Career Explorer Transport and logistics
Human edge, growing
Pump operators, except wellhead pumpers
Tend, control, or operate power-driven, stationary, or portable pumps and manifold systems to transfer gases, oil, other liquids, slurries, or powdered materials to and from various vessels and processes.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 79% 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 +4.3% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on ethical judgement and physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work, and US employers are expected to hire more people into it than average.
- Median pay (2025)
- $61,770
- Job growth to 2035
- +4.3%
- Openings a year
- 1,000
- People doing it (2025)
- 9,800
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
- Connect components or supply lines to equipment or tools
- Plan work activities
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Operate pumping systems or equipment
- Monitor equipment operation
- Notify others of emergencies or problems
What the work looks like
- Monitor gauges and flowmeters and inspect equipment to ensure that tank levels, temperatures, chemical amounts, and pressures are at specified levels, reporting abnormalities as necessary.
- Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, stocks used, gauging results, and operating times.
- Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of interconnections and capacities of pipelines, valve manifolds, pumps, and tankage.
- Turn valves and start pumps to start or regulate flows of substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials.
- Communicate with other workers, using signals, radios, or telephones, to start and stop flows of materials or substances.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Automotive and watercraft service attendantsHuman edge, growing, Index 92, +3.8%
- Transportation workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 83, +4.0%
- Rail transportation workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 80, +4.4%
- Industrial truck and tractor operatorsHuman edge, steady, Index 82, +1.5%
Also known as: Outside Operator, Pipeline Operator, Pumper, Tank Farm Operator, Boom Pump Operator, Chemical Pumper, Day Light Relief Operator, Pipeline Dispatch Operator.
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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.