Know Your Worth / Career paths
Compare skills, employee pay, and freelance economics. Explore industries from optical and food to science, music, games, writing, and coaching.
385–432 of 1,000 careers
Employee references are annual US median wages for the cited BLS occupation, which may cover several career paths. Freelance examples add $15,000 for benefits and $20,000 for business costs, then divide by 1,200 billable hours a year. Annual figures are rounded to the nearest $1,000 and hourly figures to the nearest dollar. Figures are before personal taxes, with no percentage fees. Open a guide to see the source or adjust the assumptions in the calculator.
BLS · May 2025 · Buyers and purchasing agents
Support ingredient purchasing decisions through specifications, supplier evidence, and commercial comparisons. Coordinate substitution questions and availability risks without approving material changes that require technical or food safety review.
View career → Food Ingredient Procurement SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Health Education Specialists
Helps participants interpret everyday food information, shopping choices, and practical preparation tasks through accessible learning grounded in household realities rather than idealized routines.
View career → Food literacy facilitatorBLS · May 2025 · Microbiologists
Study microorganisms relevant to food quality and safety in appropriately equipped laboratories. Interpret sampling and analytical evidence while keeping identification, exposure, and validation limits explicit.
View career → Food MicrobiologistBLS · May 2025 · Materials Scientists
Develop packaging concepts that fit food characteristics and distribution needs. Compare barrier performance, usability, production compatibility, and environmental tradeoffs while identifying required food-contact and product validation.
View career → Food Packaging TechnologistBLS · May 2025 · Project management specialists
Coordinate supervised pilot trials that connect development concepts with production learning. Organize materials, approved procedures, observations, and decisions so trial results are useful beyond a successful sample batch.
View career → Food Pilot Plant CoordinatorBLS · May 2025 · Chemical Engineers
Improve the design and operation of food processing systems. Connect material behavior, equipment capability, production constraints, and quality evidence while coordinating required safety and engineering approvals.
View career → Food Process EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Develop food concepts through structured formulation and evaluation. Connect consumer needs with ingredient behavior, process constraints, and evidence needed before a product can be commercialized.
View career → Food Product Development ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Review whether food quality practices match documented requirements and available evidence. Report traceable findings and corrective-action questions while separating an advisory review from accredited certification or release authorization.
View career → Food Quality AuditorBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Organize the evidence and document reviews needed for food product decisions in a defined jurisdiction. Coordinate labels, specifications, and claims with appropriately qualified regulatory and legal reviewers.
View career → Food Regulatory Affairs SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Evaluate evidence used to control food hazards across production and distribution. Translate scientific questions into validation plans and clear records for qualified food safety decisions.
View career → Food Safety ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Dietitians and Nutritionists
Applies credentialed nutrition expertise to foodservice systems, connecting menu requirements, operational processes, documentation, and professional review within the relevant care or institutional setting.
View career → Foodservice dietitianBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Examines how production, distribution, access, institutions, and local priorities interact, helping communities compare evidence and planning options without assuming one intervention solves food insecurity.
View career → Food systems plannerBLS · May 2025 · Technical writers
Create clear technical documents for food products, equipment, or production workflows. Maintain traceability to approved sources and responsible reviewers so simplified language does not conceal operating limits or safety requirements.
View career → Food Technical WriterBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Study how ingredients and processing affect food structure and perceived texture. Connect instrument measurements with sensory questions and practical manufacturing constraints rather than relying on one numerical texture score.
View career → Food Texture ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Logisticians
Connect food ingredient, production, and distribution records so a business can trace product movement. Identify broken identifiers and missing handoffs before an actual quality event demands rapid investigation.
View career → Food Traceability AnalystBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Find avoidable food losses through process observation, measurement, and practical trials. Distinguish preventable waste from necessary controls and evaluate improvements without compromising approved handling or food safety practices.
View career → Food Waste Reduction ConsultantBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Helps founders examine priorities, decision habits, and personal leadership demands without substituting coaching confidence for customer evidence or specialist business advice.
View career → Founder coachBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Supports franchise operators in examining local execution, staff practices, and brand processes while respecting franchise agreements and specialist legal or financial responsibilities.
View career → Franchise business coachBLS · May 2025 · Operations Research Analysts
Investigates suspicious transaction patterns using evidence, documented procedures, and careful escalation while distinguishing indicators from proof of wrongdoing.
View career → Fraud analystBLS · May 2025 · Financial and investment analysts
Reviews freight invoices against agreed records and commercial rules, documenting discrepancies and supporting evidence for authorized operational or finance decisions.
View career → Freight audit analystBLS · May 2025 · Logisticians
Coordinates freight movements between shippers and authorized carriers within applicable brokerage requirements, documenting service expectations, commercial terms, and operational responsibilities.
View career → Freight brokerBLS · May 2025 · Logisticians
Organizes shipment coordination across transport providers, documentation, and cross-border dependencies, distinguishing forwarding responsibilities from licensed customs or carrier duties.
View career → Freight forwarderBLS · May 2025 · Web Developers
Make complex applications understandable in the browser. Frontend developers connect interface designs to real data while handling accessibility, application state, performance, and the errors users encounter during everyday work.
View career → Frontend DeveloperBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Deliver a complete application across its interface, server, and data storage. Full stack developers create continuity between user needs and technical implementation, especially when a small team needs broad ownership.
View career → Full Stack DeveloperBLS · May 2025 · Project management specialists
Organize a fundraising campaign's timeline, responsibilities, materials, and reporting so the organization can track commitments and distinguish planned activity from actual funding outcomes.
View career → Fundraising campaign coordinatorBLS · May 2025 · Computer systems analysts
Evaluate player barriers and advise on adaptable controls, presentation, communication, and assistance options within the game's documented technical constraints.
View career → Game accessibility specialistBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Implement understandable non-player behavior through decision logic, navigation, perception, and debugging tools suited to the game's design.
View career → Game AI programmerBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Connect sound events, mixing states, and environmental responses to interactive behavior while testing repetition, priority, and resource use in context.
View career → Game audio implementerBLS · May 2025 · Operations Research Analysts
Evaluate gameplay data and design assumptions to identify uneven difficulty, dominant strategies, or progression problems that require further testing.
View career → Game balancing analystBLS · May 2025 · Network and Computer Systems Administrators
Maintain repeatable game build and packaging workflows so teams can trace artifacts, detect failed dependencies, and recover from broken releases.
View career → Game build engineerBLS · May 2025 · Film and video editors
Shape in-game or promotional cinematic material through pacing, continuity, sound alignment, and versioned feedback that support the intended story moment.
View career → Game cinematics editorBLS · May 2025 · Public relations specialists
Organize player communication, feedback triage, and participation programs while maintaining clear moderation and escalation responsibilities for a game community.
View career → Game community specialistBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Turn game rules and creative ideas into a playable experience. Game developers make interactions responsive, manage performance budgets, and connect code with art, audio, level design, and player feedback.
View career → Game DeveloperBLS · May 2025 · Technical writers
Explain game tools, technical systems, or production procedures so teammates can complete tasks without relying on undocumented specialist knowledge.
View career → Game documentation writerBLS · May 2025 · Operations Research Analysts
Model virtual resources, rewards, and exchange rules so progression incentives remain understandable and the team can identify unstable resource flows.
View career → Game economy designerBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Develop engine-level capabilities and technical infrastructure that other game developers can integrate, debug, and maintain across production milestones.
View career → Game engine programmerBLS · May 2025 · Web and digital interface designers
Shape player-facing flows such as onboarding, settings, and progression screens around comprehension, input methods, and the context of active play.
View career → Game experience designerBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Implement rendering features and investigate visual performance so a game can deliver its intended appearance within a measurable runtime budget.
View career → Game graphics programmerBLS · May 2025 · Web and digital interface designers
Design readable game menus and heads-up information that support player decisions across screen sizes, input modes, and changing gameplay contexts.
View career → Game interface designerBLS · May 2025 · Graphic designers
Create promotional visuals that communicate a game's premise and visual identity without misrepresenting the actual play experience or supplied assets.
View career → Game marketing artistBLS · May 2025 · Operations Research Analysts
Analyze optional purchase behavior and player experience so teams can evaluate commercial choices without confusing short-term revenue with durable product value.
View career → Game monetization analystBLS · May 2025 · Writers and authors
Connect story, dialogue, and interactive choices so narrative information responds coherently to player actions and production constraints.
View career → Game narrative designerBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Implement multiplayer communication and synchronization while testing latency, authority, failure recovery, and the effects of unreliable connections on player experience.
View career → Game networking programmerBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Implement and tune physical interactions so collisions, movement, and simulated objects behave reliably within the game's performance and design constraints.
View career → Game physics programmerBLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Implement moment-to-moment player actions and game rules so intended behaviors remain responsive, testable, and compatible with the surrounding project.
View career → Gameplay programmerBLS · May 2025 · Project management specialists
Coordinate creative and technical work through realistic milestones, dependency visibility, and decisions that keep a game project's scope aligned with available capacity.
View career → Game producerBLS · May 2025 · Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
Investigate playable builds through structured scenarios, reproducible bug reports, and regression checks that connect observed failures to production decisions.
View career → Game quality assurance testerBLS · May 2025 · Project management specialists
Coordinate build readiness, store assets, approvals, and release dependencies so the team can make an informed launch or delay decision.
View career → Game release manager