Also called: Image Quality Engineer, Camera Systems Engineer
Makes phone, car and security cameras take better pictures by tuning sensors, lenses and image software.
You photograph test charts and real scenes in a lab that can fake sunset, neon signs or moonlight. Then you tune the camera's color and noise settings so photos look natural, comparing them side by side with rival phones.
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, optics or computer science.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Optical Engineering, Optics & Photonics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science.
Growing faster than average. Not tracked separately by BLS; photonics demand is growing with AI data centers, lidar and AR.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI image processing replaces much hand-tuned camera code; testing sensors in real scenes and judging image quality stay human.
Classes: AP Computer Science, AP Physics, Photography, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2199.
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.