Also called: Director of Engineering, Architectural & Engineering Manager
Leads teams of engineers, setting goals, budgets and schedules for big technical projects.
Your morning is one-on-ones with engineers on your team, helping one get unstuck on a design problem. After lunch you defend your budget to executives, then decide whether to delay a product launch because testing found a flaw.
Approximate May 2024 figures; BLS tops out its scale near $239k, and many managers earn more.
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 engineering plus 5-10+ years as an engineer; many add a master's or MBA.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Engineering Management.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Approximate 2024-34 projection.
Low risk for 10 years. AI handles status reports and planning drafts; leading people, hiring and owning project results stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, Business, Speech or debate, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-9041.
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.