Also called: Theme Park Show Engineer, Imagineering Engineer
Senior engineer who leads the technology behind theme park rides and shows: the motion, effects, lighting and control systems working together.
You stand in a dark, half-built ride building at 1 a.m. while the team runs a ride vehicle through a scene for the first time. A dragon animatronic fires its fog effect one second late, so you dig into the show-control timeline with your programmers and run it again until it's perfect.
Very competitive; jobs are concentrated in Orlando and Southern California.
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, electrical or computer engineering plus 10+ years in themed entertainment.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering.
Growing about average. Small, competitive niche; not tracked separately by BLS.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps program and monitor show systems; leading teams to make rides and shows safe and magical stays human.
Classes: Physics, Computer science, Theater tech crew, Electronics CTE.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2199.
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