Validation Engineers: Career Profile
Design or plan protocols for equipment or processes to produce products meeting internal and external purity, safety, and quality requirements.
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The Daily Work of Validation Engineers Perform?
The core tasks performed by validation engineers include:
- Study product characteristics or customer requirements to determine validation objectives and standards.
- Analyze validation test data to determine whether systems or processes have met validation criteria or to identify root causes of production problems.
- Develop validation master plans, process flow diagrams, test cases, or standard operating procedures.
- Prepare detailed reports or design statements, based on results of validation and qualification tests or reviews of procedures and protocols.
- Maintain validation test equipment.
- Conduct validation or qualification tests of new or existing processes, equipment, or software in accordance with internal protocols or external standards.
- Communicate with regulatory agencies regarding compliance documentation or validation results.
- Prepare, maintain, or review validation and compliance documentation, such as engineering change notices, schematics, or protocols.
Skills and Knowledge
Effective validation engineers draw on a mix of skills and domain knowledge.
Most Important Skills
The competencies most central to this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:
Top Knowledge Areas
Other Validation Engineers Job Titles
This career also goes by job titles like:
- Cloud Site Reliability Engineer
- Corporate Quality Engineer
- Electrical Reliability Engineer
- Engineer
- Equipment Engineer
- Equipment Validation Engineer
- Equipment Validation Specialist
- Failure Analyst
Job Outlook
There are roughly 284,979 validation engineers working in the United States today. This occupation is expected to grow by +4.8% over the projection horizon.
How Much Do Validation Engineers Make?
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual median | $70,019 |
| Hourly median | $33.66 |
| 10th percentile | $40,822 |
| 25th percentile | $55,420 |
| 75th percentile | $84,617 |
| 90th percentile | $99,215 |
Wages vary widely based on experience, location, and industry.
Validation Engineers Salary by State
| State | Annual median salary |
|---|---|
| Alaska | $142,980 |
| Louisiana | $126,960 |
| Oregon | $124,560 |
| California | $123,070 |
| Wyoming | $122,540 |
| Washington | $119,670 |
| New Mexico | $119,390 |
| District of Columbia | $118,960 |
| Delaware | $118,670 |
| Idaho | $112,490 |
| Rhode Island | $110,470 |
| Arizona | $110,100 |
| Maryland | $109,560 |
| Massachusetts | $108,350 |
| Colorado | $106,980 |
| West Virginia | $104,610 |
| New Jersey | $103,880 |
| Texas | $103,430 |
| Florida | $103,340 |
| Montana | $103,210 |
| Vermont | $101,780 |
| New York | $101,770 |
| Minnesota | $101,600 |
| Connecticut | $101,020 |
| Utah | $100,710 |
| New Hampshire | $100,550 |
| Nevada | $100,170 |
| Illinois | $99,990 |
| Virginia | $99,990 |
| Iowa | $99,960 |
| Hawaii | $99,850 |
| Michigan | $99,680 |
| Ohio | $99,490 |
| Maine | $99,260 |
| Alabama | $99,120 |
| South Carolina | $98,830 |
| Georgia | $98,550 |
| Tennessee | $98,230 |
| North Carolina | $97,150 |
| Indiana | $97,080 |
| Kansas | $96,650 |
| Pennsylvania | $96,320 |
| Arkansas | $95,860 |
| Kentucky | $95,780 |
| Missouri | $95,610 |
| Oklahoma | $95,180 |
| Nebraska | $95,150 |
| Wisconsin | $95,090 |
| Mississippi | $93,110 |
| South Dakota | $89,450 |
| North Dakota | $84,610 |
| Puerto Rico | $80,120 |
Where Validation Engineers Earn the Most
Compensation for validation engineers vary by region. These regions lead on median pay:
| Region | Median annual wage | Share of U.S. jobs | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Far Western US | $122,119 | 11.3% | 0.76 |
| Rocky Mountains | $105,362 | 3.3% | 0.90 |
| New England | $105,126 | 5.8% | 1.28 |
| Southwest | $104,420 | 11.4% | 0.92 |
| Middle Atlantic | $101,437 | 10.2% | 0.71 |
| Southeast | $99,872 | 21.1% | 0.98 |
| Plains States | $99,145 | 9.4% | 1.88 |
| Great Lakes | $98,771 | 26.7% | 2.14 |
Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Validation Engineers
| Metro area | State | Median annual wage | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anchorage, AK | AK | $166,350 | 130 |
| Charleston, WV | WV | $141,900 | 150 |
| Vallejo, CA | CA | $140,500 | 230 |
| New Orleans-Metairie, LA | LA | $139,130 | 770 |
| Midland, TX | TX | $137,110 | 300 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | CA | $136,290 | 3,850 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | CA | $133,790 | 4,630 |
| Lexington Park, MD | MD | $132,020 | 170 |
Industry Breakdown
The largest employers of validation engineers are found across these industries:
| Industry | Employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 237,030 | $100,060 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 50,290 | $106,420 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 15,770 | $115,210 |
| Wholesale Trade | 15,570 | $101,700 |
| Transportation and Warehousing | 7,860 | $97,440 |
| Information | 2,170 | $128,220 |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction | 2,110 | $148,850 |
| Construction | 2,000 | $96,320 |
The table below shows some of the most common industries where those employed in this career field work.
Tech Stack
- Data base management system software: Amazon DynamoDB (hot technology)
- Data base user interface and query software: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 (hot technology)
- Cloud-based management software: Amazon Web Services AWS CloudFormation (hot technology)
- Data base user interface and query software: Amazon Web Services AWS software (hot technology)
- Expert system software: Ansible software (hot technology)
- Data base management system software: Apache Cassandra (hot technology)
- Development environment software: Apache Kafka (hot technology)
- Development environment software: Apache Maven (hot technology)
- File versioning software: Apache Subversion SVN (hot technology)
- Web platform development software: Apache Tomcat (hot technology)
- Content workflow software: Atlassian JIRA (hot technology)
- Operating system software: Bash (hot technology)
What the Workplace Is Like
The work environment for validation engineers tends to involve the following characteristics:
- Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams
- Importance of Being Exact or Accurate
- Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
- Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team
Education and Training
Entry-level validation engineers positions require a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry-level education. The role falls in Considerable Preparation Needed (Job Zone 4), indicating the level of preparation typically expected.
Other Careers to Consider
Similar Occupations
- Quality Control Systems Managers (Primary-Short)
- Software Developers (Supplemental)
- Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers (Primary-Short)
- Penetration Testers (Supplemental)
- Electrical Engineers (Primary-Long)
- Electronics Engineers, Except Computer (Primary-Long)
- Industrial Engineers (Primary-Short)
- Human Factors Engineers and Ergonomists (Primary-Long)
Where to Study
Students preparing for validation engineers often complete programs in:
Engineering
3 programs across 3 majors
Engineering Technologies and Engineering-Related Fields
2 programs across 1 majors
Sources
Statistics shown above are sourced from the following authoritative sources:
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
- BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
- O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.
SOC code: 17-2112.02 (Industrial Engineers).
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