3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing

Building objects layer by layer instead of cutting them out, from plastic prototypes to titanium rocket parts, dental crowns, concrete houses and even living tissue.

Top pay: highest pay, longest training

• Additive Manufacturing Materials Scientist: Develops and tests the metal powders, plastics and resins that 3D printers use, and figures out why printed parts fail. Typical pay $110k.

Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship

• Additive Manufacturing Engineer: Designs parts and processes for industrial 3D printers that build metal and plastic parts layer by layer for rockets, jets, implants and cars. Typical pay $102k.
• Computational / Generative Design Engineer: Uses algorithms to 'grow' strange, bone-like part shapes and lattices that are lighter and stronger than anything a human would draw. Typical pay $105k.
• Bioprinting Research Scientist: Uses 3D printers loaded with living cells to print tissue such as skin, cartilage and tiny organ models for medical research. Typical pay $100k.
• Additive Manufacturing Technician: Runs, maintains and calibrates industrial 3D printers and prepares builds for production. Typical pay $58k.
• 3D Printing Applications Specialist: Works for a 3D-printer company, showing customers how printing can solve their problems and helping them get great results. Typical pay $80k.
• 3D Scanning & Reverse Engineering Specialist: Uses laser and light scanners to capture real objects in 3D so they can be copied, measured or reprinted. Typical pay $60k.
• Construction 3D Printer Operator: Runs giant printers that squeeze out concrete layer by layer to build the walls of houses and buildings. Typical pay $55k.
• 3D Printer Field Service Engineer: Travels to customers to install, repair and upgrade expensive industrial 3D printers. Typical pay $70k.
• Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) Technician: Uses welding robots to "print" huge metal parts layer by layer, like ship propeller parts and giant tools. Typical pay $62k.

Starter: fastest way in

• 3D Print Post-Processing Technician: Cleans, removes supports, sands, cures and finishes 3D-printed parts so they're ready to use. Typical pay $40k.
• 3D Print Farm Operator: Keeps rows of dozens or hundreds of desktop 3D printers running to make products in bulk. Typical pay $38k.
• Dental Laboratory Technician (Digital): Designs and 3D prints crowns, aligners, dentures and night guards from digital scans of patients' mouths. Typical pay $50k.
• Orthotic & Prosthetic Fabrication Technician: Builds artificial limbs and braces, increasingly using 3D scans and printing to make custom-fit devices. Typical pay $47k.
• Freelance 3D Print Designer: Designs and sells 3D-printable files and printed products, like tabletop-game miniatures, cosplay props, organizers and replacement parts. Typical pay $35k.
• Metal Powder Atomization Technician: Runs towers that melt metal and blast it with gas into a fine powder, the "ink" used by metal 3D printers. Typical pay $54k.

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.