Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers
Assemble, fit, fasten, and install parts of airplanes, space vehicles, or missiles, such as tails, wings, fuselage, bulkheads, stabilizers, landing gear, rigging and control equipment, or heating and ventilating systems.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 46% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by -5.6% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $65,380
- Job growth to 2035
- -5.6%
- Openings a year
- 3,100
- People doing it (2025)
- 34,400
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
- Set up equipment
- Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assemble products or work aids
- Build structures
- Position materials or components for assembly
What the work looks like
- Read blueprints, illustrations, or specifications to determine layouts, sequences of operations, or identities or relationships of parts.
- Inspect or test installed units, parts, systems, or assemblies for fit, alignment, performance, defects, or compliance with standards, using measuring instruments or test equipment.
- Set, align, adjust, or synchronize aircraft armament or rigging or control system components to established tolerances or requirements, using sighting devices and hand tools.
- Join structural assemblies, such as wings, tails, or fuselage.
- Assemble parts, fittings, or subassemblies on aircraft, using layout tools, hand tools, power tools, or fasteners, such as bolts, screws, rivets, or clamps.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as collaborative robotics increase efficiency, allowing more output to be produced with the same amount of labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- MachinistsHuman edge, steady, Index 52, +1.0%
- Layout workers, metal and plasticHuman edge, steady, Index 50, -3.4%
- Fishing and hunting workersHuman edge, steady, Index 73, -4.2%
- Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewersHuman edge, steady, Index 49, -8.8%
Also known as: Aircraft Assembler, Assembler, Sheet Metal Assembler and Riveter (SMAR), Sheet Metal Mechanic, Aircraft Line Assembler, Assembly Riveter, Assembly Technician (Assembly Tech), Sheet Metal Technician (Sheet Metal Tech).
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.