Top 15 Highest Paying Engineering Jobs in 2024

The term engineering means using science and math to solve the critical problems around us. They are the people who are in charge of finding how things work and need to find a practical use for all the scientific discoveries happening around the world. A hard-working engineer doesn’t care about his income as the world knows his value and as he knows that he will be given worthy compensation for the time he spent.

Here is a list of the top 15 highest-paying engineering jobs. This list will be beneficial for those who are looking to start their career in Engineering, as they can get an insight into what all these titles mean and the average they can earn in a year.

1. Data Scientist
2. Petroleum engineer
3. Electrical Engineer
4. Chemical Engineer
5. Computer Engineer
6. Nuclear Engineer
7. Biomedical Engineer
8. Aerospace Engineer
9. Environmental engineer
10. Material Engineer
11. System Engineer
12. Agricultural Engineer
13. Health Engineer
14. Cartographers
15. Marine Engineers

Highest Paying Engineering Jobs

Data Scientist

The name might confuse a lot of people here, Data scientists are the engineers in charge of creating algorithms and formulas to make use of the big data collected and convert them to useful data. An Example of the work done by then can be seen while browsing E-commerce websites like amazon or while searching for something using search engines like google and bing.

Data scientist are one of the big shots in the engineering fields, they can make more than 90,000$ in a year and some of the senior positions earns more than 150,000$ annually.

Petroleum engineer

As the name suggests these people are in charge of the petroleum refining and extraction works. Their workspace can be anywhere from the Oil extractors to the petroleum refineries. Some of their works include finding a better way to extract oil from their sources without harming the environment and also separating all different petroleum products from the crude oil with much better efficiency and cheaply.

Some of the perks of this job are that they have extended vacation time compared to others and a full premium health insurance. This is a high-growth field and it is easy to find an opportunity here. the annual salary is around 140,000$ for those with little or no experience in this field.

Electrical Engineer

Nearly everyone is familiar with the name electrical engineer. As the name suggests they are those in charge of complicated electronic devices like Motors and communication machinery. Recently there is a very high demand for electrical engineers mainly in the automotive industry as they are on the move towards electrification.

This means that almost 90 percent of the vehicles are on route to be electrical systems. Some of the other ever-growing opportunity is in the telecom business, there is a generation upgrade withing a few years gap and each generation upgrade needs more engineers as they get more complex for the current group to handle them. 

The average salary for Electrical Engineering is in the range of 100,00$ annually, a higher salary of as much as 170K$ annually is possible here.

Chemical Engineer

Chemical engineers are hardcore science fans. they are at the frontline of chemical breakthroughs; these breakthroughs can be in any field ranging from medical to material science. Some of the work done by them include chemical production, synthesis of fuel, and many more. There has been a steady increase in job opportunities here in recent years.

This field has an average salary of about 110,000$ annually and about 180K$ for those with the highest skills

Computer Engineer

These are one of the best-known professions around the world. They are very high in demand as there is a need for computer engineers even in industries that are not related to computers, this is mainly due to the digitalized environment. Computer engineers can be further classified into software and hardware.

The hardware specialization mainly focuses on parts like RAM sticks, Graphics cards, Hard drives, and others. the software specializations’ main focus is to make sure that all these hardware’s can talk with each other’s seamlessly and make sure that the company programs are running smoothly in all the possible systems and environments.

Both specializations are unique in their ways and have their perks and quirks, each computer engineer needs to assess them and select the specialization suitable for them to achieve maximum success. The annual salary of a computer engineer is around 100,000$, but the top few among them are bagging more than double that of an average computer engineer.

Nuclear Engineer

The word nuclear is familiar to everyone. This is one of the ever-rising options for young engineers mainly dude the chance in concern of general public towards renewable energy. As people have become more conscious of the dangers of fossil fuels. Nuclear energy usage has increased rapidly.

The work of an engineer here is to ensure that the reactors are running as efficiently as possible without any problems. They are also in charge of finding a much better way to produce energy without causing harm to the environment as possible.

This one of the jobs that have a challenging workspace and needs to keep a constant eye on one’s health condition, also this work require constant eye on the status of the workspace and make the necessary adjustment to keep the efficiency as high as possible.

The annual pay for a Nuclear engineer is around 120K$ and the top percentage earns about 200K$.

Biomedical Engineer

This is one of the newest engineering fields, here the job of the engineer to help in the construction of medical equipment and resources for the doctors to use in their treatments. This field is a really attractive field for those who want to create a positive impact on the health of society without having any direct contact with the patients.

There is constant communication between the healthcare workers and the engineers to make sure that the devices are running properly and correct any errors when needed. This communication also helps the engineers to create new tools according to the doctor’s suggestions and advice.

This is a highly rewarding job as there is not only a good average annual payment of around 90thousand $ but also the satisfaction of saving human lives.

Aerospace Engineer

Aerospace used to be a limited scope industry, but that has changed with the standardization of air travel and the arrival of private aerospace companies. The arrival of private companies has also made this one of the most advanced industries in the world.  

The main purpose of these professionals will be the design and construction of spacecraft, airplanes, missiles, and satellites. Both the airplane and space industry have high opportunities available these days.

The average salary of a fresh aerospace engineer is around 120 thousadn dollars annually and those with a few years of experience make above 160 thousand dollars annually. Another advantage is the close connection of aerospace industries with governments around the world.

Environmental Engineer

The shift in focus towards green technology has increased the scope of environmental engineering. the work of an engineer here is to use a mixture of ecological, environmental, and biological know-how to make sure that any issue to the environment can be solved before binging the work at the specific place.

The work requires the engineer to spend a large amount of time at the workspace to assess the condition of the worksite to put forward the possible suggestions and workarounds. The average salary of an environmental engineer is around 90 thousand dollars and a bit of experience can provide one with more than 150 thousand dollars annually.

Material Engineer

Creating new materials is always a fun process as one is creating new things that have not been made before, this is the job of a material engineer. Create new materials and experiment with the current materials to make them much better than before. also, engineer any of the current materials to be used for specific uses.

This is the best option for people with great creativity and who want to bring something new to the world, their creativity can be of great help here. Some of their great works include the different types of plastics and also different types of processed iron and steel.

Material engineering is a lucrative option with the average fresher earning about 95 thousand dollars annually while the most experienced ones earn about 180 thousand dollars annually.

System Engineer

System Engineer Have a unique role in their workspace, their work is to make sure that all the company software and devices are running smoothly without any problems.  They are the ones responsible for system upgrades and map the company’s infrastructure growth plans.

The average salary for a System Engineer is around 70 thousand dollars annually but once level 5 is cleared one can earn more than 160K.

Agricultural Engineering

Agriculture is the backbone of human survival, without the modern breakthroughs in agriculture, we will not be able to support the seven billion-plus population on earth now. These breakthroughs are achieved with the help of agricultural engineers, who dedicate their work time to find out more breakthroughs of similar magnitude.

The role of an Agricultural Engineer is to help the farmers increase their yields while reducing the cost of the farming process itself.They are in charge of finding new and efficient ways to make their lives easier, which in turn helps the rest of the world.

Due to this special importance, Agricultural Engineers have a special place in the society and can earn more than 160thousand dollars annually if they have a small experience.

Health Engineer

Maintaining a safe workspace is important to provide better products and also have better morale among the employees too. The job of a Health Engineers to ensure that the health and safety protocols are obeyed by the company and also implement the necessary stems to make sure that employees feel much safer than they are required to be.

Safety is an important factor as the employees tend to work efficiently if they feel safes. The average salary of a Health Engineer ranges from 91 thousand to 143 thousand dollars annually.

Cartographers

Cartographers are those who work alongside geologists. The main work of Cartographers is to help others collect their samples and take the measurements without damaging the environment.

They are the ones in charge of interpreting and storing the data to make sure that these can be used later to crate environmental maps, report, and also educate the people on these kinds. The maps produced by Cartographers play a vital role in planning for the future development of an area. 

The average salary of a is around 70 thousand dollars annually, and it is very easy to cross the six-figure values.

Marine Engineering

The works of a marine engineer are similar to that of an aerospace engineer, instead of airplanes and rockets, here the work is on different types of ships and submarines. These include various attack submarines and military ships including destroyers and carriers for government to research submarines, oil tankers, and cruise ships for private companies.

Marine engineers work with naval architects who are the designers for these watercraft.The job of marine engineers is only to build and maintain the crafts. Another advantage is that private craft building in a country is open for all nationals living there compared to government ships which are restricted to their citizens; this is not possible in aerospace engineering. 

This makes marine engineering a little bit carefree compared to aerospace but both have their advantages and disadvantages. An average fresher here makes around 80 thousand dollars annually.

Conclusion

We hope that the above list of 15 highest-paying engineering jobs has been helpful for you in deciding your career plan. Keep in mind that the annual salary is the national average and the amount can vary from employer to employer. Let us know through the comment sections if this article has helped you to make a decision in your engineering career and feel free to share them with your friends if you liked this.