Also called: Carbon Fiber Engineer
Designs carbon fiber and fiberglass parts for planes, race cars, bikes, and wind turbines.
You plan how layers of carbon fiber are stacked and cured in giant ovens called autoclaves, then test parts until they break.
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 materials, mechanical, or aerospace engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Materials Science & Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Growth is for materials engineers overall.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI helps plan ply layups, but curing and break-testing real parts for planes and turbines stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Engineering design.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2131.
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.