Annual Salary
£25,000 to £68,000
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
Swap to Engineering design or Manufacturing or go back to all job sectors or go to green jobs
Swap to Engineering design or Manufacturing or go back to all job sectors or go to green jobs
Clinical engineers design, develop and maintain medical equipment used to diagnose illness and treat patients.
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: evenings / weekends; on a rota
There will be
2.4% more Clinical engineer jobs in 2027.
As a clinical engineer, you could:
You could work in an NHS or private hospital, in a laboratory or at a research facility.
You can get into this job through:
You can do a degree to start training as a clinical engineer.
Subjects include:
After your degree, you can apply for the postgraduate NHS Scientist Training Programme (STP). During the 3-year programme, you'll combine employment in the NHS with study for a postgraduate master's degree.
The programme covers several areas, including:clinical measurement; rehabilitation engineering; medical device risk management and governance
There is a lot of competition for places on the STP, so it helps to have relevant experience. You could do some voluntary work in a hospital to get experience of patient contact.
You'll usually need:
You could apply to do a Healthcare Science Practitioner Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship.
This takes a minimum of 3 years and is a mix of on-the-job training and study for a degree.
You could then apply to take further training with the NHS to become a clinical engineer.
You'll usually need:
If you do not have a degree, you could apply for the NHS Practitioner Training Programme (PTP).
During the 3-year programme, you'll be employed in the NHS and study for an accredited university degree in healthcare science (clinical engineering).
To apply, you'll usually need:
Equivalent qualifications to A levels in science or engineering may be acceptable, for instance an extended diploma in applied science.
You could also work as a clinical engineering technologist in the NHS and apply to join the PTP.
When looking to join an NHS training programme or an apprenticeship, you'll be expected to have an understanding of how NHS values apply in your work.
You can find out more about becoming a clinical engineer from Health Careers and Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.
With experience, you could become a senior engineer, specialising in particular clinical areas, or move into:project management; medical research and development; university teaching
You could register for chartered engineer status (CEng), which recognises your experience and expertise. This could help when applying for jobs as a consultant clinical engineer.
You can also work in the private sector as a clinical engineer for commercial companies, that develop new medical devices and instruments.
You'll need: