Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Power distributors and dispatchers
Coordinate, regulate, or distribute electricity or steam.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 38% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is moderate (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by +1.2% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on ethical judgement.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $106,730
- Job growth to 2035
- +1.2%
- Openings a year
- 700
- People doing it (2025)
- 8,600
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then long on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Plan work activities
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
- Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Operate energy production or distribution equipment
- Maintain operational records
- Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures
What the work looks like
- Coordinate with engineers, planners, field personnel, or other utility workers to provide information such as clearances, switching orders, or distribution process changes.
- Respond to emergencies, such as transformer or transmission line failures, and route current around affected areas.
- Control, monitor, or operate equipment that regulates or distributes electricity or steam, using data obtained from instruments or computers.
- Direct personnel engaged in controlling or operating distribution equipment or machinery, such as instructing control room operators to start boilers or generators.
- Distribute or regulate the flow of power between entities, such as generating stations, substations, distribution lines, or users, keeping track of the status of circuits or connections.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as improved equipment monitoring systems reduce the need to manually check equipment, flows, and systems.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Railroad conductors and yardmastersHuman edge, steady, Index 46, +0.9%
- Stationary engineers and boiler operatorsHuman edge, steady, Index 77, +3.1%
- Transportation inspectorsHuman edge, steady, Index 57, +2.2%
- Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operatorsHuman edge, steady, Index 45, -5.7%
Also known as: Power System Dispatcher, Power System Operator, Systems Operator, Transmission System Operator (TSO), Control Area Operator, Control Operator, Dispatcher, Distribution System Dispatcher (DSD).
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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.