--- title: "Validation Engineer" description: "Design or plan protocols for equipment or processes to produce products meeting internal and external purity, safety, and quality requirements." canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/validation-engineer" last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z" --- # Validation Engineer **Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-2112 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-2112.02 Design or plan protocols for equipment or processes to produce products meeting internal and external purity, safety, and quality requirements. Also advertised as: Corporate Quality Engineer; Product Quality Engineer; Quality Assurance Engineer; Quality Engineer; Quality Management Systems Engineer; Reliability Engineer; Supplier Quality Engineer; Validation Specialist. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $102,440 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $49.25/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $74,370 to $159,860, with the middle half between $83,600 and $129,250 - **Total US employment:** 365,740 - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's - **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +11.0% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034) - **Annual job openings:** 25,200 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** 20/100 — 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 365,740 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $74,370 | | 25th | $83,600 | | 50th (median) | $102,440 | | 75th | $129,250 | | 90th | $159,860 | | Mean (average) | $109,900 | ### 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AK | $156,510 | $152,903 | 220 | | WA | $129,050 | $120,593 | 6,130 | | OR | $128,290 | $124,118 | 5,810 | | NM | $128,090 | $138,908 | 1,140 | | CA | $124,600 | $112,536 | 32,680 | | HI | $123,800 | $112,596 | 50 | | LA | $122,920 | $139,354 | 1,710 | | WY | $122,070 | $131,696 | 240 | | DE | $120,190 | $120,421 | 820 | | MD | $119,930 | $114,264 | 3,900 | | CO | $109,750 | $106,500 | 5,200 | | MA | $109,420 | $103,464 | 11,470 | | RI | $109,350 | $106,912 | 990 | | WV | $108,360 | $121,077 | 850 | | AZ | $108,280 | $107,552 | 7,520 | 37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/validation-engineer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/validation-engineer. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 351,100 in the 2024–2034 base year to 389,600 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 38,500 jobs, or +11.0%. Much faster than average: 11.0% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 25,200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034. ## 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 | 90.0% | | Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 5.0% | | Master's Degree | 5.0% | ## What the work involves - Study product characteristics or customer requirements to determine validation objectives and standards. - Analyze validation test data to determine whether systems or processes have met validation criteria or to identify root causes of production problems. - Develop validation master plans, process flow diagrams, test cases, or standard operating procedures. - Prepare detailed reports or design statements, based on results of validation and qualification tests or reviews of procedures and protocols. - Conduct validation or qualification tests of new or existing processes, equipment, or software in accordance with internal protocols or external standards. - Prepare, maintain, or review validation and compliance documentation, such as engineering change notices, schematics, or protocols. - Recommend resolution of identified deviations from established product or process standards. - Design validation study features, such as sampling, testing, or analytical methodologies. ## Skills and knowledge ### Essential skills - Reading Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Science — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Active Learning — importance 3.3 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 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Operations Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Evaluation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Operations Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Knowledge areas - Engineering and Technology — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Production and Processing — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - English Language — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Mathematics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Design — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Abilities - Written Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Written Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Oral 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 - 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 Investigative (I), Conventional (C), Realistic (R). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | I — Investigative | 5.56 | | C — Conventional | 5.07 | | R — Realistic | 4.85 | | E — Enterprising | 2.02 | | A — Artistic | 1.48 | | S — Social | 1.43 | ### 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 | 92.1 | | INTJ | 82.7 | | ISTP | 81.5 | | ESTJ | 68.9 | | ISFJ | 66.8 | Best-fitting types: ISTJ. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) — median $102,440 - [Quality Control Systems Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/quality-control-systems-manager) — median $126,060 - [QA Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/qa-analyst) — median $104,300 - [Manufacturing Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/manufacturing-engineer) — median $102,440 - [Mechanical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechanical-engineer) — median $104,110 - [Electronics Engineer, Except Computer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electronics-engineer) — median $130,220 - [Automotive Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-engineer) — median $104,110 - [Mechatronics Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechatronics-engineer) — median $122,930 - [Electrical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-engineer) — median $120,630 - [Human Factors Engineer and Ergonomist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-factors-engineer-and-ergonomist) — median $102,440 ## Sources - **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 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, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/ - **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/ - **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 30.3 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 JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/validation-engineer