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Marine Engineers and Naval Architects

Architecture and Engineering · SOC 17-2121

3.6% AI Exposure — Medium
$112,230
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
800
Proj. Annual Openings
8,250
Employment (OEWS 2025)
-5.2%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
96/100
AI Resiliency Score

AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.

Decision card

Career Evidence Passport

SOC 17-2121 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
3.6%
Medium · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
35/100
Low friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$112,230
H-1B offered wage $101,982; LCAs are filings.
Projected openings
800
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +5.8%.
Observed/proxy demand
61
FY2025 certified LCAs; 1,031 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Reading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingActive ListeningSpeakingJudgment and Decision Making
  • H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
  • Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
  • Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
  • This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.

Best transitions from here

Explore all pathways

Lower AI-exposure roles that reuse your skills, ranked by a transition score (skills that transfer, safety gain, pay and retraining effort).

AI Exposure Analysis

AI Exposure3.6%
AI Resiliency96/100
Exposure BandMedium
Sector Avg. Exposure4.5%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

40.8%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic3.6%
AI capability · OpenAI42.1%
AI ability · AIOE76.6%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne1%

AI could do ~42.1% of this role but only ~3.6% is currently done with AI — a large capability-vs-adoption gap.

Top Skills

1.Reading Comprehension
2.Critical Thinking
3.Active Listening
4.Speaking
5.Judgment and Decision Making

H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand

View full H-1B trends →

Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications naming this occupation, FY2016–FY2025. A descriptive high-skill labor-demand signal — employer filings, not visa approvals or individual outcomes. Note: one LCA can cover multiple worker positions.

761
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
61
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$101,982
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#202 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
H-1B filing volume, FY2016–FY2025

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

Design, develop, and evaluate the operation of marine vessels, ship machinery, and related equipment, such as power supply and propulsion systems.

Common titles: Marine Architect, Marine Design Engineer, Marine Engineer, Marine Engineering Consultant, Marine Structural Designer, Marine Surveyor

Representative Tasks

  • Perform monitoring activities to ensure that ships comply with international regulations and standards for life-saving equipment and pollution preventatives.
  • Design complete hull and superstructure according to specifications and test data, in conformity with standards of safety, efficiency, and economy.
  • Conduct analyses of ships, such as stability, structural, weight, and vibration analyses.
  • Study design proposals and specifications to establish basic characteristics of craft, such as size, weight, speed, propulsion, displacement, and draft.
  • Maintain contact with, and formulate reports for, contractors and clients to ensure completion of work at minimum cost.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Monitor processes for compliance with standards.
  • Design structures or facilities.
  • Evaluate characteristics of equipment or systems.
  • Review technical documents to plan work.
  • Prepare technical reports for internal use.

Tools & Technologies

Autodesk AutoCAD · hotMicrosoft Excel · hotDassault Systemes SolidWorks · hotMicrosoft Project · hotThe MathWorks MATLAB · hotZoom · hotAnsys FluentIBM Lotus 1-2-3MAYA NastranOracle Primavera Systems

Employment Projections & AI Exposure

15
Occupations Shown
4.5%
Avg AI Exposure
2
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.

Employment & Wage Trend

BLS OEWS, 2019–2025


Occupation Employment & Wage TrendMulti-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 17-2121: 2019 — employment: 11,360, median wage: $92,400; 2020 — employment: 8,700, median wage: $95,440; 2021 — employment: 7,380, median wage: $93,370; 2022 — employment: 7,450, median wage: $96,910; 2023 — employment: 9,960, median wage: $100,270; 2025 — employment: 8,250, median wage: $112,230.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure3.6%4.5%
OutlookBright ↗15% Bright
Median Salary$112,230N/A
AI Resiliency96/100N/A