As you consider your engineering degree options, bioengineering may be at the top of your list. Understanding the potential outcomes of pursuing this degree will likely be key to your decision-making process.
A Guide to Bioengineering Career Opportunities
Read on for a comprehensive guide to potential careers for bioengineering degree holders:
Manufacturing Engineer
Average Salary: $65,071
Manufacturing engineers take responsibility for planning, designing, setting up, and monitoring manufacturing processes. They can be found working in various industries like oil, plastics, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals.
The role requires computer-savvy and decision-making abilities. Manufacturing engineers regularly gather information for analysis to aid in problem-solving. Engineers must be capable of working with a variety of different personalities as well as prioritizing the work to be accomplished each day.
Process Engineer
Average Salary: $73,817
Process Engineers examine production processes, looking for ways to eliminate waste. They also plan and design systems that integrate workers, machines, information, materials, and energy in improving business functions. Their work results in more efficient ways of creating a product or providing a service.
The daily work for a process engineer typically includes:
- Reviewing production schedules, process flows, and other information to understand the underlying methods and activities involved in services and manufacturing
- Implementing quality control measures that help resolve production problems and reduce costs
- Design control systems capable of coordinating production and activities to ensure products meet industrial quality standards
Quality Assurance Analyst
Average Salary: $60,000
Quality assurance analysts test software and computer applications, ensuring that defects do not make their way into the final version of a product. They make sure everything produced by a company meets their standards, make recommendations around ways to improve programs and provide corrections to programmers they supervise.
The ability to communicate effectively with peers, supervisors and those they manage is an essential skill for quality assurance analysts. They must also be adept at processing information and detailed when it comes to documenting their work.
Clinical Research Coordinator
Average Salary: $49,920
Clinical research coordinators supervise scientists like chemists, biologists, and physicists. They oversee work related to research and development and oversee testing, quality control, and production processes.
The role requires frequent interactions with high-level executives to build out goals and strategies, followed by congruent management of developers and researchers. Clinic research coordinators also check the methodology and accuracy of research results produced by their staff.
Validation Engineer
Average Salary: $73,904
Validation engineers test systems used for development and manufacturing of products like automobiles or pharmaceuticals. They may also be called upon to document and report on engineering tests.
The role also calls for the evaluation of information in determining how well people and processes fall into compliance with established standards. They must be capable of communicating clearly with supervisors and peers, as well as able to efficiently analyze data and information while identifying objects, actions, and events associated with various activities.
Product Development Scientist
Average Salary: $57,328
Product development scientists conduct research aimed at finding ways to improve the overall health of humans. They make frequent use of investigative trials like clinical trials to reach findings.
Product development scientists design and administer studies investigating human disease to find new treatment and prevention methods. They also prepare and study medical samples and related data in investigating the causes of various illnesses, toxins, pathogens, and chronic diseases.
These professionals may standardize the potency of drugs in ways that make manufacturing them on a large-scale basis possible, and may also be responsible for:
- Creating and testing medical devices
- Developing partnerships with health departments, physicians, and industry personnel to develop programs aimed at improving health outcomes
- Making sure that procedures get followed to ensure safety and avoid contamination
Pursuing this career usually requires further education, like obtaining a Ph.D. in a biological or related life science.
Staff Pharmacist
Average Salary: $106,174
Pharmacists are responsible for dispensing prescription medications. They also provide their expertise in advising patients on the safest methods of taking their medication. Some pharmacists provide health and wellness screenings, administer immunizations, and give advice on living a healthier lifestyle.
Other common duties for pharmacists include:
- Filling out forms for submission to insurance companies
- Frequent interaction with computers
- Overseeing pharmacy technicians and interns
- Record-keeping and other administrative tasks
- Educating health practitioners on how to properly provide medication therapies to patients
Biomedical Equipment Technician
Average Salary: $46,340
Biomedical equipment technicians install, repair, and maintain equipment for patient care. They also inspect equipment, materials or structures used in a facility. Other duties often performed by biomedical equipment technicians include:
- Testing and calibrating parts
- Performing preventive service and maintenance
- Going over technical manuals and attend regular training sessions
- Demonstrating the use and operation of medical equipment
Research Engineer
Average Salary: $82,135
Research engineers design and oversee the manufacturing of products like new batteries or medical devices. They design machines like electrical generators and gas turbines that are capable of producing power. They also design machines for use inside buildings as well as material handling systems like conveyor systems.
The role requires the ability to integrate sensors, machinery, and controllers.
Research engineers may also be called on to:
- Analyze problems in mechanical and thermal devices
- Build and test prototypes of their designs
- Go over test results and make needed changes to a system or design
- Oversee the manufacturing process for various devices
Systems Analyst
Average Salary: $63,336
System analysts study the computer systems and procedures for an organization. They also design information system solutions that work to improve an organization’s efficiency and effectiveness.
This role requires an understanding of the needs and limitations of both business and information technology, and the ability to bring them both together.
Systems analysts also:
- Research new technology and determine its usefulness to an organization
- Come up with ways to add new functionality to an existing computer system
- Train end users on using a system
- Write instruction manuals
- Design and configure the hardware and software for a new system
Project Engineer
Average Salary: $63,750
Project engineers can be found in public and private sectors, working on projects like roads, buildings, tunnels, airports, dams, and water supply systems. The role calls for a lot of decision making and problem-solving, with communication skills essential when providing information to peers, supervisors, and those they oversee.
Project engineers are often called on to:
- Review long-range plans, maps, survey reports, and other data when planning projects
- Compiling and submitting permit applications to agencies at all levels that verify their project complies with regulations
- Estimate the costs associated with materials, equipment, and labor for a project to determine if it is economically feasible
Biomedical Engineer
Average Salary: $60,609
Biomedical engineers design devices like artificial internal organs. They also create replacements for body parts, along with machines used for diagnosing medical problems. Biomedical engineers may also be charged with training others on the proper use and operation of medical equipment.
Some biomedical engineers use their skills to develop new drug therapies or build models that help them understand the signals transmitted from organs like the brain or heart. They may also be involved in more technical roles, including building software used for running complex instruments like 3-D x-ray machines.