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60 Hvac engineer jobs in Columbus, OH

7 of the Highest Paying HVAC Engineer Jobs in 2026

The best HVAC Engineer jobs can pay up to $129,000 per year.

As an HVAC engineer, your job is to design heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and cooling (HVAC) systems, as well as refrigeration systems. Your primary responsibilities center around the design of these systems, but depending on your employer, you may also have installation, maintenance, and repair duties. You must consult with clients, whether residential or commercial, to discover their needs, and then provide them with an estimate. From there, you either create a design for a new HVAC system or identify solutions for their existing system. You may collaborate with other engineers as well as installers, repair technicians, and managers to make sure your designs are within the scope of the project budget and meet clients’ needs.

To become an HVAC engineer, you need a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, architectural engineering, or HVAC engineering technology. Your state will likely require you to get a license to work as an HVAC engineer. You can choose to obtain optional professional qualifications in a specialty area, like health care facility design or high-performance building design. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers offers several professional certification programs. You must be proficient with computers, especially CAD software, to qualify for entry-level HVAC engineer jobs.

High Paying HVAC Engineer Jobs

List of the top 7 highest paying HVAC Engineer positions in 2026, with salary ranges, according to ZipRecruiter.

  • Thermal Engineer

    Salary range: $80,000 - $129,000

    As a thermal engineer, you maintain, create, or repair mechanical systems that involve a heat transfer process into other forms of energy. You analyze how mechanical heat sources interact with different physical and industrial systems. You test various components of heat transfer within a system, which sometimes involves chemical fluids and gas. You may work with large or small-scale heating or cooling equipment, from industrial heaters to airplane engines. Other duties and responsibilities require you to work in locations in need of heat or cooling mitigation, such as a power plant or landfill. Aerospace companies, public utilities, and other industrial firms hire thermal engineers.

  • Cfd Engineer

    Salary range: $85,500 - $110,000

    As a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) engineer, your responsibilities are to use CFD formulas to predict fluid flows and heat transfers. You use software applications such as OpenFOAM or Gerris to compute the finite element method and the finite volume method, which use partial differential equations to create two- or three-dimensional models and simulations. Your job duties include analyzing problems, building models, and proposing solutions. Your experience makes you a valuable part of research and development teams in the mechanical and chemical engineering industries as well as the automobile, aerospace, and aeronautical industries.

  • HVAC Design Engineer

    Salary range: $85,000 - $100,000

    An HVAC design engineer designs and installs heating, venting, and air conditioning systems. This career is a mechanical engineering specialty, and responsibilities include engineering heating, venting, or air conditioning systems that fulfill a client’s needs. They oversee the installation and consider various factors, such as square footage of the space, hours per day of use, and energy costs when they design the system.

  • HVAC Engineering Technician

    Salary range: $50,000 - $83,000

    The majority of HVAC Engineering Technician salaries across the United States currently range between $50,000 (25th percentile) and $83,000 (75th percentile) annually. This moderate range of salaries suggests pay in this role will be consistent, regardless skill level, location and years of experience, though some advancement is possible. Based on recent job posting activity on ZipRecruiter, the HVAC Engineering Technician job market in the United States is not very active as few companies are currently hiring for this role. You can try exploring related titles to find jobs with more active opportunities.

  • HVAC Project Engineer

    Salary range: $65,000 - $80,500

    The majority of HVAC Project Engineer salaries across the United States currently range between $65,000 (25th percentile) and $80,500 (75th percentile) annually. This moderate range of salaries suggests pay in this role will be consistent, regardless skill level, location and years of experience, though some advancement is possible. Based on recent job posting activity on ZipRecruiter, the HVAC Project Engineer job market in the United States is not very active as few companies are currently hiring for this role. You can try exploring related titles to find jobs with more active opportunities.

  • HVAC Designer

    Salary range: $50,000 - $69,000

    The majority of HVAC Designer salaries across the United States currently range between $50,000 (25th percentile) and $69,000 (75th percentile) annually. This moderate range of salaries suggests pay in this role will be consistent, regardless skill level, location and years of experience, though some advancement is possible. Based on recent job postings on ZipRecruiter, the HVAC Designer job market in the United States is somewhat active, with a few companies hiring.

  • Air Conditioning Engineer

    Salary range: $49,500 - $51,000

    The majority of Air Conditioning Engineer salaries across the United States currently range between $49,500 (25th percentile) and $51,000 (75th percentile) annually. Most people working in this role make similar salaries regardless of skill level, location and years of experience. Based on recent job posting activity on ZipRecruiter, the Air Conditioning Engineer job market in the United States is not very active as few companies are currently hiring for this role. You can try exploring related titles to find jobs with more active opportunities.

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