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Professionals · code 2151

Electrical engineers

Electrical engineers conduct research and advise on, design and direct the construction and operation of electrical systems, components, motors and equipment, and advise on and direct their functioning, maintenance and repair, or study and advise on technological aspects of electrical engineering materials, products and processes. Tasks include - (a) advising on and designing power stations and systems which generate, transmit and distribute electrical power; (b) supervising, controlling and monitoring the operation of electrical generation, transmission and distribution systems; (c) advising on and designing systems for electrical motors, electrical traction and other equipment, or electrical domestic appliances; (d) specifying electrical installation and application in industrial and other buildings and objects; (e) establishing control standards and procedures to monitor performance and safety of electrical generating and distribution systems, motors and equipment; (f) determining manufacturing methods for electrical systems, as well as maintenance and repair of existing electrical systems, motors and equipment. Examples of the occupations classified here - Electrical engineer - Electric power generation engineer - Electromechanical engineer Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Nuclear power generation engineer - 2149 - Electronics engineer - 2152 - Broadcast engineer - 2153 - Telecommunications engineers - 2153

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 253 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • electrical engineer

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

68.6
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 31.4 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 31.4 = 68.6

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

29.8
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, matched to one US job

28.6
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 30.3 · hand skill 30.3 · cramped spaces 25.2 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 29.8 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 43.8, while the average is 31.4. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 43.8

    Advising on and designing power stations and systems which generate, transmit and distribute electrical power

    Low
  2. 35.8

    Advising on and designing systems for electrical motors, electrical traction and other equipment, or electrical domestic appliances

    Low
  3. 35

    Establishing control standards and procedures to monitor performance and safety of electrical generating and distribution systems, motors and equipment

    Low
  4. 29.8

    Supervising, controlling and monitoring the operation of electrical generation, transmission and distribution systems

    Low
  5. 23

    Specifying electrical installation and application in industrial and other buildings and objects

    Very Low
  6. 21.3

    Determining manufacturing methods for electrical systems, as well as maintenance and repair of existing electrical systems, motors and equipment.

    Very Low

6 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
71
AI does it for you
33

Helping wins by 38 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2333, 2339

Compared with similar jobs

There are 92 jobs in the “Professionals” group, averaging 61.2. This one is above that.