Automation Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Automation Engineer develops and implements testing strategies and toolsets with the goal of increasing process automation. Establishes appropriate measures to validate and report on software quality. Designs and implements test automation to improve system reliability and stability. Designs and supports frameworks for test infrastructure. Provides automation expertise and mentoring.
Job Outlook
There were 915 Automation Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 18337 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Network Engineer / Architect industry, which includes the Automation Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Automation Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $125,818.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $121,121.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Automation Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $111,918.
Education and Experience
Posted Automation Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 65.65% |
| Master's Degree | 14.5% |
| Doctoral Degree | 2.33% |
| Other | 4.55% |
Posted Automation Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 15.87% |
| 3 to 5 years | 52.62% |
| 6 to 8 years | 19.12% |
| 9+ years | 12.4% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Automation Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (40.57%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (39.41%)
- Operations (26.24%)
- Problem Solving (25.1%)
- Management (21.56%)
- Leadership (15.9%)
- Innovation (13.32%)
- Writing (11.26%)
- Planning (11.25%)
- Detail Oriented (10.21%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Systems Engineering (48.25%)
- Automation (81.57%)
- Programmable Logic Controllers (26.29%)
- Human Machine Interfaces (21.96%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Workflow Management (9.71%)
- Application Programming Interface (API) (11.94%)
- Agile Methodology (15.18%)
- JavaScript (Programming Language) (7.5%)
- Git (Version Control System) (9.63%)
- Technical Support (6.2%)
- Microsoft Azure (9.69%)
- Electrical Engineering (17.15%)
- Test Automation (15.95%)
- Debugging (10.39%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (10.79%)
- Building Management System (7.76%)
- Computer Science (23.7%)
- Version Control (7.49%)
- Linux (7.58%)
- Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) (13%)
- Scalability (7.67%)
- AutoCAD (8.27%)
- Amazon Web Services (11.78%)
- Java (Programming Language) (13.53%)
- Software Development (12.02%)
- Control Systems (19.57%)
- C# (Programming Language) (7.24%)
- Selenium (Software) (8.39%)
- Instrumentation (9.95%)
- Test Planning (8.13%)
- Process Control (7.48%)
- DevOps (12.01%)
- CI/CD (15.8%)
- Jenkins (10.58%)
- Kubernetes (7.65%)
- Python (Programming Language) (28.47%)
- Project Management (20.59%)
- Mechanical Engineering (8.23%)
- Machinery (5.32%)
- Ansible (10.22%)
- Robotics (7.34%)
- Commissioning (9.1%)
- Software Engineering (7.75%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (10.75%)
- Process Improvement (8.81%)
- Programmable Logic Controllers Programming (10.54%)
- Scripting (16.84%)
- Programming Languages (7.63%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Automation Controls (7.81%)
- DeltaV Distributed Control System (3.5%)
- Wonderware (4.44%)
- Profibus (2.62%)
- PROFINET Standards (1.52%)
- Totally Integrated Automation Portal (1.56%)
- Rockwell FactoryTalk (3.52%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Automation (100%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Automation Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Automation Controls Engineer
- Controls Engineer
- Network Automation Engineer
- Software Automation Engineer
- Quality Assurance Automation Engineer
- Lead Automation Engineer
- Cloud Automation Engineer
- Automation Systems Engineer
- Automated Test Engineer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Systems Engineer
- Manufacturing Automation Engineer
- Process Quality Engineer
- Software QA Engineer / Tester
- Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Programmer
- Electrical Controls Engineer
- Application Developer / Engineer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Automation Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Actalent (510)
- Amazon (449)
- GPAC (319)
- Labelbox (306)
- Jobot (267)
- Marriott International (226)
- Carrier Corporation (207)
- Apple (193)
- Randstad (178)
- Insight Global (165)
North Carolina
- Novo Nordisk (36)
- Actalent (35)
- Zachary Piper Solutions (25)
- Jobot (23)
- Biogen (17)
- Motion Recruitment (16)
- Eli Lilly (14)
- Cisco (12)
- Allegis Group (11)
- Kforce (11)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.