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How to hire an automation engineer

Automation engineer hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring automation engineers in the United States:

  • The median cost to hire an automation engineer is $1,633.
  • It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
  • HR departments typically allocate 15% of their budget towards recruitment efforts.
  • Small businesses spend $1,105 per automation engineer on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
  • It takes approximately 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
  • There are a total of 91,711 automation engineers in the US, and there are currently 133,941 job openings in this field.
  • Indianapolis, IN, has the highest demand for automation engineers, with 48 job openings.

How to hire an automation engineer, step by step

To hire an automation engineer, you need to identify the specific skills and experience you want in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and advertise the job opening to attract potential candidates. To hire an automation engineer, you should follow these steps:

Here's a step-by-step automation engineer hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write an automation engineer job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new automation engineer
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an automation engineer do?

An automation engineer takes charge of developing detailed design specifications and any other documents. Automation engineers develop automation software that is based on certain requirements for the involved process. They conform to local standards, international standards, and other process-oriented guidelines. Their duties also include the simulation and testing of automated machinery and processes. The must-have skills for this position include configuration software experience, scripting and coding expertise, certifications, and in-depth knowledge of technology.

Learn more about the specifics of what an automation engineer does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    Before you post your automation engineer job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an automation engineer for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

    Determine employee vs contractor status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    Hiring the perfect automation engineer also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

    This list shows salaries for various types of automation engineers.

    Type of Automation EngineerDescriptionHourly rate
    Automation Engineer$33-58
    Quality Assurance TesterA quality assurance tester, also known as QA tester, has different responsibilities depending on the line of work or industry involved. In a computer development setting, they are in charge of working and coordinating with technical engineers... Show more$26-47
    TesterThe role of technical testers is to test computer software for defects, bug errors, or any issues that may come across by an end-user. They mainly conduct product testing and prepare reports about any problems or recommendations for improvements... Show more$20-47
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • Python
    • Java
    • PLC
    • HMI
    • GIT
    • Control Systems
    • C++
    • C #
    • Jenkins
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Azure
    • SCADA
    • Ruby
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Perform inter-departmental audits documenting ISO compliant results with associate corrective action requests in order to achieve company-wide certification.
    • Design and develop automation framework settings and implementation of Java, JavaScript.
    • Develop automation scripts for quality assurance in Perl and ruby.
    • Develop and maintain an automation tool written in Perl which are used to perform the build verification and regression test.
    • Execute the batches (shell scripts) in UNIX that invokes Java programs and SQL loader to load data into tables.
    • Involve in documenting test cases and packaging test suites and making them available to all of engineering and QA using JIRA.
    More automation engineer duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in the automation engineer job description is a good way to get more applicants. An automation engineer salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

    For example, the average salary for an automation engineer in Kansas may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level automation engineer. Additionally, an automation engineer with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

    Average automation engineer salary

    $92,597yearly

    $44.52 hourly rate

    Entry-level automation engineer salary
    $70,000 yearly salary
    Updated December 15, 2025

    Average automation engineer salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1California$129,922$62
    2Washington$101,488$49
    3Oregon$95,805$46
    4Massachusetts$92,938$45
    5District of Columbia$89,807$43
    6Virginia$89,761$43
    7Maine$89,563$43
    8Arizona$89,386$43
    9Texas$88,403$43
    10Utah$87,148$42
    11New York$87,003$42
    12Pennsylvania$85,999$41
    13North Carolina$82,713$40
    14Minnesota$82,207$40
    15Colorado$81,430$39
    16Indiana$80,288$39
    17Mississippi$79,954$38
    18Georgia$79,840$38
    19Kentucky$79,763$38
    20Florida$79,639$38

    Average automation engineer salary by company

    RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rateJob openings
    1Meta$149,819$72.032,894
    2Apple$144,255$69.35501
    3Google$143,987$69.22309
    4eBay$134,913$64.8618
    5Evernote$133,920$64.38
    6Amazon$133,244$64.06785
    7Netgear$131,249$63.10
    8Grubhub$129,391$62.211
    9Fungible$127,350$61.23
    1010x Genomics$126,869$60.991
    11Pure Storage$126,329$60.741
    12Skyfire$126,291$60.72
    13Microsoft$125,496$60.33277
    14Palo Alto Networks$125,312$60.2539
    15AppDynamics$124,964$60.08
    16Safeway$124,915$60.06
    17Snowflake Computing$124,801$60.0012
    18Macy's$124,603$59.91
    19Zendesk$124,314$59.77
    20OpenTable$124,200$59.71
  4. Writing an automation engineer job description

    An automation engineer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of an automation engineer job description:

    Automation engineer job description example

    • Designs and defines system architecture for new or existing computer systems.
    • Coordinates system development to include design, modeling, security, integration and formal testing.
    • Manages and documents system configurations.
    • Oversees the transition into production process.
    • Creates and maintains programmatic and technical documentation to insure efficient planning and execution.
    • Responsible for collaborating with business units to understand how automation can improve workflow opportunities for automation within software processes; gathering requirements from clients, customers or end-users to develop the best automation solutions; designing and executing quality assurance tests using scripts that automatically test functionality; integrating systems via direct connections and/or rest application plug-ins; setting technical thresholds, and developing, deploying and maintain scripts so they accomplish their intended function.
    • Qualifications Include: Demonstrated experience in automating technical processes to achieve a positive business impact through systems integration and custom scripting in one of the following programming languages (C#, SQL, Java, Python, and/or R).
    • Education: Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering and 7 years of experience with robotics, statistics, artificial intelligence, or machine learning.


    Desired Qualifications: BA/BS (or equivalent experience), 5+ years of experience

    Required Certification: DoD8570 IAT II

    DESIRED Certification: CTAL-TAE (Certified Tester Advanced Level - Test Automation Engineer).

    Automation engineers must possess an ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP) credential before starting on the ECS3 task order.

    Will be required to secure certification after hire.

    Scheduled Weekly Hours:

    40

    Travel Required:

    None

    Telecommuting Options:

    Onsite

    Work Location:

    USA DC Washington

    Additional Work Locations:

    COVID-19 Vaccination: GDIT does not have a vaccination mandate applicable to all employees. To protect the health and safety of its employees and to comply with customer requirements, however, GDIT may require employees in certain positions to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccination requirements will depend on the status of the federal contractor mandate and customer site requirements.We are GDIT. The people supporting some of the most complex government, defense, and intelligence projects across the country. We deliver. Bringing the expertise needed to understand and advance critical missions. We transform. Shifting the ways clients invest in, integrate, and innovate technology solutions. We ensure today is safe and tomorrow is smarter. We are there. On the ground, beside our clients, in the lab, and everywhere in between. Offering the technology transformations, strategy, and mission services needed to get the job done.GDIT is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status, or any other protected class.
  5. Post your job

    There are various strategies that you can use to find the right automation engineer for your business:

    • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
    • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
    • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
    • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.
    To find automation engineer candidates, you can consider the following options:
    • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
    • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
    • Post your job on free job posting websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    Your first interview with automation engineer candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

    It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

    Sometimes, it's not enough to interview automation engineer candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

    • TestDome
    • CodeSignal
    • Testlify
    • BarRaiser
    • Coderbyte

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new automation engineer

    Once you've found the automation engineer candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

    It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

    To prepare for the new automation engineer first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire an automation engineer?

Recruiting automation engineers involves both the one-time costs of hiring and the ongoing costs of adding a new employee to your team. Your spending during the hiring process will mostly be on things like promoting the job on job boards, reviewing and interviewing candidates, and onboarding the new hire. Ongoing costs will obviously involve the employee's salary, but also may include things like benefits.

You can expect to pay around $92,597 per year for an automation engineer, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for automation engineers in the US typically range between $33 and $58 an hour.

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