Turning sunlight into electricity, from rooftop panels to solar farms covering thousands of acres, plus the science of better solar cells.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Solar Cell Research Scientist: Invents better solar cells, such as perovskites and tandem cells, that turn more sunlight into electricity. Typical pay $128k.
Solar Project Developer: Finds land, signs deals, and wins permits to turn empty fields into giant solar farms. Typical pay $120k.
Solar PV Design Engineer: Designs the wiring, layout, and electrical systems for solar installations from rooftops to utility-scale farms. Typical pay $111k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Solar Asset Manager: Makes sure a portfolio of solar farms makes the money and power it was promised. Typical pay $100k.
Solar PV System Designer: Designs rooftop solar systems for homes and businesses and prepares permit drawings. Typical pay $65k.
Solar Sales Consultant: Helps homeowners and businesses decide to go solar and sells them a system. Typical pay $62k.
Utility-Scale Solar Electrician: Wires up giant solar farms: thousands of panels, combiner boxes, inverters, and substations. Typical pay $62k.
Solar O&M Technician: Keeps solar farms running by fixing broken panels, inverters, and trackers. Typical pay $58k.
Community Solar Program Manager: Runs programs that let renters and low-income families subscribe to a shared solar farm and save money. Typical pay $80k.
Solar Factory Quality Inspector (Third-Party): Gets hired by solar farm buyers to watch over panel factories, checking materials and testing samples so bad panels never ship. Typical pay $72k.
Agrivoltaics Researcher: Studies how crops, sheep and pollinators can do well under and between solar panels, so the same land produces food and electricity. Typical pay $80k.
Starter: fastest way in
Solar Panel (PV) Installer: Mounts solar panels on roofs and ground racks and connects them. Typical pay $52k.
Solar Site Assessor: Visits homes before installation to measure the roof, check the electrical panel, and spot problems. Typical pay $48k.
Solar Permit Coordinator: Handles the paperwork to get permits and utility approval for solar installations. Typical pay $47k.
Solar Panel Cleaning Technician: Cleans dust, pollen, and bird droppings off solar panels so they make more power. Typical pay $36k.
Solar Grazing Shepherd: Runs flocks of sheep that mow the grass under solar panels instead of lawnmowers. Typical pay $40k.
Solar Panel Recycling Technician: Takes apart old solar panels to recover glass, aluminum, silver, and silicon. Typical pay $42k.
Solar Panel Factory Technician: Runs and fixes the robots, laminators and testing machines on assembly lines that build solar panels in new US factories. Typical pay $48k.
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.