Reindeer Herder
🦌Moves with a reindeer herd across the tundra: drives it to new pastures, protects it from wolves, helps with calving. Lives in a tent, travels by sled and snowmobile.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $35.6k a year on average
Miscellaneous agricultural workers, including animal breeders — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £30k median a year · 20,000 jobs
Farm workers — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
Drones and GPS collars help find the herd, but life on the tundra and work with reindeer can't be replaced by AI.
Who it suits
Interests: 🐾 Animals, 🏕️ Outdoor work, expeditions, 🔧 Making things by hand, ✈️ Transport, flying, sea.
Key strengths: strength and stamina, manual dexterity.
Where to study
- Apprenticeship Learning within a herding family or community
- Vocational Reindeer husbandry programmes at Sámi schools in Kautokeino (NO), Jokkmokk (SE), Inari (FI)
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Biology, PE.
🧗 In Norway and Sweden reindeer herding is legally reserved for the Sámi; in Finland, for members of herding cooperatives. Skills pass down in families; schools in Kautokeino, Jokkmokk, Inari.
Things to know
🏔️ Long stints far from home⚠️ Real danger to life🛢️ Dirt, noise, smells🩸 Blood and medical procedures
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