Electrical and electronic design

ISCO-08 2151, 2152

Electrical design engineer, Electronics design engineer, Hardware engineer, Power electronics engineer, PCB design engineer, R&D project engineer

AI exposure36%

Headcount need, in FTE

Exposure range

Your current headcount

FTE

Need in 203095 FTE-5 FTE (-5%)

Need in 203589 FTE-11 FTE (-11%)

How AI is used on these tasks today

Automation 48%Augmentation 52%

In AI conversations about this job's tasks: the AI does the task itself (automation) or helps the person do it (augmentation).Anthropic Economic Index, April and May 2026. Occupations: Electrical Engineers, Electronics Engineers, Except Computer. AEI

1. Exposure 36%Average automation potential of the job's tasks. Range for this family: 23 to 55%.ILO occupations used: Electrical Engineers (31%), Electronics Engineers (42%). ILO data

2. Strategic ceiling 100%Your call: how much of this potential do you want to capture? Nobody can set it for you.

3. Adoption speed midpoint 2030

Inherits your company stance, adjustable for this family.

4. Conversion to headcount sensitive 30%Default 30%: Product ranges and certification needs keep growing, so most of the time saved goes into more variants, shorter development cycles and earlier testing.

Target AI skills

level 1 to 4

Foundation

Use AI assistants every day

Frame and phrase a request

Check and challenge AI outputs

Protect data and respect the rules

Applied

Rethink one's process with AI

Analyse data with AI

Produce content with AI

Delegate to and supervise AI agents

Expert

Evaluate and make AI solutions reliable

Job skills

Growing in value

Simulation and design trade-off decisions
System architecture across hardware and software
Standards compliance by design (IEC, EMC)
Reviewing AI-generated schematics and calculations
Thermal and EMC problem solving

Losing value

Component library and footprint creation
Bill of materials preparation and checks
Routine sizing calculations
Datasheet search and comparison

How the job will change

An electrical designer spends a large share of the week on tasks around the design itself: searching datasheets, building component libraries, checking bills of materials, writing design notes. AI tools already speed these up, and design aids are starting to propose schematics, board placement and first sizing calculations for standard functions such as power supplies or protection circuits.

Value moves to what tools handle poorly: system architecture, trade-offs between cost, heat dissipation and electromagnetic compatibility, and compliance with IEC and UL standards from the first sketch. A good designer tomorrow will check an AI-generated circuit as rigorously as a colleague's, and will understand why a protection device must hold during a short circuit.

2026-2027: Assistants for datasheet search, design documentation and test bench scripts.
2028-2030: AI-assisted schematics and layout for standard functions, with mandatory human review.
2031+: Leaner design teams per product, more system architects and compliance experts.

Watch out

Power electronics and EMC expertise is scarce and slow to build. If junior designers no longer learn through routine sizing work, the next generation of experts will be thin. See the seniority outlook below.

What if you hired fewer juniors?

Your 2036 seniors are the juniors you hire today.

Seniors available in 2036-5%2 FTE short

Gap above 5% from2036

Your seniority mix today

Juniors (0 to 3 yrs in the profession)25%Seniors (10+ yrs)30%

Mid-level (3 to 10 yrs in the profession, the remainder)45%

Cut in junior hiring -40%

For

Advanced settings

Juniors promoted each year25%Juniors leaving each year12%Senior gap filled by external hiring0%If every company makes the same bet, senior profiles will be scarce and expensive.

Seniority mix, % of today's headcount

Juniors25%Mid-level42%Seniors28%

2026 2036

Free guide

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How the numbers are built

Every headcount figure combines four assumptions. Three come pre-filled from public research and job family defaults. The strategic ceiling is yours to set.

Public researchExposureAverage automation potential of the job's tasks, from the ILO's 2025 task-level scores.

Your decisionStrategic ceilingHow much of that potential you choose to capture. Your decision, not ours.

Your companyAdoption speedHow fast your company moves, set once for the whole company.

Job family defaultConversion to headcountHow much of the productivity gain becomes fewer people rather than more output.

Headcount effect

Seniority outlook

A flow model with three levels of experience in the profession. Promotion and exit rates are set so that today's mix stays stable when hiring does not change: any gap you see comes from the junior hiring cut alone.