Employers

Approximately 21,200 biomedical engineers are employed in the United States. Many work on remote health technology projects as part of their duties, while some specialize in this growing subdiscipline. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that 17 percent of biomedical engineers work in medical equipment and supplies manufacturing, and 14 percent are employed by scientific research and development firms. Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing companies employ 9 percent of biomedical engineers. Other remote health care engineers work at hospitals and medical institutions. Biomedical engineers can also work in pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing, for government regulatory agencies, and as biomedical engineering educators at colleges and universities.

Starting Out

Some remote health care engineers enter the field after first working as biomedical engineering technicians. This pathway requires that technicians earn at least a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering or a related field.

Many remote health care engineers landed their first jobs as a results of contacts they made during internships or cooperative educational opportunities. Others learned about job openings via career fairs and networking events held by their college’s career services office or professional associations. The Biomedical Engineering Society offers job listings at its Web site, https://jobboard.bmes.org/jobseekers. Job openings can also be identified by visiting the Web sites of companies that employ remote health care engineers.

A remote health care engineer who earns a graduate degree in biomedical engineering (or another engineering discipline) or in science management will be eligible for managerial positions. Some engineers open their own design or consulting firms. Others decide to pass their knowledge along to younger generations by becoming college professors. Some biomedical engineers earn law degrees and work as patent lawyers.

Read publications such as Annals of Biomedical Engineering (https://www.bmes.org/journals), Telehealth and Medicine Today (https://telehealthandmedicinetoday.com), and IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology (https://www.embs.org/publications) to learn more about the field.

Visit the following Web sites for job listings:

• https://jobboard.bmes.org/jobs
• https://jobs.sciencecareers.org
• https://embs-jobs.careerwebsite.com

Attend engineering summer camps that are sponsored by colleges, engineering associations, and other organizations

Participate in engineering competitions to develop your skills and build your network.