How To Become A Combustion Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a combustion engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Mansooreh Mollaghasemi Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a combustion engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $42.05 an hour? That's $87,464 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 6,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a combustion engineer?

Mansooreh Mollaghasemi Ph.D.

Graduate Program Director and Associate Professor, Website

Build skills in high demand areas such as data analytics, supply chain management, and automation. Certification such as Project Management Professional (PMP) can make a candidate more attractive and justify a higher starting salary. Internships can also provide valuable industry experience and can often lead to higher starting salaries.

ScoreCombustion EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.8

Avg. Salary $87,464

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 12.75%

Black or African American 3.34%

Hispanic or Latino 9.04%

Unknown 4.58%

White 70.18%

Gender

female 11.11%

male 88.89%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a combustion engineer

Explore combustion engineer education requirements

Most common combustion engineer degrees

Bachelor's

68.1 %

Master's

21.7 %

Associate

7.2 %

Start to develop specific combustion engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Heat Transfer	32.72%
CAD	12.77%
Computational Fluid Dynamics	12.54%
Project Budget	7.89%
PLC	7.81%

Complete relevant combustion engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New combustion engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a combustion engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real combustion engineer resumes.

Research combustion engineer duties and responsibilities

Drafted/Modele detailed components and packaging material contouring to product for shipping and storage using SolidWorks to accomplish jigs/fixture configurations.
Conduct geotechnical and environmental subsurface investigations.
Design ventilation and humidification system to provide comfort for the missile combat crews and control pollutant concentration inside the facilities.

Prepare your combustion engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your combustion engineer resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable combustion engineer resume templates

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