Also called: Car Designer, Transportation Designer
Sketches and shapes the look of new cars, trucks, motorcycles, and EVs, inside and out.
An automotive designer sketches dozens of versions of a headlight, then works with digital modelers and clay sculptors to turn the best into a full-size model. Design reviews with executives decide which concept goes forward. A car takes years from first sketch to showroom.
Estimate. Automakers in Detroit, California, and abroad pay well; few openings and fierce competition.
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 transportation or industrial design from specialized schools like ArtCenter, CCS (Detroit), or Pratt; extremely portfolio-driven.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Transportation Design, Industrial Design.
Growing about average (about 3% over 10 years). Few jobs; EV startups added some demand.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI generates concept sketches and renders in seconds, trimming junior seats; final form, proportion and brand character stay human.
Classes: AP Studio Art, Physics, Engineering or CAD CTE.
Official data: O*NET occupation 27-1021.
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.