What does it cost to hire an aerospace engineering and operations technologist in San Antonio?

Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $81,820 median wage in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $16,364 to $24,546 on the first year salary alone.

Hiring an aerospace engineering and operations technologist in San Antonio, TX

Employers in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area pay aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians a median of $81,820 a year, with the middle half of the market between $74,640 and $81,820 (BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 17-3021). Filling it through recruitlocalpros runs Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role rather than by salary or location, and our vetted recruiting partner handles sourcing, screening and placement end to end.

Do San Antonio residents in architecture and engineering work earn more than employers in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area pay?

San Antonio residents working in architecture and engineering occupations earn a median of $78,151 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $80,350 as the median of the 30 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 3%, with the employers figure the higher of the two.

Both sides of that figure describe the whole architecture and engineering group, not this one role. In the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area the group covers 30 occupations BLS publishes a wage for, from surveying and mapping technicians at $48,430 to electronics engineers, except computer at $131,160 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians at $81,820 inside it.

That comparison is between two different measures, not a pay gap. The two weight the same occupation group differently: the Census figure is the midpoint across the people who actually hold those jobs, so a group carrying a few very well paid occupations is pulled toward them, while the BLS figure is the midpoint across the 30 published occupation wages, which counts each of those occupations once whatever its headcount. Census also counts where people live and BLS counts where the jobs are, and the two cover different populations, Census the civilian employed population 16 and over, BLS wage-and-salary jobs only. Read the number against other cities, where the same definitional difference applies on both sides, rather than as a shortfall.

The two sit within 10% of each other, so residents of San Antonio and employers across the metro are priced about the same in this field, and pay alone is unlikely to be what wins or loses this hire.

What does an aerospace engineering and operations technologist earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid to aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians by employers in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area. BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 17-3021.
25th percentile	$74,640
Median	$81,820
75th percentile	$81,820

Half of aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians in this area earn between $74,640 and $81,820 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $74,640 competes for the bottom quarter of the market. Occupation detail for SOC 17-3021 at O*NET OnLine.

Place of residence

What San Antonio residents earn

$78,151

Median annual earnings of San Antonio residents working in architecture and engineering occupations, 10,432 people (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011). An occupation group rather than this one role, and where people live rather than where they work, so it is not the same measurement as the wages beside it.

What does the role actually involve?

Core tasks

Test aircraft systems under simulated operational conditions, performing systems readiness tests and pre- and post-operational checkouts, to establish design or fabrication parameters.
Identify required data, data acquisition plans, and test parameters, setting up equipment to conform to these specifications.
Inspect, diagnose, maintain, and operate test setups and equipment to detect malfunctions.
Confer with engineering personnel regarding details and implications of test procedures and results.
Operate and calibrate computer systems and devices to comply with test requirements and to perform data acquisition and analysis.

Task statements for SOC 17-3021, O*NET OnLine 29.1.

Tools and technologies in demand

Apache Hadoop, Atlassian JIRA, Autodesk AutoCAD, C++, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks, Extensible markup language XML, JavaScript, JUnit.

Flagged in demand or hot for SOC 17-3021 by O*NET OnLine 29.1. Useful as a screen, not as a checklist.

Is the talent actually in San Antonio?

This is a job zone three: medium preparation needed occupation. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. O*NET OnLine, SOC 17-3021.

It does not require a degree, which widens the pool considerably. For context, 28.7% of San Antonio adults hold one. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501, residents of San Antonio aged 25 and over.

The average San Antonio commute runs 24.6 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 11.8% of San Antonio workers already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that. Census ACS 5-year 2023, place-level commuting characteristics for San Antonio.

How often do these jobs turn over?

In Bexar County, architectural, engineering and related services employs 13,344 and turns over 5.6% a quarter, with 1,385 hires against 1,033 separations. Average earnings in that industry run $7,863 a month. Census LEHD Quarterly Workforce Indicators, 2024 Q1, NAICS 5413.

That figure covers every occupation in the industry, not this role alone, so read it as the local churn rate rather than as a number about aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians. It still tells you what you are hiring into: a low-churn market, where people do not move often and passive candidates are the whole game.

What does the search cost?

The fee is set by the seniority of the role, never by salary and never by location. Across all six tiers it runs $6,240 to $54,340 per search. A contingency firm hiring at this role's $81,820 median in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would bill roughly $16,364 to $24,546 on the first year salary alone.

One owner runs the search from market map to signed offer. Searches typically fill in 23 to 35 days, which is a typical window rather than a promise, and the replacement guarantee runs 45 days at 50% off.

Questions employers ask about hiring an aerospace engineering and operations technologist in San Antonio

What does it cost to hire an aerospace engineering and operations technologist in San Antonio?: Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $81,820 median wage in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $16,364 to $24,546 on the first year salary alone.
What should an offer for an aerospace engineering and operations technologist in San Antonio look like?: Employers in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area pay aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians a median of $81,820, with the middle half of the market between $74,640 and $81,820 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $74,640 competes for the bottom quarter of that market.
Do San Antonio residents in architecture and engineering work earn more than employers in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area pay?: San Antonio residents working in architecture and engineering occupations earn a median of $78,151 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $80,350 as the median of the 30 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 3%. Both figures cover the whole occupation group rather than this one role, and one counts where people live while the other counts where the jobs are, so the percentage is not a pay gap.
Is the talent for this role already in San Antonio?: This is a job zone 3 occupation and does not require a degree, which widens the pool considerably. For context, 28.7% of San Antonio adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher (Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501).

Price this search

Eight questions about the role. Your tier range appears on screen.

Hiring an aerospace engineering and operations technologist somewhere else?

Same role, different market. The wage band moves with the metro.

Other architecture and engineering roles in San Antonio

San Antonio is the 2nd largest of 17 Texas cities in this dataset.