Manager, Industrial Controls Engineering

Symbotic; United States; Remote; USD 144,000 - 211,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

401K

Job summary

Symbotic is seeking a Manager, Industrial Controls Engineering to lead and scale a growing team responsible for PLC, HMI, and control system implementations across warehouse automation solutions.

The role focuses on leadership, technical excellence, and cross-functional collaboration, with travel up to 40% and a base compensation package including medical, dental, vision, 401K, and PTO. Strong organizational and communication skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years of management experience and 8 years total experience.
• 8+ years programming PLCs, HMIs, drives, and automation systems.
• 3+ years people leadership managing technical teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a growing team of Industrial Controls Engineers.
• Establish performance expectations and career development plans.
• Drive recruitment, succession planning, and organizational development.
• Own engineering execution for Industrial Controls implementations and deployments.
• Ensure high-quality PLC and HMI solutions and maintainable architectures.
• Influence controls architecture and technology direction for scalability.
• Communicate status, risks, and recommendations to leadership.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate strategy into roadmaps.

Skills

Leadership

Industrial automation

PLC programming

HMI development

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Controls/Automation Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Rockwell Automation (ControlLogix/GuardLogix)

Ignition

FactoryTalk ME/SE

Jira

Job description

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USA Remote & Travel

Manager, Industrial Controls Engineering

Time type: full time. Posted on: October 26, 2026. Job requisition id: R8331.

What we need

Symbotic is seeking for a Manager, Industrial Controls Engineering to join our Industrial Controls team within our Industrial Controls organization. Your job will be to lead and scale the Industrial Controls function responsible for supporting the implementation of industrial control systems that power our automation solutions.

What we do

The Industrial Controls organization develops, deploys, and supports PLC software, HMI applications, electrical hardware, industrial networks, and engineering tools that power our warehouse automation systems.

Industrial Controls Engineering serves as the technical foundation for system functionality, reliability, safety, and performance. The team is responsible for supporting product releases and ensuring successful deployment and sustainment of automation solutions across customer sites.

The Manager of Industrial Controls Engineering shapes how the organization implements and scales its controls technologies while driving engineering excellence across the project and product lifecycle.

What you'll do

• Lead, coach, and develop a growing team of Industrial Controls Engineers supporting development, implementation, and sustaining engineering activities.
• Establish performance expectations, career development plans, and technical competency frameworks that support both individual growth and organizational needs.
• Drive workforce planning, recruiting, succession planning, and organizational development initiatives.
• Foster a culture of accountability, technical excellence, innovation, safety, and continuous improvement.
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders while promoting knowledge sharing, collaboration, and engineering best practices.
• Own engineering execution across Industrial Controls implementation and deployment activities.
• Establish processes that ensure delivery of high-quality, reliable, and maintainable PLC and HMI solutions.
• Balance engineering resources against business priorities, customer commitments, and strategic objectives.
• Provide leadership and oversight for complex technical initiatives, troubleshooting efforts, and escalations.
• Drive technical decision-making while ensuring consistency with established architectures, standards, and product strategies.
• Support implementation and deployment of new control system capabilities and enhancement of existing platforms.
• Champion rigorous validation and testing strategies to ensure system performance, reliability, and safety requirements are met.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that increase engineering productivity and reduce development, commissioning, and support efforts.
• Partner with Industrial Controls leadership to translate organizational strategy into technical roadmaps and execution plans.
• Identify technical risks, capability gaps, and opportunities for process and platform improvements.
• Drive initiatives that improve deployment efficiency, operational performance, and customer outcomes.
• Influence long-term controls architecture and technology direction to support business growth and platform scalability.
• Partner with Release Management and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure seamless deployment of control system updates.
• Communicate engineering status, technical risks, and strategic recommendations to Industrial Controls leadership.
• Build strong relationships with customers and internal partners to understand challenges, gather feedback, and improve solutions.
• Support critical customer issues and operational escalations when necessary.

What you'll need

• Minimum of 2 years of management experience and 8 years of total work experience.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Automation Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience programming PLCs, HMIs, drives, and related industrial control technologies and deploying industrial automation and control systems.
• Minimum of 3 years of people leadership experience managing Controls Engineers or other highly technical engineering teams.
• Demonstrated success leading complex industrial automation projects involving hardware, software, and integrated system architectures.
• Advanced experience with Rockwell Automation PLC platforms including ControlLogix and GuardLogix.
• Experience developing HMI applications using platforms such as Ignition and FactoryTalk ME/SE.
• Strong knowledge of industrial networking technologies and control system architectures.
• Strong troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills for complex automated systems.
• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, control drawings, and system architecture documentation.
• Proven ability to drive outcomes through influence, collaboration, and technical leadership.
• Strong communication, organizational leadership, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience in warehouse automation, robotics, material handling, or other complex automated systems preferred.
• Knowledge of power systems, AC/DC drive architectures, and motion control systems preferred.
• Experience supporting New Product Introduction (NPI), sustaining engineering, and large-scale deployment programs preferred.
• Experience with Agile development methodologies, Jira, and modern engineering development processes preferred.Experience providing 24/7 customer support preferred.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Engineering Management, or a related technical discipline preferred.

Our Environment

• Up to 40% of travel may be required. Employees must have a valid driver's license and the ability to drive and/or fly to client locations and company HQ.
• Employees may be required to use a personal credit card for business travel expenses, which are reimbursed based on the program guidelines. Eligible employees may receive a corporate credit card based on role and travel requirements, but a personal credit card may be needed during onboarding until the corporate card is issued.

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The base range for this position in the posted location is $144,000.00 - $211,200.00 however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The compensation package includes medical, dental, vision, disability, 401K, PTO and/or other benefits.