational Science.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Part of BLS aerospace engineers category.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI-accelerated solvers and surrogates replace many routine runs, shrinking junior seats; setting up valid cases and judging results stays human.
Classes: AP Calculus, AP Physics C, AP Computer Science, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2011.
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