Aerospace Engineers

Mixed — a routine tier and a judgment tier. Parametric CAD updates, meshing, CFD/FEA run setup, load-case sweeps, mass-properties bookkeeping and DO-178C/ARP4754 traceability matrices are already being generated or auto-populated by tools, while anomaly resolution during integration, wind-tunnel and flight-test campaigns, and structural test correlation still require an engineer physically reasoning against unexpected data — that split of roughly two-thirds compressible desk output to one-third stubborn empirical work lands it at 11, not in the resistant band.

Some physical or field component. A 7 reflects that the job is fundamentally screen-based — most weeks never leave the desk — but includes recurring hangar, cleanroom, static-test-rig and tunnel time, walking hardware with technicians during first-article inspection or chasing a fastener interference on the assembly floor, which is more physical presence than a systems analyst and far less than the A&P mechanic doing the actual torqueing.

Certification preferred, not legally required. An 8 is set by the industrial exemption: Boeing, Lockheed and SpaceX engineers overwhelmingly hold no PE and their names never appear on a stamped drawing, with liability sitting on the company's type certificate — the points come only from the minority holding FAA DER, ODA unit member, or Authorized Representative status where a signed 8110-3 is personally attributable.

Some relationship component. At 7 the deliverable is a drawing package, ICD or stress report that survives review on its technical merit regardless of author, but sustained credibility with the FAA ACO, a customer's chief engineer, or a program's Configuration Control Board is what gets a deviation or waiver accepted quickly — relationship as lubricant, not as product.

Exists to be accountable for ambiguous calls. 15 is earned by calls with no procedural answer: signing off a fatigue life extension on a spar, accepting a nonconformance as use-as-is, judging whether a failed acceptance vibration test invalidates the unit, or being the engineer who says the margin is adequate to fly — decisions where the failure mode is fatalities and the record of that judgment is read out in an NTSB or mishap board.