Four Reasons Boston Is a Major Hub for Engineering Careers
Greater Boston is one of the best places in the nation to take your engineering career to the next level.
Whether you’re just entering the workforce or are established in the industry, Boston offers outstanding engineering career opportunities.
Forbes rated Boston as one of the top 10 metro areas in the United States for engineering jobs. Business Insider included half a dozen Boston-area firms on its list of “dream companies” for engineering students. And the Engineering News-Record’s annual index of the top international design and engineering firms placed three Boston companies in the top 25 for 2019.
“There is an abundance of engineering job prospects in our region,” says Roselita Fragoudakis, a professor in Merrimack College’s engineering graduate degree programs. “Locus Robotics is right down the street. AECOM’s regional office is five miles away. MITRE is about 10 miles away—a number of my faculty colleagues have worked there. TRC’s global headquarters are just down the road in Lowell.”
And those are just the firms in Merrimack College’s immediate neighborhood. Within the broader Boston region, the engineering job market includes national and international heavyweights such as Amazon Robotics, CDM Smith, Teradyne, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, GEI Consultants and GZA GeoEnvironmental.
“It’s an easy transition for our students who are entering the engineering workforce,” Fragoudakis says. “Everything is so local that it’s very easy for employers to connect with our students, and vice versa.”
What Makes Boston’s Engineering Industry So Robust?
According to Forbes, nearly 50,000 engineers work in the Boston metro area, one of the largest concentrations of engineering jobs in the United States. A combination of factors attract engineering employers to the Boston region. Four of the most important are:
High engineering salaries.
A 2019 salary survey conducted by ZipRecruiter.com indicated that metro Boston has the nation’s second-highest engineering salaries, trailing only Seattle. Boston ranked third nationally in average salaries for mechanical engineers, and third for average civil engineer salaries.
Culture of innovation.
USA Today places Boston’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) sector among the 10 most dynamic in the nation. And the Global Startup Ecosystem Report ranked Boston as the world’s 5th-best city for tech investment, citing breakthrough companies in hot-button industries such as robotics, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology.
Diversity.
Boston’s engineering workforce ranks above national averages for percentage of women and percentage of foreign-born engineers. A Harvard Business Review study found that highly diverse tech companies grow more quickly and innovate more effectively than less diverse firms.
Global reach.
Several of the world’s largest engineering employers have their headquarters in greater Boston. In addition, dozens of international engineering leaders have regional or local offices in the area.
Boston Engineering Jobs Cover a Broad Spectrum
In addition to being large, Boston’s engineering job market offers a diverse range of opportunities. Engineering firms of every size do business here, from worldwide giants to local startups, and they cover every engineering career specialty, from mechanical to civil, environmental, electrical, industrial and geological.
Merrimack College’s graduate engineering programs maintain strong relationships throughout Boston’s engineering community. Many of the school’s engineering faculty are active in the industry, and local employers routinely look to Merrimack for interns and new employees.
Here’s a sampling of noteworthy Boston-area firms who have recruited engineering master’s degree students from Merrimack College:
- Watts Water Technologies: One of the world’s top manufacturers of plumbing, HVAC, drainage, and watershed management products.
- AECOM: A global leader in infrastructure engineering.
- MITRE: A unique not-for-profit corporation develops pioneering solutions in national defense, aviation, cybersecurity and other spheres.
- Raytheon: One of the world’s largest contractors in aerospace and defense.
- GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc.: An employee-owned consulting firm specializing in geotechnical, water, construction, and sustainability-related projects.
- Weston & Sampson: Interdisciplinary design, engineering, and environmental services firm.
- GEI Consultants: National consulting firm with an emphasis on energy, infrastructure, and industrial engineering.
“It’s an easy transition for our students who are entering the engineering workforce. Everything is so local that it’s very easy for employers to connect with our students, and vice versa.”
Contact Us
To talk to someone about our graduate engineering degrees, contact the Merrimack College Office of Graduate Admission.
