How To Become An Aircraft Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is an aircraft engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Aircraft engineers are experts in the scientific and technological aspects of aircraft. They research, design, and develop components and devices used to operate airborne vehicles. They use computer-operated design solutions to demonstrate models, combining expertise in engineering with software skills.

Working as an aircraft engineer, you will assemble, test, and modify engines and other support equipment for various kinds of airplanes. Your job will include performing maintenance tasks, inspecting and servicing damaged aircraft.

You will conduct tests to measure the performance of these machines and improve their safety features. Environmental impact is in the focus of these professionals currently, so you will spend much of your time researching options for environmentally friendly ways to fuel and operate aircraft.

ScoreAircraft EngineerUS Average

Salary

5.7

Avg. Salary $72,867

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.4

Growth Rate 6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.30%

Asian 10.84%

Black or African American 4.25%

Hispanic or Latino 11.43%

Unknown 4.47%

White 68.70%

Gender

female 8.89%

male 91.11%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.0

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.7

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an aircraft engineer

Explore aircraft engineer education requirements

Most common aircraft engineer degrees

Bachelor's

61.0 %

Associate

13.8 %

Diploma

10.6 %

Start to develop specific aircraft engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
DOD	21.35%
Aircraft Systems	13.34%
CAD	11.28%
Airframe	10.22%
Aircraft Maintenance	8.16%

Complete relevant aircraft engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New aircraft engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an aircraft engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real aircraft engineer resumes.

Research aircraft engineer duties and responsibilities

Lead the software development for multiple successful NASA and DOD small business innovative research (SBIR) grants.
Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
Design the galleys of private jets using AutoCAD.
Develop flight data extraction and visualization software suite in MATLAB.

Prepare your aircraft engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your aircraft engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an aircraft engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Aircraft Engineer Resume templates

Build a professional Aircraft Engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Aircraft Engineer resume.

Apply for aircraft engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an aircraft engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do aircraft engineers rate their job?

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Aircraft Engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2019

Pros

The money, the enviroment, the great co-working