LO
Machine learning engineer — skills, knowledge and links
Where this job sits in the official classifications, what those classifications say it demands, and what it connects to. Every block names its source: our own judgements, the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET, or the U.S. Department of Education.
How it connects#
O*NET also lists (no page here yet): Statisticians · Statistical Assistants · Financial Quantitative Analysts · Operations Research Analysts · Bioinformatics Scientists · Bioinformatics Technicians · Mathematicians · Biostatisticians
In the official classification#
Data Scientists
Fit with this page: closest match, not the same job
Job Zone 4: considerable preparation
See it on O*NET OnLine ↗Computer and Information Research Scientists
Fit with this page: closest match, not the same job
Job Zone 5: extensive preparation
See it on O*NET OnLine ↗What O*NET rates highest#
From O*NET 15-2051.00 (Data Scientists). Ordered by O*NET's importance rating; the words are O*NET's own scale anchors.
Transferable skills
- Complex Problem SolvingVery important
- ProgrammingVery important
- Judgment and Decision MakingImportant
- Time ManagementImportant
- Social PerceptivenessImportant
- CoordinationImportant
- PersuasionImportant
- InstructingImportant
Knowledge
- MathematicsExtremely important
- Computers and ElectronicsVery important
- English LanguageImportant
- Engineering and TechnologyImportant
- Education and TrainingSomewhat important
- Communications and MediaSomewhat important
Work activities
- Analyzing Data or InformationExtremely important
- Working with ComputersExtremely important
- Processing InformationExtremely important
- Interpreting the Meaning of Information for OthersVery important
- Getting InformationVery important
- Making Decisions and Solving ProblemsVery important
Abilities
- Deductive ReasoningVery important
- Inductive ReasoningVery important
- Information OrderingVery important
- Mathematical ReasoningVery important
- Written ComprehensionVery important
- Written ExpressionVery important
Essential skills
- MathematicsVery important
- Critical ThinkingVery important
- Reading ComprehensionVery important
- SpeakingVery important
- Active LearningVery important
Tasks O*NET proposes to add#
O*NET's analysts propose new or reworded task statements for future data collection, drawing on what surveyed workers write in, research into new technologies and professional associations. They are candidates, not yet part of the rated task list, and they say nothing about whether automation is involved. This site does not fold them into its own task judgements.
- Interview stakeholders to identify questions or problems to address through data analysis.New task · 2026-08 · from occupational experts · O*NET 31.0
Our task judgements#
O*NET says what this job demands. It does not say what automation is doing to it — that is what this site's 6 task judgements are for: 2 backed by a verified event, 4 platform inference. VOLO judgement
Sources and rules#
- Four kinds of source, and each block says which: this site's own judgements, O*NET, the U.S. Department of Education's CIP–SOC crosswalk, or something computed mechanically from those. Nothing on this page is a rating we made up.
- O*NET's importance ratings are used only to order and shorten the lists. They are never combined with this site's impact index or evidence counts.
- The fit between our page and an O*NET occupation is our judgement and is stated per code: same job, broader, part of it, or only the closest there is.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026 release, U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, CC BY 4.0. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The translations of O*NET descriptors on this page are ours, not O*NET's.