Skip to content
STRATUSWORKFORCE SCAN
Menu

Biofuels/Biodiesel Technology and Product Development Managers

Define, plan, or execute biofuels/biodiesel research programs that evaluate alternative feedstock and process technologies with near-term commercial potential.

$171,270 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).

now
2%

of the working time. Estimate.

Kinds of work
  • 57%
  • 0%
  • 43%
3%

Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.

Half the desk work within reach
August 2028

On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.

Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030

0%25%50%75%100%2027202820292030NowDesk work: 57% of the time
Chosen to Ceiling: the share
DateNow
NowEnd of 2030

What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .

At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.

How far this has come

With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 2%. Today's estimate: 2%.

0%5%10%2023202420252026GPT-4, March 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4 Turbo (Nov 2023), November 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4o, May 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (June 2024), June 2024: 0% within reacho1-preview, September 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (Oct 2024), October 2024: 0% within reacho1, December 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.7 Sonnet, February 2025: 0% within reacho3, April 2025: 0% within reachGPT-5, August 2025: 0% within reachGemini 3 Pro, November 2025: 0% within reachClaude Opus 4.5, November 2025: 0% within reachGPT-5.2, December 2025: 0% within reachClaude Opus 4.6, February 2026: 0% within reachClaude Mythos Preview (early), April 2026: 2% within reachToday (estimate), September 2026: 2% within reach
Each step is a new best model measured by METR, four in five; the dashed end is today's estimate. Point at a dot for the model.

A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.

The tasks

Sorted by . 18 tasks from .

TaskKind
Analyze data from biofuels studies, such as fluid dynamics, water treatments, or solvent extraction and recovery processes.Done daily by most who do it. 7%1.7 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days2%Half by Feb 2028
Propose new biofuels products, processes, technologies or applications based on findings from applied biofuels or biomass research projects.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 7%2.1 work days6.7 h to 4.2 work days0%Half by Jan 2028
Conduct experiments on biomass or pretreatment technologies.Done daily by most who do it. 7%2.1 work days6.7 h to 4.2 work daysStays with people
Conduct experiments to test new or alternate feedstock fermentation processes.Done more than monthly by most who do it. 7%2.1 work days6.7 h to 4.2 work daysStays with people
Perform protein functional analysis and engineering for processing of feedstock and creation of biofuels.Done more than yearly by most who do it.7%4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.5 work weeksStays with people
Develop computational tools or approaches to improve biofuels research and development activities.Done more than monthly by most who do it.7%1 work week1.7 work days to 3.3 work weeks0%Half by Dec 2028
Develop lab scale models of industrial scale processes, such as fermentation.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 7%1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 4.2 work weeksStays with people
Oversee biodiesel/biofuels prototyping or development projects.Done more than monthly by most who do it. 7%1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 4.2 work weeks0%Half by May 2029
Design or conduct applied biodiesel or biofuels research projects on topics, such as transport, thermodynamics, mixing, filtration, distillation, fermentation, extraction, and separation.Done daily by most who do it. 7%3.3 work weeks4.2 work days to 1.6 work monthsStays with people
Conduct research to breed or develop energy crops with improved biomass yield, environmental adaptability, pest resistance, production efficiency, bioprocessing characteristics, or reduced environmental impacts.Done yearly or less by most who do it.7%4.2 work weeks1.7 work weeks to 2.4 work monthsStays with people
Prepare, or oversee the preparation of, experimental plans for biofuels research or development.Done more than monthly by most who do it. 6%1.3 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days4%Half by Dec 2027
Develop methods to estimate the efficiency of biomass pretreatments.Done more than yearly by most who do it.6%4.2 work days1 work day to 2.5 work weeks0%Half by Dec 2028

Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.

Jobs that share skills with this one

From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

Where this job works

The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.

Where the most of these jobs are

The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.