Building the giant stuff: highways, bridges, tunnels, dams, railroads, and the pipes under every street.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Heavy Civil Project Manager: Runs giant infrastructure jobs like highway interchanges, bridges, and water plants. Typical pay $135k.
Tunneling Superintendent: Leads crews digging subway, water, and highway tunnels deep underground. Typical pay $145k.
Structural Engineer: Calculates how buildings and bridges hold up against gravity, wind, and earthquakes. Typical pay $110k.
Dam Safety Engineer: Inspects and repairs dams so they never fail and flood the towns below. Typical pay $115k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Civil Engineer: Designs roads, bridges, water systems, and the foundations of modern life. Typical pay $100k.
Geotechnical Engineer: Studies soil and rock to design foundations, tunnels, and retaining walls that will not sink or slide. Typical pay $98k.
Tunnel Boring Machine Operator: Drives a machine as long as a football field that chews through rock to dig tunnels. Typical pay $95k.
Pile Driver Operator: Operates huge machines that hammer steel and concrete piles deep into the ground to hold up bridges and buildings. Typical pay $76k.
Bridge Inspector: Climbs, rappels, and rides snooper trucks to check bridges for cracks and rust. Typical pay $75k.
Railroad Track Worker: Builds and repairs railroad tracks using heavy specialized machines. Typical pay $64k.
Blaster / Explosives Worker: Plans and sets off explosives to break rock for roads, quarries, and demolition. Typical pay $62k.
Civil Engineering Technician: Helps civil engineers by drafting plans, testing materials, and inspecting work in the field. Typical pay $62k.
Foundation Drill Operator: Drills deep holes for bridge and building foundations, wells, and soil testing. Typical pay $58k.
Ground Improvement Technician: Strengthens weak or wet soil under buildings, dams and bridges by injecting grout, mixing cement into the ground or vibrating stone columns into it. Typical pay $60k.
Dewatering Technician: Installs wells, pipes and pumps that pull groundwater away so crews can dig deep foundations, tunnels and sewers in the dry. Typical pay $60k.
Structural Mover: Jacks up whole houses, churches and even lighthouses, slides them onto steel beams and dollies, and rolls them to a new spot. Typical pay $58k.
Starter: fastest way in
Pipelayer: Lays water, sewer and storm drain pipes in trenches for utility contractors and cities, setting each pipe to the right slope and sealing the joints. Typical pay $50k.
Highway Maintenance Worker: Keeps roads safe by patching potholes, plowing snow, and fixing guardrails. Typical pay $48k.
Traffic Control Flagger: Directs drivers safely through road work zones with a stop/slow paddle, protecting both drivers and construction or utility crews. Typical pay $40k.
Geotechnical Driller: Drills test holes before anything gets built and pulls up soil and rock samples so engineers know what the ground can hold. Typical pay $50k.
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.