Also called: Patient Simulator Engineer, Medical Manikin Engineer
Designs the robot patient dummies that breathe, bleed, talk and give birth so doctors and medics can practice safely.
You test a new fake lung inside a lifelike baby manikin, tweaking valves until its chest rises like a real newborn's. Then you meet with nurses who say the pulse feels wrong and redesign the tiny pump. Some days you troubleshoot a manikin that "dies" too fast in training.
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 biomedical, mechanical or electrical engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics.
Growing faster than average. Hospitals, nursing schools and the military keep expanding simulation training.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI helps with design and lets manikins "talk" back, but building realistic bodies and testing them with clinicians stays human.
Classes: Physics, Biology, Robotics or engineering class, AP Calculus.
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.