Academic
An academic usually holds an advanced degree (like a PhD), and teaches their area of expertise (for example, maths!) and does research at universities and colleges.
So many maths jobs
Love maths but not sure what to do with it? Here’s a list of every maths job we could think of (for now).
From the obvious ones (hey finance!) to the ones that might surprise you (hello fashion design!), there are plenty of ways to combine maths with your passion or other areas and industries.
With all these awesome options, which will you choose?
Accountant
These number crunchers are responsible for keeping, interpreting, analysing and reporting on all things financial for a business.
Actuary
An actuary uses data and statistics to work out the financial impact of uncertainty to help businesses minimise risk.
Agricultural engineer
Through mixing tech with farming, these engineers build agricultural infrastructures such as dams, reservoirs and warehouses. This job requires lots of problem solving and an agricultural engineer needs to be across mathematical analysis and modelling.
Architect
An architect plans, develops and implements building designs. They use geometry, algebra and trigonometry, especially when they’re sketching their designs and coming up with blueprints.
Astronomer
Astronomers study planets, stars, galaxies and other objects. They use maths every day – the law of gravitation, relativity, mass-energy equivalence, parallaxes… the list goes on!
Bookkeeper
Organised and passionate about numbers, a bookkeeper maintains financial records for a business. They keep track of transactions to make sure accounts and records are accurate.
Business intelligence analyst
These clever peeps use data to provide strategic guidance and improve business performance. They are extremely good at drawing insights out of large amounts of data.
Carpenter
Carpenters work in construction, and build and repair structural elements in commercial, residential and industrial buildings. They generally work with timber, and use lots of maths (think arithmetic, algebra and geometry) to measure and adjust these materials.
Civil engineer
If designing, building, servicing and adapting public infrastructure (think high-capacity roads, cost-effective transportation systems, railways, waste networks, airports, flood defences and pollution control facilities) sounds good to you, you should be a civil engineer. They use maths equations on the daily to measure the strength of materials, and also use trig when surveying structures and land elevation.
Computer programmer
This job combines maths (like arithmetic and algebra) with tech. Computer programmers write code for computer programs and mobile applications. They also have to maintain their code and do lots of debugging.
Conservationist
A conservationist manages natural habitats like parks and forests. They make sure these spaces are safe for the animals and plants that live and grow there, and often use statistical modelling to make predictions and check outcomes.
Construction site manager
They make sure a construction project is completed on time and within budget. And they use maths to do this! There’s a lot of estimating, budgeting, productivity, accounting and dimension scaling involved in this job.
Data analyst
A data analyst collects, processes and performs statistical analyses on large amounts of data. They discover how data can be used to answer questions and solve problems.
Data scientist
Not to be mistaken with a data analyst, a data scientist extracts value from data to help organisations, institutions and governments make smart, data-supported decisions. They need to have strong statistics skills!
Digital forensics expert
These tech-savvy pros reconstruct and analyse digital data to help in investigations and solve computer-related crimes.
Digital marketing manager
They develop, implement and manage marketing campaigns to promote a company, their products or services. A digital marketing manager plays a huge part in creating brand awareness online, driving website traffic and getting new leads and customers. To do this, they need to look at and interpret data to help them make decisions that will lead to further growth.
Economist
In this classic maths gig, you gather and analyse data to give specialist economic advice to a variety of organisations. It involves forecasting and modelling, researching trends, developing policies and creating reports. If you’re super good at spotting patterns, this could be an incredible job for you.
Electrical engineer
An electrical engineer designs, developments and maintains electrical control systems, equipment and machinery. To do this, they need to be really comfortable with algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus.
Fashion designer
Ratios, measurements, budgeting, division, fractions, percentages… A fashion designer uses a lot of maths in creating and selling clothes.
Furniture designer
When arts meets maths! A furniture designer sketches and creates prototypes of furniture, often using computer-aided design (CAD) to develop their models. Ratios and measurements are crucial maths skills in this job. A furniture designer will also need to keep track of market trends in order to sell their masterpieces.
Graphic designer
Creating print and digital assets, plus designing layouts, logos, icons, infographics and advertisements actually involves some maths! A graphic designer uses mathematical perspective to show various viewpoints and scaling when increasing and decreasing the size of images. Geometric shapes often pop up in design so it’s important to have an understanding of these too.
Hospitality manager
They are the people that manage and coordinate all the different departments in an establishment (like a restaurant) and use lots of maths along the way! Recipes are scaled to meet customer requirements and measurements need to be converted between units or when making ingredient substitutions. A hospitality manager needs to calculate how much of each ingredient they should stock and determine appropriate price points, and conversions and ratios play a role in recipe development, coffee roasting or wine and spirit production.
Information security analyst
Their job is to monitor network systems to stop any potential security breaches. They also maintain these systems through software updates, and make security update recommendations to businesses.
Intelligence analyst
They’re tasked with evaluating data from a range of classified and unclassified sources. The purpose? To assess threats, and predict and prevent organised crime activities.
Investment analyst
An investment analyst provides research and info to help traders, fund managers and stock brokers make decisions about investments. They also make sure investment portfolios are well managed and highlight potential investment opportunities.
Machine learning engineer
These artificial intelligence pros use data to train models. The models are used to automate different processes like speech recognition and driverless cars.
Meteorologist
Meteorologists use science and maths to understand and predict weather and climate. This job is all about studying the atmosphere and its effects on the Earth’s surface, oceans and inhabitants!
Operations analyst
They develop and implement practises that ensure a business is performing optimally. This means they are constantly evaluating and updating procedures by looking at and analysing data.
Pen tester
A pen (penetration) tester plans and builds simulations and security assessments that test cybersecurity measures for weaknesses. They’re often called ‘ethical hackers’ or “white hats”.
Photographer
This is a job that merges creativity and maths! A photographer use geometry – lines, shapes and patterns – when planning the composition and framing of a photograph. They also need to control exposure (the amount of light used to define a photograph) and they use histograms to provide a representation of what percentage of the photo is made up of highlights and shadows
Pilot
Flying planes involves a lot of maths! To keep the plane and passengers safe during take-off and landing, a pilot uses speed, altitude and aircraft specifications to calculate angles of climb and descent. They also need an understanding of geometry to plan their routes and read directional compasses to stay on course.
Pilot
Flying planes involves a lot of maths! To keep the plane and passengers safe during take-off and landing, a pilot uses speed, altitude and aircraft specifications to calculate angles of climb and descent. They also need an understanding of geometry to plan their routes and read directional compasses to stay on course.
Researcher
This one is all about collecting, organising and analysing opinions and data to solve problems, explore issues, and predict trends.
Software engineer
These tech gurus write, test and maintain software and apps for computers and mobile and tablet devices, while keeping the user in mind, as well as the needs of the client or business they are working for. They apply principles and techniques of engineering, maths, and computer science throughout this process.
Sound engineer
A sound engineer works with the mechanics of recording, mixing, and reproducing sound. They need to have a solid understanding of compression ratios, frequencies and sine waves.
Statistician
This classic maths gig applies statistical methods and models to real world problems. A statistician gathers and interprets data to help different industries make decisions – think everything from health and medicine to government.
Teacher
A maths teacher shares their love of logarithms and Pythagorean theorem every single day! As well as teaching their students the curriculum, they record and report on student progress, meet with parents and are involved with general school duties.
Urban planner
They work with local councils to ensure cities can support their residents with infrastructure and utilities. There’s heaps of maths involved with the planning of a city. This ranges from simple calculations of population densities and building areas to using statistics when calculating projections of land use and economic development.
UX designer
A UX designer is super important when it comes to building websites, apps and even everyday appliances because they turn them into things people like and want to use. They need to think about the overall user experience and optimise their products to improve function for all kinds of users. Statistical testing is key for them throughout this process.
Louise Meers
First published on CareerswithSTEM.com.au
Explore more
Was this page helpful?
With your help we can improve this page for others
Thank you for your feedback