Also called: Safety-Critical Systems Engineer, Aerospace Safety Engineer
Proves that complex machines like aircraft, rockets, trains and self-driving cars can't fail in deadly ways.
You build a 'fault tree' that traces every way a train's brakes could fail, down to a single loose wire. You calculate the odds of each path and push the design team to add a backup wherever the risk is too high.
Defense and aerospace jobs often require a security clearance.
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; master's in system safety or reliability is common.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering.
Growing about average (about 4% over 10 years).
Medium risk for 10 years. AI drafts hazard analyses and fault trees, reducing junior analysis work; judging what can kill people and sign-off stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Statistics, Computer science, English composition.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2111.
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.