OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as architecture and engineering or research and development in these fields.
This career appears to require experience.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($153K): Computer Engineering
Largest undergraduate program (21.0% of workers): Mechanical Engineering
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Architectural and engineering managers typically do the following:
- Make detailed plans for the development of new products and designs
- Determine staff, training, and equipment needs
- Propose budgets for projects and programs
- Hire and supervise staff
- Lead research and development projects to produce new products, processes, or designs
- Check the technical accuracy of their staff’s work
- Ensure the soundness of methods their staff uses
- Coordinate work with other staff and managers
Architectural and engineering managers use their knowledge of architecture or engineering to oversee a variety of activities. They may direct and coordinate building activities at construction sites or activities related to production, operations, quality assurance, testing, or maintenance at manufacturing sites.
Architectural and engineering managers are responsible for developing the overall concept of a new product or for solving the technical problems that prevent the completion of a project. To accomplish this, they must determine technical goals and produce detailed plans.
Architectural and engineering managers spend a great deal of time coordinating the activities of their staff with the activities of other staff or organizations. They often confer with other managers, including those in finance, production, and marketing, as well as with contractors and equipment and materials suppliers.
In addition, architectural and engineering managers must know how to prepare budgets, hire staff, and supervise employees. They propose budgets for projects and programs and determine staff, training, and equipment needs. These managers must also hire people and assign them specific parts of each project to carry out. Architectural and engineering managers supervise the work of their employees, set schedules, and create administrative procedures.
Salary
Median salary: $149,530 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $119,310 and $185,270.
Note: The salaries for architectural and engineering managers have been top-coded by the BLS; in 2019, all annual salaries larger than # are recorded as #.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for architectural and engineering managers
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Architectural and Engineering Managers
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of architectural and engineering managers who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Time Pressure (61%)
- Responsible for Others' Health (53%)
- High Conflict Frequency (36%)
- Hazardous Conditions (31%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Architectural and Engineering Managers? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Analytical skills
Architectural and engineering managers must evaluate information carefully and solve complex problems.
Communication skills
Architectural and engineering managers oversee staff and work together with other levels of management. They must effectively communicate orders and lead teams to meet goals.
Detail oriented
Architectural and engineering managers must pay attention to detail. Their duties require an understanding of complex systems since a minor error can cause major problems.
Math skills
Architectural and engineering managers use calculus and other advanced mathematics to develop new products and processes.
Organizational skills
Architectural and engineering managers keep track of many workers, schedules, and budgets simultaneously.
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by architectural and engineering managers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), architectural and engineering managers typically hold a bachelor's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as architectural and engineering managers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for architectural and engineering managers
Most architectural and engineering managers have at least a bachelor’s degree in an engineering specialty or a master’s degree in architecture.
Some also obtain business management skills by completing a master’s degree in engineering management (MEM or MsEM) or technology management (MSTM) or a master’s degree in business administration (MBA). Some workers earn their master’s degree before advancing to management positions, and others earn it while they work as a manager. Typically, those who prefer to manage in technical areas pursue an MsEM or MSTM and those interested in more general management skills earn an MBA.
Engineering management programs usually include classes in accounting, engineering economics, financial management, industrial and human resources management, and quality control.
Technology management programs typically provide instruction in production and operations management, project management, computer applications, quality control, safety and health issues, statistics, and general management principles.
Education level of Architectural and Engineering Managers
About 85% of architectural and engineering managers have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by architectural and engineering managers
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Top college degrees
Here are the top college degrees held by the 83% of people in this job who have at least a bachelor's degree. Some of degrees may link to multiple programs due to the way Census classifies college majors. Click on a program to learn more about career opportunities for people who major in that field.
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College majors held by architectural and engineering managers
This table shows the college majors held by people working as architectural and engineering managers. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Major
Select any title to learn more about that degree
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
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Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
Does the bachelor's-only salary rise or fall with this major?
Salary for bachelor's-only
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Education for Career and Major
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional
Doctorate
Workers with this career/major
Percentage in this career with this major
Not so much?
The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as architectural and engineering managers, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
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Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Architectural and Engineering Managers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most architectural and engineering managers? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as architectural and engineering managers. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where architectural and engineering managers earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for architectural and engineering managers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for architectural and engineering managers.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which architectural and engineering managers earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Architectural and Engineering Managers (ACS)
Employment
1% of Architectural and engineering managers are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 1% part-time workers, this occupation has a lower percentage of part-time workers than 99% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of architectural and engineering managers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Architectural and engineering managers and gender
With 10% women, this occupation has a lower percentage of women than 80% of careers.
Gender of Architectural and engineering managers
Men (90%)
Women (10%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for architectural and engineering managers, with the
median salary for men 6%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Architectural and engineering managers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Architectural and engineering managers.
Race/origin of architectural and engineering managers
White (81% )
Asian (12% )
Black (3% )
Multiracial (2% )
Other (1% )
Hispanic (0% )
American Indian (0% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
