Also called: Commissioning Engineer, Cx Agent
Tests every system in a new building (heating, cooling, lights, controls) to make sure it actually works as designed.
You walk a nearly finished hospital with a checklist, put each air handler through its paces, find a valve installed backward, and make the contractor fix it before the building opens.
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 mechanical engineering or years of HVAC experience plus certification.
Ways in: 4-year college, Certification, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mechanical Engineering, HVAC Technology.
Growing much faster than average (about 9% over 10 years).
Low risk for 10 years. Software flags faulty controls, but walking a new building and testing every system in person stays human.
Classes: Physics, HVAC CTE class, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2141.
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.