Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Validation Engineers
Occupation · SOC 17-2112.02
Design or plan protocols for equipment or processes to produce products meeting internal and external purity, safety, and quality requirements.
Also called: Quality Assurance Engineer · Quality Engineer · Quality Management Systems Engineer · Supplier Quality Engineer · Corporate Quality Engineer · Product Quality Engineer · Reliability Engineer · Validation Specialist · Cloud Site Reliability Engineer · Electrical Reliability Engineer · Engineer · Equipment Engineer
Job family: Architecture and Engineering Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-17-2112-02/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- Growing fast employment outlook (+11.0% by 2034)
- 25,200 openings/yr
- High AI exposure
- Median pay $101,140/yr
- Can largely be done remotely (teleworkable)
- A reversal from 2013 — rated low automation risk then (18th), high AI task-overlap now (83rd)
83rd-percentile task overlap — yet about 25,200 openings a year (+11% projected, BLS) . What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
| Measure | Rank vs all occupations | Percentile | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) High | 80th | 1.1 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) High | 79th | 0.9 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) High | 81st | 0.3 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.5), with simple added tooling (β 0.7), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.9). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
Most of this job's tasks can be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman), which tends to track with higher digital and AI exposure.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.0 · 18th percentile among occupations · Low
How AI is actually used in this job
Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.
| Create, populate, or maintain databases for tracking validation activities, test results, or validated systems. | 1.9% | |
| Communicate with regulatory agencies regarding compliance documentation or validation results. | 0.2% |
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | Growing fast · +11.0% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 25,200 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 351,100 → 389,600 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Validation Engineers sits at the 68th percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure rose from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
37% mean task exposure (2025)
68th percentile of 427 placed occupations
+4 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Industrial and Production Engineers · 2141 | 37% | Minimal |
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Tasks
All 22 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Study product characteristics or customer requirements to determine validation objectives and standards. Core · importance 4.6
- Analyze validation test data to determine whether systems or processes have met validation criteria or to identify root causes of production problems. Core · importance 4.5
- Develop validation master plans, process flow diagrams, test cases, or standard operating procedures. Core · importance 4.4
- Prepare detailed reports or design statements, based on results of validation and qualification tests or reviews of procedures and protocols. Core · importance 4.3
- Maintain validation test equipment. Core · importance 4.2
- Conduct validation or qualification tests of new or existing processes, equipment, or software in accordance with internal protocols or external standards. Core · importance 4.2
- Communicate with regulatory agencies regarding compliance documentation or validation results. Core · importance 4.1
- Prepare, maintain, or review validation and compliance documentation, such as engineering change notices, schematics, or protocols. Core · importance 4.1
- Recommend resolution of identified deviations from established product or process standards. Core · importance 4.0
- Design validation study features, such as sampling, testing, or analytical methodologies. Core · importance 3.9
- Prepare validation or performance qualification protocols for new or modified manufacturing processes, systems, or equipment for production of pharmaceuticals, electronics, or other products. Core · importance 3.8
- Create, populate, or maintain databases for tracking validation activities, test results, or validated systems. Core · importance 3.8
- Resolve testing problems by modifying testing methods or revising test objectives and standards. Core · importance 3.8
- Conduct audits of validation or performance qualification processes to ensure compliance with internal or regulatory requirements. Core · importance 3.7
- Draw samples of raw materials, intermediate products, or finished products for validation testing. Core · importance 3.6
- Direct validation activities, such as protocol creation or testing. Core · importance 3.5
- Coordinate the implementation or scheduling of validation testing with affected departments and personnel. Core · importance 3.5
- Participate in internal or external training programs to maintain knowledge of validation principles, industry trends, or novel technologies. Core · importance 3.5
- Validate or characterize sustainable or environmentally friendly products, using electronic testing platforms. Core · importance 3.4
- Assist in training equipment operators or other staff on validation protocols and standard operating procedures. Core · importance 3.4
- Devise automated lab validation test stations or other test fixtures or equipment. Supplemental · importance 2.8
- Plan or conduct validation testing of alternative energy products, such as synthetic jet fuels or energy storage systems, such as fuel cells. Supplemental
Work activities
- Conduct validation tests of equipment or processes.
- Devise research or testing protocols.
- Prepare detailed work plans.
- Analyze test or validation data.
- Inspect operational processes.
- Operate computer systems.
- Direct quality control activities.
- Document technical design details.
- Resolve operational performance problems.
- Train personnel on proper operational procedures.
- Communicate technical information to suppliers, contractors, or regulatory agencies.
- Maintain test equipment.
- Update technical knowledge.
- Maintain operational records or records systems.
- Review technical documents to plan work.
- Inspect finished products to locate flaws.
- Recommend technical design or process changes to improve efficiency, quality, or performance.
- Collect samples of raw materials or finished products.
- Design electronic or computer equipment or instrumentation.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Knowledge
Essential skills
| Reading Comprehension | 4.1 | |
| Writing | 4.0 | |
| Speaking | 4.0 | |
| Critical Thinking | 4.0 | |
| Active Listening | 3.9 | |
| Monitoring | 3.9 | |
| Science | 3.8 | |
| Active Learning | 3.3 | |
| Mathematics | 3.1 |
Abilities
| Written Comprehension | 4.1 | |
| Written Expression | 4.1 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 4.1 | |
| Oral Comprehension | 4.0 | |
| Oral Expression | 4.0 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 4.0 | |
| Inductive Reasoning | 4.0 | |
| Near Vision | 3.9 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.8 | |
| Category Flexibility | 3.8 | |
| Speech Clarity | 3.8 | |
| Speech Recognition | 3.6 | |
| Mathematical Reasoning | 3.3 | |
| Fluency of Ideas | 3.1 | |
| Number Facility | 3.1 |
Transferable skills
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.8 | |
| Social Perceptiveness | 3.1 | |
| Operations Monitoring | 3.1 | |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.1 | |
| Systems Analysis | 3.1 | |
| Systems Evaluation | 3.1 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Showing the top 40 of 79.
Tools & technology
Showing the top 40 of 112.
Work context
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 4 — Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
- Typical entry-level education
- Bachelor's degree · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
- Preparation level
- SVP (7.0 to < 8.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Engineering , Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| Bachelor's Degree | 90.0% | |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 5.0% | |
| Master's Degree | 5.0% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Work styles
| Dependability | 6.0 | |
| Attention to Detail | 5.0 | |
| Integrity | 4.0 | |
| Cautiousness | 3.0 | |
| Intellectual Curiosity | 2.2 |
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Investigative | 5.6 | |
| Conventional | 5.1 | |
| Realistic | 4.8 |
Interest areas
| Engineering | 5.2 | |
| Mathematics/Statistics | 3.7 | |
| Mechanics/Electronics | 3.4 | |
| Information Technology | 2.9 | |
| Physical Science | 2.8 | |
| Life Science | 2.5 | |
| Management/Administration | 2.3 | |
| Office Work | 2.1 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $70,000 |
| 25th percentile | $81,910 |
| Median (50th) | $101,140 |
| 75th percentile | $127,480 |
| 90th percentile | $157,140 |
| People employed | 350,230 |
Wages and employment are reported by BLS for the broader occupation group this specialty belongs to (SOC 17-2112), not for the specialty alone.
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing · Sector | 237,030 | $100,060 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 50,290 | $106,420 |
| Engineering Services · National industry | 20,150 | $101,930 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector | 15,770 | $115,210 |
| Wholesale Trade · Sector | 15,570 | $101,700 |
| Transportation and Warehousing · Sector | 7,860 | $97,440 |
| Testing Laboratories and Services · National industry | 4,630 | $102,360 |
| Machine Shops · National industry | 3,050 | $83,820 |
| Information · Sector | 2,170 | $128,220 |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction · Sector | 2,110 | $148,850 |
| Construction · Sector | 2,000 | $96,320 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | 1,380 | $92,320 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Testing Laboratories and Services · National industry | 11.96× | 4,630 |
| Manufacturing · Sector | 8.18× | 237,030 |
| Engineering Services · National industry | 7.67× | 20,150 |
| Machine Shops · National industry | 5.17× | 3,050 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector | 2.47× | 15,770 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 2.06× | 50,290 |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction · Sector | 1.62× | 2,110 |
| Nuclear Electric Power Generation · National industry | 1.42× | 120 |
Related occupations
Part of the Advanced Manufacturing career cluster.
- Industrial Engineers · 17-2112.00 Compare →
- Quality Control Systems Managers · 11-3051.01 Compare →
- Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers · 15-1253.00 Compare →
- Manufacturing Engineers · 17-2112.03 Compare →
- Mechanical Engineers · 17-2141.00 Compare →
- Electronics Engineers, Except Computer · 17-2072.00 Compare →
- Automotive Engineers · 17-2141.02 Compare →
- Mechatronics Engineers · 17-2199.05 Compare →
- Electrical Engineers · 17-2071.00 Compare →
- Human Factors Engineers and Ergonomists · 17-2112.01 Compare →
- Calibration Technologists and Technicians · 17-3028.00 Compare →
- Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians · 17-3026.00 Compare →
Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Validation Engineers — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- Bachelor's degree · typical entry level
- Job zone 4 — Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Engineering · field of study
- Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 68th percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Validation Engineers show 83rd-percentile AI task overlap — and about 25,200 annual U.S. openings
- Validation Engineers rank in the 83rd percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
- The occupation is projected to see about 25,200 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+11%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $101,140, across about 350,230 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
Copy the whole kit
Validation Engineers show 83rd-percentile AI task overlap — and about 25,200 annual U.S. openings • Validation Engineers rank in the 83rd percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE) • The occupation is projected to see about 25,200 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+11%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $101,140, across about 350,230 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) Source: Singulariki — "Validation Engineers". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-17-2112-02 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
Sources for this page
Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Validation Engineers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-17-2112-02
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Validation Engineers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-17-2112-02
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-17-2112-02,
title = {Validation Engineers},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-17-2112-02}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.