---
title: "Ocean Engineer"
description: "Designs structures and systems that work in the ocean, from offshore platforms, wind turbine foundations and subsea equipment to breakwaters and…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/ocean-engineer"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Ocean Engineer

**Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-2121 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-2121.00

Designs structures and systems that work in the ocean, from offshore platforms, wind turbine foundations and subsea equipment to breakwaters and underwater vehicles.

Also advertised as: Offshore Engineer; Subsea Engineer; Ocean Systems Engineer; Marine Renewable Energy Engineer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $112,230 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $53.96/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $83,010 to $173,330, with the middle half between $99,250 and $137,690
- **Total US employment:** 8,250
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +6.7% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 500 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 38/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 8,250 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $83,010 |
| 25th | $99,250 |
| 50th (median) | $112,230 |
| 75th | $137,690 |
| 90th | $173,330 |
| Mean (average) | $124,180 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $172,330 | $156,805 | 490 |
| TX | $152,780 | $157,413 | 330 |
| SC | $136,990 | $146,124 | 40 |
| FL | $130,640 | $126,327 | 370 |
| MD | $130,150 | $124,001 | 300 |
| MA | $114,640 | $108,399 | Not published by BLS |
| NY | $112,230 | $103,993 | 250 |
| CA | $110,700 | $99,982 | 250 |
| WA | $109,550 | $102,371 | 370 |
| HI | $108,200 | $98,407 | 120 |
| ME | $100,430 | $103,483 | 260 |
| GA | $97,770 | $101,534 | 40 |
| MS | $97,060 | $111,624 | 70 |
| WI | $78,850 | $83,798 | 80 |
| MI | $76,210 | $79,206 | Not published by BLS |

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 8,400 in the 2025–2035 base year to 8,900 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 600 jobs, or +6.7%. Faster than average: 6.7% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 500 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 52.6% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 15.8% |
| Some College Courses | 10.5% |
| First Professional Degree | 10.5% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 5.3% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 5.3% |

## What the work involves

- Calculate wave, current and wind loads on marine structures
- Design offshore foundations, moorings and subsea systems
- Run hydrodynamic and structural simulations
- Test scale models in wave tanks and flumes
- Design coastal protection such as breakwaters and seawalls
- Develop underwater vehicles and ocean instruments
- Oversee installation and inspection of offshore equipment

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Science — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 5.82 |
| I — Investigative | 5.71 |
| C — Conventional | 4.46 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.26 |
| A — Artistic | 2.62 |
| S — Social | 1.27 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 88.7 |
| ISTP | 86.3 |
| INTJ | 86.0 |
| INTP | 70.0 |
| ESTJ | 65.5 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISTP, INTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Marine Engineer and Naval Architect](https://nuecareer.com/careers/marine-engineer-and-naval-architect) — median $112,230
- [Ship Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ship-engineer) — median $109,530
- [Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aerospace-engineering-and-operations-technologist-and-technician) — median $82,890
- [Aerospace Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aerospace-engineer) — median $134,960
- [Mechanical Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechanical-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $74,510
- [Mechanical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechanical-engineer) — median $104,110
- [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) — median $102,440
- [Civil Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $64,950
- [Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronic-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $78,190
- [Civil Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineer) — median $100,840

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

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