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

What is a wind tunnel engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a wind tunnel engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $44.29 an hour? That's $92,133 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 3,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreWind Tunnel EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.2

Avg. Salary $92,133

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.4

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.30%

Asian 12.08%

Black or African American 3.56%

Hispanic or Latino 7.57%

Unknown 4.18%

White 72.31%

Gender

female 4.76%

male 95.24%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a wind tunnel engineer

Explore wind tunnel engineer education requirements

Most common wind tunnel engineer degrees

Bachelor's

71.4 %

Master's

16.7 %

Associate

7.1 %

Start to develop specific wind tunnel engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Analysis	42.22%
LabVIEW	29.07%
Engineering Support	8.86%
Acquisition Systems	8.07%
CFD	5.99%

Complete relevant wind tunnel engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New wind tunnel 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 wind tunnel engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real wind tunnel engineer resumes.

Research wind tunnel engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage the fuel supply and aircraft electrical distribution system on board ship, including radar tank gauging and filtration systems.
Investigate ICD requirement on payload fairing venting to ensure the structure integrity of the spacecraft and payload fairing.
Position also include engineering liaison to resolve technical and mechanical installation issues and vendor and FAA DER coordination for documentation issues.
Remove insulation, fiberglass, calcium and asbestos.

Apply for wind tunnel engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a wind tunnel engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do wind tunnel engineers rate their job?

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Wind tunnel engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2023

Pros

I’ve always wanted to have a job related to engineering and used Math and Science. I think it is fascinating!!

Cons

Very hard job. Will definitely get home late and you have to be mega smart.