Automation Engineers

Strong employment opportunities are expected for automation engineers during the next decade due to the growing demand for automation by non-manufacturing industries; the continued need for automation in manufacturing; the emergence of artificial intelligence (especially generative AI), the Internet of Things, and other technologies; and other factors. “As automation increases, organizations across every industry are looking for automation engineers to help facilitate, manage, and oversee enterprise automation,” according to a CIO.com.

Demand in industrial automation should be especially strong. "Engineers in industrial automation are experiencing heightened demand to develop and refine various systems, including robots, distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers, and supervisory control and data acquisition technologies," according to Robotics & Automation magazine. "The integration of cybersecurity systems to protect these systems has also become a priority."

Automation engineers who have advanced degrees, certification, and knowledge of automation processes in multiple industries will have the best job prospects.