Biomedical Engineer
Biomedical engineers design the medical devices and equipment that hospitals, clinics and manufacturers use to diagnose, monitor and treat patients.
- Median salary
- $137,700
4.2%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 1,300
0.0%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +23%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Moderate
- 6 out of 10
- Average hours
- 41/wk
+1h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- Not in shortage
national
- Biomedical engineers work where engineering meets medicine, designing and testing everything from implants and imaging machines to the pumps, monitors and software that keep a hospital running.
- Most roles sit between a design team and a regulatory one, because a device only reaches a patient once it has passed the safety checks health authorities require.
- The job is often confused with biomedical science, which is laboratory work on tissue and disease rather than equipment design; typical employers are device manufacturers, hospitals and research institutes.
How much do biomedical engineers earn?
The median full-time salary for a biomedical engineer is $137,700 per annum, before tax, up $29,000 since 2018.
Pay depends heavily on where you work, since device manufacturers and medical technology companies generally pay above hospital biomedical engineering departments, which follow state health awards and enterprise agreements. Specialising in an area such as regulatory affairs or imaging systems tends to lift earnings, and chartered status through Engineers Australia can as well. Salaries in the capital cities are usually higher than in regional areas, though the gap varies by employer.
What does a biomedical engineer do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Translating what a clinician needs into a design brief an engineering team can build
- Testing and validating a prototype against safety standards before it goes near a patient
- Documenting design decisions and test results in enough detail to withstand regulatory review
- Moving between a design office, a test bench and a hospital ward as a project moves from concept to use
- Working with hospital staff on equipment faults, calibration and replacement planning
What skills do biomedical engineers need?
Employers look for engineering design and analysis, cAD and technical drawing, project engineering and delivery, backed by MATLAB fluency and strong problem solving.
Specialist skills
- Engineering design and analysis
- CAD and technical drawing
- Project engineering and delivery
- Regulatory compliance
- Software testing and QA
- Risk and internal controls
Software and tools
- MATLAB
- SolidWorks / AutoCAD
- ANSYS simulation software
- Medical device testing equipment
- Laboratory analysis instruments
General skills
- Problem solving
- Stakeholder management
Is the job growing?
About 1,300 people work as biomedical engineers in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 23% over the decade to 2035. That's very strong growth. Few roles in Australia are expanding this fast, and it points to solid demand for years to come.
How do you become a biomedical engineer?
Here's the path most biomedical engineers take, step by step.
- 1Complete an accredited engineering degree
A four-year Bachelor of Engineering with a biomedical major is the standard entry point, and the degree needs accreditation through Engineers Australia for most employers and for later chartership. Graduates of mechanical, electrical and mechatronics degrees also move into the field, usually adding medical device knowledge on the job or through a short bridging course.
- 2Get industry experience while you study
Vacation work and internships with device manufacturers, hospital biomedical engineering departments or research institutes are the main route into a graduate role, and they show you which side of the field suits you before you commit to it.
- 3Learn the regulatory side early
Medical devices in Australia are regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and most manufacturers work to quality management standards such as ISO 13485. Experience with test documentation, risk files and submissions is what separates candidates for device development roles.
- 4Consider postgraduate study if you want to specialise
An honours year, a master's or a PhD in biomedical engineering opens research, imaging and advanced implant work. It is also a common route for engineers from other disciplines who want to move across without starting a second undergraduate degree.
- 5Work towards chartered status as your career develops
Chartered Professional Engineer status through Engineers Australia comes after several years of practice and a competency assessment. It matters more for consulting, senior regulatory and management roles than for junior design work.
Ready to apply as a biomedical engineer?
Whether you're working toward becoming a biomedical engineer or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a biomedical engineer move to?
Moving into Engineering Manager typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $45,300 a year more on average.
- Engineering ManagerRecorded move$183,000+$45,300
- Mechatronics EngineerRecorded move$143,600+$5,900
- Mechanical EngineerRecorded move$135,900−$1,800
Thick lines are moves people were recorded making in Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility (income tax records, 2011-12 to 2020-21). Thin lines are moves we suggest from skill overlap and entry requirements.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
Engineering Manager Biomedical engineers can step into engineering management, using technical and project experience to lead teams, with further study in management.Known move | +$45,300 | 12% | requalify |
Mechatronics Engineer Biomedical engineers can move into mechatronics, applying electronics, control and device integration skills with further study in mechatronic systems.Known move | +$5,900 | 33% | reskill |
Mechanical Engineer Biomedical engineers bring medical device design and testing skills to mechanical engineering roles, with further study in mechanical systems.Known move | −$1,800 | 44% | reskill |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a biomedical engineer?
The typical biomedical engineer is 37 years old; 79% are men, 88% work full-time, and full-timers average 41 hours a week.
- 37
- Median age
- 21%
- Female share
- 88%
- Full-time
- +1h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a biomedical engineer?
The work moves between design, testing and documentation, and the balance shifts as a project ages: early months at a desk in CAD and simulation, later months at a test bench and in meetings with clinicians and regulators. Devices take years to reach a patient, so progress is measured in milestones rather than quick wins, and a steady share of the week goes into records that prove a device is safe. It suits people who enjoy problems that cross disciplines, and less so anyone who wants fast, visible results.
What people like
- Your work ends up in someone's care. A device that passes testing and reaches a clinic is a concrete result, and many biomedical engineers can point to equipment they helped design, test or approve.
- The problems cross disciplines. You work with clinicians, materials specialists, software developers and regulatory staff, so a week can include a surgeon's feedback, a materials question and a standards clause in the same project.
- Hands-on troubleshooting close to patients. Engineers based in hospitals diagnose faults on equipment that is in use right now, which gives the work an immediacy that design projects rarely have.
- You build a niche that few others have. The field is broad enough that expertise in something specific, whether infusion pumps, orthopaedic implants or imaging systems, becomes genuinely hard to replace.
What people find hard
- Documentation takes a large share of the week. Design files, test reports, risk assessments and technical files have to be written carefully enough to satisfy a regulator, and that writing is a core part of the job rather than an afterthought.
- Timelines run in years, not weeks. A device can take several years from concept to approval, and projects are sometimes paused when funding or clinical priorities change, which means seeing your work in use can take a long time.
- Safety requirements constrain good ideas. A design that would work well can be shelved because proving it safe would take too long or cost too much, and that trade-off is decided by the evidence rather than by how elegant the idea is.
- The field is broad and the titles overlap. Implants, imaging, monitoring equipment and medical software are quite different jobs, and choosing a niche early can feel like closing doors. Job titles also overlap with mechanical and electrical engineering roles, which can make a career path harder to read from the outside.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ biomedical engineers?
Health Care and Social Assistance employs the largest share of biomedical engineers, followed by Wholesale Trade.
Top employing industries
- 1Health Care and Social Assistance
- 2Wholesale Trade
- 3Manufacturing
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 44.3% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 32.8% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 9.4% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 6.3% | |
| Year 12 or below | 4% |
Will AI replace biomedical engineers?
Moderate exposure. Not replaced, but changed. AI is taking on some tasks and the rest of the job shifts around them.
AI reaches the design and documentation parts of this job more than the physical and clinical ones, which puts the overall exposure at a moderate level. Simulation and generative design tools speed up modelling, and language models can draft regulatory paperwork, which shortens some tasks without removing the engineer's responsibility for validating a device. The bench testing, clinical conversations and hospital troubleshooting that fill much of the week stay hands-on.
How a typical week splits
- Design work and simulation25% of the week
CAD, finite element analysis and simulation software shorten the loop between an idea and a tested design, though the engineer still decides what to model and checks whether the results match the physical behaviour.
- Regulatory documentation and technical files25% of the week
Risk assessments, test summaries and technical files are structured writing that language models draft quickly, with every claim checked back against the test evidence before it is submitted.
None of the main tasks in this job.
- Bench testing and validation30% of the week
Building a test rig, running a device through its paces and recording what happens under load or in a simulated clinical setting is physical work that produces the evidence everything else depends on.
- Clinical liaison and equipment support20% of the week
Sitting with a surgeon to understand what a device has to do, or tracing an intermittent fault across a hospital's monitor fleet, depends on being in the room with the equipment and the people using it.
How we work this out
We break each job into its main tasks, estimate the share of a typical week each one takes, and judge how far current AI and automation tools reach into it. The score out of 10 starts from the job's overall rating (low is 1 to 3, moderate 4 to 6, high 7 to 10) and the task split places it within that range. Source: Career Tips analysis of each role's main tasks.
Common questions about becoming a biomedical engineer
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much do biomedical engineers earn?
Biomedical engineers earn a median of $137,700 per year before tax. What moves that figure most is the sector you work in, since device manufacturers and private consultancies tend to pay above hospital biomedical engineering departments, which sit under state health awards and enterprise agreements, and specialisation and chartered status also lift it over time.
How do you become a biomedical engineer?
The usual route is a four-year accredited engineering degree with a biomedical major, then graduate work with a device manufacturer, hospital or research institute. Mechanical, electrical and mechatronics graduates also enter the field, often with a short bridging course in medical applications and on-the-job learning about device regulation.
Are biomedical engineers in demand in Australia?
Biomedical engineers are currently not in shortage, and employment is projected to grow 23% over the decade to 2035. For someone entering the field, that points to employers concentrated in the larger capitals, where device manufacturers, teaching hospitals and research institutes are based, so being willing to move helps.
Will AI replace biomedical engineers?
AI is changing parts of the job rather than replacing it. Simulation and generative design tools shorten the modelling work, and language models can draft regulatory documents, but the physical testing, clinical conversations and hospital troubleshooting stay with the engineer, as does the responsibility for signing off that a device is safe.
What else can a biomedical engineer do?
The move into mechanical engineering shares about 44% of the role's skills and pays $1,800 less, while mechatronics shares about 33% and pays $5,900 more; both usually involve further study in the new discipline. Engineering management draws on project and technical experience rather than design work and pays $45,300 more.
Do biomedical engineers work in hospitals?
Some do, usually as part of a hospital's biomedical engineering or clinical engineering department, where the work is maintaining, calibrating and replacing equipment rather than designing it. The rest work for device manufacturers, research institutes, universities and consultancies, often with occasional time on hospital wards during trials and installation.
Related roles
- Mechanical Engineer
- Mechatronics Engineer
- Engineering Manager
- Electrical Engineer
- Aerospace Engineer
- Telecommunications Engineer
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Career advice
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