Automation has made its way into the enterprise, with a 2025 study from Stanford finding that private investment in AI grew to over $109 billion in the US, 12 times China’s $9.3 billion and 24 times the UK’s $4.5 billion. Generative AI alone garnered $33.9 billion in private investment globally, an increase of 18.7% since 2023. And businesses are seemingly adopting AI faster than ever, with 78% of organizations reported using AI in 2024, up from 55% the previous year.
Despite being a somewhat contentious topic, especially for employees who have concerns about being replaced by AI, it’s clear that regardless of how people feel about automation, it’s here to stay. Businesses across every industry are quickly embracing automation technologies to streamline IT, business development, and service processes. And as automation increases, so has the demand for automation engineers to help facilitate, manage, and oversee enterprise automation.
The automation engineer role
Automation has been a cornerstone of the manufacturing industry for decades, but it’s relatively new to the business, healthcare, and finance industries. Outside of manufacturing and factory automation, IT automation is typically focused on service automation and QA testing of automated processes. The goal of an automation engineer is to eliminate defects, errors, and problems with product or software development, and with business or customer service processes.
Businesses are also increasingly embracing automated chatbots to help solve customer issues or direct them to the right person, and automation engineers help build, implement, and maintain that technology. Automation is also used to streamline IT help desk ticketing, service management, and deliver quality products and software faster, with fewer defects. Ultimately, the goal of an automation engineer is to reduce the load on workers and improve efficiency and reliability by streamlining manual processes that are redundant or inconsistent.
What does an automation engineer do?
In IT, an automation engineer refers to someone who delivers automated solutions for software processes to improve efficiency, boost performance, and maintain systems. As a software automation engineer, you’ll have to work closely with other teams to help discover and eliminate problems by gathering requirements and implementing process automation. Sometimes this will include hardware or software, but other times you might be asked to automate service or business processes.
Responsibilities vary depending on the industry and specific company, but in general an automation engineer is expected to:
Identify opportunities for automation within software processes.
Design and execute QA tests using scripts that automatically test functionality.
Run tests for databases, systems, networks, applications, hardware, and software.
Identify bugs and quality issues in development, service, or business processes.
Install applications and databases relevant to automation.
Collaborate with other business units to understand how automation can improve workflow.
Gather requirements from clients, customers, or end-users to develop the best automation solutions.
Automation engineering and AI
Automation has existed long before AI, dating back to the 18th century industrial revolution as machines were introduced to alleviate physical labor and increase productivity. But as technology has evolved, so too have robotics and automation, transforming several industries. And now AI has entered the scene, making it even easier to automate tasks and mitigate human error.
While AI has certainly become a useful tool, allowing for more efficient and intelligent automation through predictive systems, it can’t replace automation engineering entirely.
Instead, AI has become a part of automation engineering to reduce human error and labor-intensive tasks, manage data-intensive tasks, and decrease the time it takes to code, program, and troubleshoot automated processes. It can also help with automating parts of the QA process and solving minor issues or mistakes without needing human intervention, which can improve time-to-market speeds. But AI automation still requires human engineers who can problem-solve and navigate the complexities of enterprise networks, systems, and software.
How much does an automation engineer earn?
The average automation engineer salary is $116,000 per year, according to recent data from Glassdoor, with a reported annual salary range of $92,000 to $148,000. Senior automation engineers report an average annual salary of $153,000, with a reported range of $125,000 to $189,000.
In terms of annual salaries, the top paying industries for automation engineers, according to further data from Glassdoor, are:
Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology: $159,047
Media & Communications: $150,173
Information Technology: $148,120
Healthcare: $138,955
Retail & Wholesale: $137,843
What it takes to be an automation engineer
As an automation engineer, you’ll need a wide range of technical and soft skills, as well as a need to understand the systems, networks, hardware, and software you’re working with. But you also need the skills to communicate and collaborate with other business units, clients, and customers.
The job requires coding and programming skills in languages such as C#, SQL, and Java, but the languages and tools needed will vary by industry. Also required is a working knowledge of mobile, web, and desktop operating systems, and experience with electrical and mechanical systems, analytics, robotics, AI, and machine learning.
Soft skills like communication and teamwork are important, as well as strong problem-solving skills to identify efficient and cost-effective solutions for process improvements. Leadership and project management skills are also critical as you’ll need to lead cross-departmental efforts to help streamline business processes.
Some other common skills for an automation engineer include Agile, cloud, and DevOps, as well as experience in computer science or engineering.
How to become an automation engineer
You’ll need at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a similar field to become an automation engineer. You’ll want a program that includes courses on robotics, databases, statistics, AI, control systems, and artificial neural networks (ANN). Depending on the role, some employers will also want a master’s degree and experience with manual and automated testing procedures.
Automation jobs often combine engineering, science, and IT but the skills you need will vary by industry. You’ll want to look at different job descriptions for automation engineers in different industries to get a better sense of the skills, tools, and education relevant to those industries.
Types of automation engineers
While QA automation engineer is the most common IT automation job title, there are several others that fall under the same category, including those aimed at building and developing services and solutions to bring automation into the workplace. Some positions focus on the cloud, while others focus on automating with specific tools or services available on the market.
The roles and responsibilities fluctuate with each job description, and there are several different career avenues available for an automation engineer. According to PayScale, these include:
Automation design engineer
Automation systems engineer
Automation specialist
Selenium automation engineer
Software QA automation engineer
Cloud automation engineer
End-to-end automation engineer
Test automation engineer
Automation tools
The most commonly used software for automation engineering is automated testing software. These tools help businesses automate alerts, integrate QA processes, and test automation processes in the organization. They can also help solve automation problems, deliver reports, and automate the QA testing process.
According to data from Capterra, the highest rated automation testing software tools include:
AccelQ
QA Wolf
PFLB
Subject7
Mr Suricate
Mailinator
Postman
MagicPod
Rainforest
LambdaTest
Automation certifications
Automation is a relatively new field, but certifications are emerging to help you validate your automation skills. You’ll want a well-rounded technical background in IT, and certifications may be industry-related, but several automation-specific certifications include:
ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP)
ISA Certified Control Systems Technician (CCST)
IIST Certified Software Test Automation Specialist (CSTAS)
IIST Certified Software Test Automation Architect (CSTAA)
ISA Control Systems Engineer (CSE) Licensing
ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Level, Test Automation Engineer (CTAL-TAE)
ISTQB Certified Tester Security Tester (CT-SEC)
ITSQB Certified Tester Foundational Level Agile Tester (CTFL-AT)
QAI Certified Associate in Software Testing (CAST)
QAI Quality Assurance Institute Certified Software Tester (CSTE)
QAI Certified Manager of Software Testing (CMST)
More on automation:
Intelligent automation: The future of RPA
7 keys to an effective IT automation strategy
10 signs your automation is in trouble