AEAvionics Engineer
AE
Career

Avionics Engineer

By the numbers
Typical pay
$134,960 / yr
Education to start
Bachelor's degree
Future demand
+6.1% by 2034
People in this job
68K
Figures shown for ·closest of 2 O*NET occupations
The work
A day, hour by hour
07:30
Standup & triage

Sync with systems team; flag overnight test failures needing attention today.

08:00
Design review

Scan technical drawings for a nav system update; catch two wiring errors before fabrication.

09:00
Embedded code work

Write and bench-test flight computer software for a new sensor input routine.

11:00
Anomaly investigation

A GPS dropout showed up in yesterday's logs — real fault or sensor noise? Dig in.

12:30
Compliance docs

Fill out FAA certification paperwork for last week's hardware integration test results.

13:30
Hardware integration

Hook up new comm module to the test rig; verify it talks to the flight computer correctly.

15:00
Simulator session

Sit with two pilots; confirm autopilot handoff behaves exactly as designed under edge cases.

16:30
Test debrief

One failure mode surfaced — decide whether to escalate now or run one more test first.

17:00
Wrap & log

Update test logs, note open items, and hand off to the overnight verification team.

Things you do
  • Design electronic systems that guide and control aircraft in flight.
  • Write and test embedded software running inside cockpit computers.
  • Hook up hardware and software components and verify they talk correctly.
  • Run rigorous tests to catch failures before a plane ever leaves the ground.
  • Hunt down the root cause when a navigation or sensor system misbehaves.
Decisions you’ll make
  • Is this anomaly a real safety risk, or just noise in the data?
  • Should I flag this test failure now, or investigate further before escalating?
  • Can I meet the schedule deadline, or does safety require more testing time?
  • Is this existing system good enough to certify, or does it need a redesign?
  • Should I build a custom solution here, or adapt something already certified?
Education Pathways · how you get there
100 in 100 went the college route · 0 in 100 found another way in None, typically
Education mapped from O*NET:
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