Blockchain Engineers
15-1299.07
Bright Outlook Updated 2026

Maintain and support distributed and decentralized blockchain-based networks or block-chain applications such as cryptocurrency exchange, payment processing, document sharing, and digital voting. Design and deploy secure block-chain design patterns and solutions over geographically distributed networks using advanced technologies. May assist with infrastructure setup and testing for application transparency and security.

Sample of reported job titles: Blockchain Consultant, DLT Software Engineer (Distributed Ledger Technology Software Engineer)

Occupation-Specific Information

Tasks

  • Discuss and plan systems with solution architects, system engineers, or cybersecurity experts to meet customer requirements.
  • Implement catastrophic failure handlers to identify security breaches and prevent serious damage.
  • Test the security and performance of blockchain infrastructures.
  • Assess blockchain threats, such as untested code and unprotected keys.
  • Design and deploy blockchain design patterns to make transactions secure, transparent, and immutable.
  • Design and verify cryptographic protocols to protect private information.
  • Evaluate blockchain processes or risks based on security assessments or control matrix reviews.
  • Run infrastructure tests to examine the behavior of large peer-to-peer networks.
  • Discuss data needs with engineers, product managers, or data scientists to identify blockchain requirements.
  • Automate the deployment of software updates over geographically distributed network nodes.
  • Develop a maintainable code base using object-oriented design principles, practices, or patterns.
  • Update client and server applications responsible for integration and business logic.
  • Design and implement data repositories to integrate data.
  • Determine specifications for, or implement, logging.
  • Evaluate new blockchain technologies and vendor products.
  • Design and develop blockchain technologies for industries such as finance and music.
  • Design and implement dashboard and data visualizations to meet customer reporting needs.
  • Develop software tools, such as application programming interfaces (APIs), to integrate applications.
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Occupational Requirements

Work Activities

  • Working with Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
  • Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
  • Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
  • Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
  • Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Analyzing Data or Information — Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
  • Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
  • Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
  • Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
  • Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
  • Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
  • Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
  • Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.
  • Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
  • Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
  • Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information — Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity.
  • Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
  • Training and Teaching Others — Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
  • Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
  • Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates — Providing guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.
  • Developing and Building Teams — Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
  • Providing Consultation and Advice to Others — Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics.
  • Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others — Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.

Detailed Work Activities

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Work Context

  • E-Mail — 94% responded “Every day.”
  • Spend Time Sitting — 69% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
  • Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 63% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Telephone Conversations — 50% responded “Every day.”
  • Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team — 47% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals — 56% responded “Some freedom.”
  • Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — 60% responded “Every day.”
  • Time Pressure — 38% responded “Every day.”
  • Duration of Typical Work Week — 50% responded “More than 40 hours.”
  • Freedom to Make Decisions — 56% responded “Some freedom.”
  • Level of Competition — 40% responded “Highly competitive.”
  • Contact With Others — 38% responded “Contact with others most of the time.”
  • Frequency of Decision Making — 36% responded “Every day.”
  • Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — 56% responded “Important results.”
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams — 71% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
  • Consequence of Error — 33% responded “Extremely serious.”
  • Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities — 47% responded “Very important.”
  • Importance of Repeating Same Tasks — 33% responded “Not important at all.”
  • Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions — 31% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
  • Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls — 38% responded “Continually or almost continually.”

Experience Requirements

Job Zone

Title
Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Education
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Related Experience
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Job Training
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Job Zone Examples
Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include real estate brokers, sales managers, database administrators, graphic designers, conservation scientists, art directors, and cost estimators.
SVP Range
(7.0 to < 8.0)

Training & Credentials

State training
Local training
Certifications
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Apprenticeship Opportunities

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Worker Requirements

Software Skills

Hot Technologies are requirements most frequently included across all employer job postings.
In Demand skills are frequently included in employer job postings for this occupation.

Essential Skills

  • Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
  • Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  • Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Writing — Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Mathematics — Using mathematics to solve problems.
  • Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Transferable Skills

  • Complex Problem Solving — Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  • Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Programming — Writing computer programs for various purposes.
  • Systems Analysis — Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
  • Time Management — Managing one's own time and the time of others.
  • Systems Evaluation — Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
  • Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  • Operations Analysis — Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
  • Technology Design — Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.

Knowledge

  • Computers and Electronics — Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
  • Engineering and Technology — Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
  • Mathematics — Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
  • English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

Education

How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:

  • 38%
     
    Bachelor’s degree required
  • 19%
     
    Some college, no degree required
  • 13%
     
    Master’s degree required

Worker Characteristics

Abilities

  • Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Written Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Fluency of Ideas — The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Selective Attention — The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Originality — The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Flexibility of Closure — The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Perceptual Speed — The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Mathematical Reasoning — The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility — The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.

Interests

Interest code: CI
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  • Conventional — Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources.
    • Information Technology — Work involves designing, developing, testing, and maintaining computer software, hardware, networks, and systems.
    • Mathematics/Statistics — Work involves developing and applying mathematics and statistical theory and methods.
  • Investigative — Work involves studying and researching non-living objects, living organisms, disease or other forms of impairment, or human behavior. Investigative occupations are often associated with physical, life, medical, or social sciences, and can be found in the fields of humanities, mathematics/statistics, information technology, or health care service.
    • Mathematics/Statistics — Work involves developing and applying mathematics and statistical theory and methods.

Work Styles

  • Innovation — A tendency to be inventive, to be imaginative, and to adopt new perspectives on ways to accomplish work.
  • Adaptability — A tendency to be open to and comfortable with change, new experiences, or ideas at work.
  • Achievement Orientation — A tendency to establish and maintain personally challenging work-related goals, set high work-related standards, and exert high effort toward meeting those goals and standards.
  • Intellectual Curiosity — A tendency to seek out and acquire new work-related knowledge and obtain a deep understanding of work-related subjects.
  • Cautiousness — A tendency to be careful, deliberate, and risk-avoidant when making work-related decisions or doing work.
  • Integrity — A tendency to be honest and ethical at work.
  • Attention to Detail — A tendency to be detail-oriented, organized, and thorough in completing work.
  • Dependability — A tendency to be reliable, responsible, and consistent in meeting work-related obligations.

Workforce Characteristics

Wages & Employment Trends

Median wage data for Computer Occupations, All Other.
Employment data for Computer Occupations, All Other.
Industry data for Computer Occupations, All Other.
Median wages (2025)
$56.05 hourly, $116,580 annual
State wages
Local wages
Employment (2025)
471,200 employees
Projected growth (2025-2035)
Faster than average (5% to 6%)
Projected job openings (2025-2035)
27,000
State trends
Top industries (2025)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data and 2025-2035 employment projections . “Projected growth” represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2025-2035). “Projected job openings” represent openings due to growth and replacement.

Job Openings on the Web

State job openings
Local job openings

More Information

Professional Associations

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National Associations
Accreditation, Certification, & Unions