Also called: Wave Machine Engineer, Surf Pool Engineer
Designs the machines and pools that make perfect, surfable ocean waves hundreds of miles from any beach.
You tweak the timing of giant underwater paddles in a computer model to shape a wave that peels left for 10 seconds. Then you visit a construction site in the desert, checking the concrete reef shape before water goes in. On test day pro surfers ride your waves and tell you what feels wrong.
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, civil or ocean engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mechanical Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Civil Engineering.
Growing faster than average. Surf parks are opening in Texas, Arizona, California and Florida.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. Wave simulation and AI tuning help, but designing, building and testing real machines stays human work.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Engineering CTE, Swim or surf team.
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.