Top 10 Highest Paying Jobs in Engineering

As the world is advancing in the field of technology at a rapid pace, we now need more engineers than ever before. The engineering profession has quite an important and key role in this rapidly changing world. From smartphones to television, buildings to roads, and cars to airplanes everything around us is being built by engineering professionals from diverse fields.

Therefore, engineering is one of the highly paid professions. Engineering is also among the career choice of so many people in the world. Various surveys suggest that more than 85 percent of engineers find satisfaction in their job.

Check out this related article: 10 Careers You Didn’t Know Existed in Engineering.

Once an engineer gets enough professional experience, he can earn more than 90K USD per year. However, the salary depends upon the career path you choose in the engineering field. There are numerous paths you can choose in the field of engineering. Once you get skilled in a particular field of engineering, you will be able to get a highly paid job in no time.

We’ve researched various online resources and have prepared a list of ‘Top 10 Highest Paying Jobs in Engineering’.

Here are the top 10 highly paid engineering jobs in various engineering disciplines:

#1 Petroleum Engineering

Petroleum Engineering
Petroleum Engineering, Image Courtesy of AdobeStock

The demand for energy resources throughout the world is increasing day by day as the population of the world is growing. Various petroleum industries expect that demand for petroleum engineers will be increased in upcoming years.

A petroleum engineer finds the more suitable and efficient method to extract oils, gases, and various other fossil fuels. All the energy extracting companies solely rely on petroleum engineers to generate revenue.

The estimated salary of a petroleum engineer is around 137K USD per year.

#2 Computer/Software Engineering

Information System Engineering
Computer/Software Engineering, Image Courtesy of AdobeStock

The world is advancing rapidly in the sector of computers than in any other field of engineering. Computer software, mobile applications, web applications, and various mobile software are all parts of computer/software engineering.

Software engineers use knowledge of engineering principles and programming languages to build software products, develop computer games, automated bots (such as indeed job scraping), artificial intelligence systems, and run network control systems. Software engineers always try to stay up to date with the latest technologies and development in the field.

The estimated salary of a computer engineer is around 117K USD per year.

#3 Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace Engineering
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From working in parts producing companies like Rolls-Royce to working in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration usually termed as NASA, an aerospace engineer can earn enough salary in all the disciplines of aerospace engineering. An aerospace engineer is capable of developing an aircraft or spacecraft. Many aircraft producing companies hire professional aerospace engineers to work towards developing and designing aircraft.

The average yearly salary of an aerospace engineer is also usually high; which is around 115K USD per year.

#4 Nuclear Engineering

Nuclear Engineering
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Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay, and nuclear fusion reactions. A nuclear engineer works towards the utilization of nuclear energy.  Nuclear engineers research and develop the processes, instruments, and systems used to derive benefits from nuclear energy and radiation. They develop the structure, tools and apparatus to harness nuclear energy.

It is a highly paid job with a salary of around 107K USD per year.

#5 Chemical Engineering

Chemical Engineering
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Chemical engineering is a field of engineering that uses principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, and economics to efficiently utilize, produce, design, transport and transform energy and materials.

Chemical engineers are in high demand and their salary is estimated to be around 104K USD per year.

#6 Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Electrical/Electronic Engineering
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Electrical engineering is a broad field and is therefore divided into many sub-fields like electronics engineering, communication engineering, control engineering, and power engineering.

Electronic engineers work towards developing circuits and chips used in various devices which include but are not limited to televisions, phones, and computers. A communications engineer is responsible for the research, design, development, and production of communications equipment/systems while control systems engineers develop and design various control systems for industries, plants, and other areas. Power engineers are responsible for generating and transmitting electricity from various sources to consumers.

An electrical engineer’s salary per year is estimated to be around 102K USD per year.

#7 Material Engineering

Material Engineering
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Materials engineers develop, process, and test materials used to create a range of products, from computer chips and aircraft wings to golf clubs and biomedical devices. They usually get highly paid jobs in various industries like ceramic, plastic, metallurgical, conductors, insulators, or semiconductors.

Materials engineers’ salary per year is estimated to be around 92K USD per year.

#9 Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical Engineering
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Biomedical engineering is also a popular field of engineering. Biomedical engineers design systems and products, such as artificial organs, artificial devices that replace body parts, and machines for diagnosing medical problems. Install, adjust, maintain, repair, or provide technical support for biomedical equipment. By utilizing the engineering concepts, biomedical engineers are capable of developing advanced medical tools to diagnose and cure patients.

Biomedical engineering professionals have a salary of around 88K USD per year.

9. Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering
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Just like the civil and electrical field of engineering, mechanical engineering is also a very vast field of engineering. The sub-fields of mechanical engineering include dynamics, mechanics, structural and material sciences. Every other industry which owns the plants and manufacturing units is required to hire a large number of mechanical engineers. They are capable of developing various types of engines, mechanical tools, different types of motors, turbines, and generators.

The average salary of a Mechanical Engineer is around 87K USD per year.

10. Civil Engineering

Everything You Need to Know About Civil Engineering
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Civil engineering is one of the most reputable fields of engineering. Civil engineering is a broad field, which is divided into various sub-fields. Some fields include structural, construction, environment, transportation, and coastal. You can read our article to learn more about civil engineering: Everything You Need to Know About Civil Engineering.

The design of buildings, tunnels, underpasses, bridge structures (usually come under structural field), the construction work of these buildings are included in the construction field. Similarly, environmental engineers are involved in efforts to improve recycling, waste disposal, public health, and control of water and air pollution. Designing and development of highways, public transport, and railway lines come under the transportation field of civil engineering.

The salary of civil engineers is estimated to be around 86K USD per year.

Aimal Khan is the founder & CEO of Engineering Passion. He is an engineer and has obtained his bachelor's degree in energy engineering from Kandahar University.