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 922 Automation Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 19040 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 2016:
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 $132,260.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $127,708.
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 $116,480.
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 | 63.74% |
| Master's Degree | 14.9% |
| Doctoral Degree | 1.75% |
| Other | 4.22% |
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 | 13.28% |
| 3 to 5 years | 49.89% |
| 6 to 8 years | 23.55% |
| 9+ years | 13.28% |
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 (39.03%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (38.86%)
- Problem Solving (29.35%)
- Operations (27.84%)
- Management (21.4%)
- Leadership (17.01%)
- Innovation (14.01%)
- Planning (13.71%)
- Mentorship (10.39%)
- Detail Oriented (10.17%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Systems Engineering (44.64%)
- Automation (87.24%)
- Test Automation (22.92%)
- Computer Science (32.46%)
- Python (Programming Language) (37.43%)
- CI/CD (24.11%)
- Programmable Logic Controllers (18.37%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Bash (Scripting Language) (9.24%)
- Workflow Management (12.76%)
- Git (Version Control System) (12.92%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (13.03%)
- Agile Methodology (18.74%)
- JavaScript (Programming Language) (11.16%)
- Application Programming Interface (API) (17.3%)
- AutoCAD (4.98%)
- Java (Programming Language) (17%)
- Software Development (12.78%)
- Building Management System (7.92%)
- Amazon Web Services (17.11%)
- C# (Programming Language) (7.37%)
- JIRA (8.66%)
- Microsoft Azure (12.14%)
- Version Control (10.59%)
- Control Systems (17.36%)
- Continuous Integration (7.25%)
- Electrical Engineering (15.25%)
- Distributed Control Systems (8.1%)
- Computer Engineering (6.91%)
- Instrumentation (7.86%)
- DevOps (14.63%)
- Control Engineering (3.23%)
- Debugging (11.15%)
- Linux (11.75%)
- Machinery (3.78%)
- Github (6.89%)
- Scalability (12.25%)
- Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) (13.36%)
- Selenium (Software) (11.09%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (14.56%)
- Kubernetes (9.8%)
- Project Management (18.16%)
- Scripting (24.02%)
- Process Improvement (8.3%)
- Ansible (12.56%)
- Scrum (Software Development) (7.2%)
- Windows PowerShell (9.54%)
- Test Planning (9.38%)
- Software Engineering (10.58%)
- Docker (Software) (8.82%)
- Automation Systems (12.56%)
- Terraform (10.31%)
- Commissioning (8.18%)
- Human Machine Interfaces (15.18%)
- Jenkins (14.65%)
- Programming Languages (10.53%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- DeltaV Distributed Control System (5%)
- Modbus (4.68%)
- PROFINET Standards (1.47%)
- Profibus (3.34%)
- Rockwell FactoryTalk (3.23%)
- Appium (2.91%)
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.
- CI/CD (26.43%)
- Automation (95.64%)
- Computer Science (35.58%)
- Modbus (5.13%)
- Profibus (3.67%)
- PROFINET Standards (1.62%)
- Appium (3.19%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Automation Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Controls Engineer
- Automation Controls Engineer
- Software Development Engineer in Test
- Quality Assurance Automation Engineer
- Cloud Automation Engineer
- Software Automation Engineer
- Network Automation Engineer
- Lead Automation Engineer
- Quality 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.
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
- Amazon (585)
- Apple (332)
- Actalent (258)
- Cognizant Technology Solutions (237)
- Insight Global (231)
- Jobot (208)
- Marriott International (187)
- JLL (185)
- Anywhere Real Estate (163)
- World Wide Technology (162)
North Carolina
- Actalent (33)
- Novo Nordisk (28)
- Fujifilm (24)
- Zachary Piper Solutions (24)
- Jobot (23)
- Insight Global (21)
- Biogen (17)
- Wells Fargo (16)
- Burger King (16)
- Genesis10 (15)
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.