Also called: CAD Design Engineer, Product Development Engineer
Turns product ideas into detailed 3D models and drawings that factories can actually build.
Your screen shows a robot vacuum split open in SolidWorks. You redesign the battery door so it snaps shut without screws, then run a quick stress check. Before lunch you 3D print it, and after lunch you snap it open and shut 200 times to see if it breaks.
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 engineering or mechanical engineering technology.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Industrial Design.
Growing much faster than average (about 9% over 10 years). Rolled into mechanical engineers.
Medium risk for 10 years. Generative design and AI CAD assistants already produce parts and drawings, so fewer junior design seats; fit, cost and manufacturability judgment stays human.
Classes: Geometry, Physics, CAD or drafting class, Art or 3D design.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2141.
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.