Also called: Engine Test Engineer
Runs the test stands where rocket engines are fired on the ground before they ever fly.
You write the countdown procedure, sit in a concrete bunker during the hot-fire, and hit the abort button if pressures look wrong. Afterward you dig through thousands of sensor channels for surprises.
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 aerospace or mechanical engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Part of BLS aerospace engineers category.
Low risk for 10 years. AI flags problems in test data instantly; planning hot fires and making abort calls stay human.
Classes: Physics, Chemistry, Electronics CTE, 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.