Also called: NLP Scientist, Language Engineer
Combines linguistics and computing to help computers understand and generate human language.
You study why a translation model mangles Navajo grammar and build better data for low-resource languages. Linguists who code are rare and valuable.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 6 years after high school. Master's or PhD in computational linguistics or linguistics.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Linguistics, Computer Science, Cognitive Science.
Growing faster than average. Grows with language AI.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. Large language models absorbed much classic language-tech work, so fewer specialist linguist roles remain.
Classes: AP English Language, A foreign language, AP Computer Science A.
Official data: O*NET occupation 15-1221.
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.