It's getting a lot better on all those fronts, but there is still work to be done. When I started we where much more seen as support and assistants that could occasionally be called on help out the Real Engineers on the Real Projects. When I left my last company, there was an actual Data Science department with its own projects, management structure and place in the org chart. I was a Senior Specialist Engineer in Data Science when I left with exactly the same 'rank' and pay grade as any other Senior Specialist Engineer.

The biggest problem was that the higher ups in the organisation still had a very fuzzy idea on how/when/why to actually deploy ML/data science etc. in projects, but at least they where aware of this shortcoming and working to address it.

You are going to have to 'sell' yourself and your skills and spend time convincing people that you bring real bottom line value to projects, and there is still scepticism among the old guard that data science can bring anything of value that you will have to overcome.

On the plus side I found lots of opportunities to get involved in all kinds of varying projects from crowd simulation to using ML to create predictive geotechnical models. Since no one really knows the best way to use these new tools within civil engineering I found a lot of room for doing essentially R&D.

I also found that civil engineers seem to have a much more sane view on work-life balance compared to software engineers and so the work hours and levels of work where much more reasonable than I've seen in many software companies. The flip side to this is that the pay is on the whole lower compared to software companies.