Also called: Cyber Exercise Developer, Cyber Training Environment Engineer
Builds fake but realistic computer networks where soldiers, students and company teams practice fighting hackers without harming real systems.
You're building a pretend power-company network with servers, a control room and planted weaknesses for next week's military exercise. You script the attacker's moves and check that the scoring works. During the event you sit in the referee room, watching teams and fixing anything that breaks.
Estimated from defense contractor and cyber training company postings.
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 cybersecurity, computer science or IT.
Ways in: 4-year college, Military, Certification. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology.
Growing faster than average. Military and companies are expanding hands-on cyber training.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI helps generate fake traffic and attacks, but designing realistic scenarios and running live exercises stays human.
Classes: Computer science, Networking CTE class, Math.
Official data: O*NET occupation 15-1212.
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.