What are the Leading Industrial Automation Job Types? (Part 1 of 2)

Are you looking for an Industrial Automation job? And if so, in which functional area of automation, would you apply and use your talents and knowledge towards?

Industrial Automation Job Functions

There are many automation job types for sure. And it doesn’t mean if you pick a particular job you will stay with it throughout your career.

Like any other career, you will have career goals, and learn about job opportunities along the way. So, get your foot in the door of a good organization, learn and grow.

These job functions will range from starting out your career perhaps as an Instrument and Electrical Technician, and then more advanced skill sets are required for Programmable Logic Controller Programmers, Electrical and Controls design, and then into IT-related functions such as business and process control network segmenting, database management administration duties for database design, SQL scripting for regulatory report generation and historical data collection.

Industrial Automation Jobs

Some of the exciting and challenging jobs performed by Industrial Controls Automation professionals are:

– Automation Product Manager

– Automation Project Manager

– Industrial Automation Sales Engineer

– Automation Controls Engineer

– Automation Application Engineer

– Field Systems Engineer

– PLC Programmer

– Automation Technician

This rewarding industry is in great demand for automation professionals like you.

We will give you an idea of some job descriptions and provide some insight to prepare you with some frequently asked questions for your next job interview.

Industrial Automation Technician

The Automation Technician will provide routine diagnostic checks, repair and maintain instruments, electrical wiring, mechanical plumbing, and control systems. They are fluent in, and in some cases, have certified knowledge of electronics, mechanics and programmable logic controllers.

Field Systems Engineer

The Field Systems Engineer will travel and provide on-site technical direction to customers, to engineering and operations departments, make field related adjustments to programming, complete installation, and commissioning of related automated equipment.

Industrial Automation Engineer

The Automation Engineer will design, program, simulate and commission automated machines and plant-wide processes to perform many job functions.

Depending on the size of the organization this engineer will perform some or all of these responsibilities.

Industrial Automation Sales Engineer

The Industrial Automation Sales Engineer will be able to perform all of the duties of an Automation Engineer, and in many cases, the Field Systems Engineer and Technician.

Just as important they will have the skill sets to effectively develop and execute sales of automation solutions.

Average Salary of an Automation Engineer

So, what can you earn as an Automation professional? Of course, this varies on where you live, but according to our most recent research, the salary compensation for the United States and Germany, for example, are on the average of $90,400 a year and 81.000€ per year respectively.

Average Automation Engineer Salary in the USA

The average salary of an Automation Engineer is $90,411 per year in the United States. Salary estimates are based on 3,356 salaries submitted anonymously to Indeed by Automation Engineer employees, users, and collected from past and present job advertisements on Indeed in the past 36 months. The typical tenure for an Automation Engineer is 1-3 years.

Average Automation Engineer Salary in Germany

The average automation engineer salary in Germany is 80.967€ or an equivalent hourly rate of 39€. In addition, they earn an average bonus of 3.101€.

Salary estimates based on salary survey data collected directly from employers and anonymous employees in Germany.

The job description and degree of responsibilities vary and so you should align your capabilities with the experience required. Get your foot in the door and prove yourself to get the next level of experience, this could happen very fast, so keep learning.

Now that we have learned about the Automation Job types let’s continue to learn more about some of the questions you’ll be asked during an interview, in our next article, “How to Prepare for the Job Interview Questions as an Automation Engineer“.

If you would like to get additional training on a similar subject please let us know in the comment section.

Check back with us soon for more automation control topics.

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The RealPars Team

▶ What are the leading Industrial Automation Job types? (Part 1 of 2)

Top 13 Automation Engineer Interview Questions & Answers (Part 2 of 2)

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