Also called: Antenna Engineer, Radio Frequency Engineer
Designs antennas and radio circuits for phones, radar, satellites and Wi-Fi.
You place a new phone antenna design inside a silent, foam-spiked chamber that blocks all outside radio waves, then measure how strongly it transmits in every direction. You tweak a tiny copper trace by half a millimeter and test again until the signal is just right.
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 electrical engineering; master's in electromagnetics is common.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Electrical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Physics.
Growing faster than average (about 7% over 10 years). 5G, satellite internet and defense radar keep demand strong.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI speeds antenna optimization and simulation; lab measurement, tuning real hardware and solving interference stays human expertise.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Electronics class, Computer science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2072.
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.