More than the published average, if you want to hire one who is moving. Control Engineering’s 2026 Career and Salary Survey put average base pay for controls and automation professionals at $117,395, down 1.9% on the year before, with an average bonus of $16,315. That average includes a lot of engineers who have been in the same job for years. The engineers you’re trying to hire are the ones open to a move, and they move at today’s number.
The first gap is between integrators and end users. Integrators regularly tell us that manufacturers pay something like 20 to 25% more for the same engineer, and the benefits widen it again. End user engineers we speak to describe five weeks of vacation and a 6% immediately vested 401(k) match, where most integrator packages they’ve seen sit nearer 3%. If you’re an integrator, the number you’re competing with is often above your own band before the conversation starts.
The second gap is inside firms that haven’t reviewed their bands. Prices are up around 30% since 2020 on the BLS consumer price index, and some of the largest integrators in the country are still working from bands set before Covid. New hires come in at the current market while the engineer who has carried the team for six years sits at the top of an old band. Control Engineering’s tenure data shows the same shape. Pay peaks at around $132,000 for engineers 10 to 14 years with the same employer and falls to around $101,600 at 20 to 24 years. Those are the engineers most open to a call.
Profit share works when it has a track record and sits on top of base. Mid level engineers are generally happy to take a meaningful share on top of their salary. Above roughly $130,000 most want the money in the base, and an unguaranteed bonus used to bridge a gap in base is usually valued at close to nothing.
Base is only part of the offer. Hours above 40 paid on top of salary, travel stated in days with a radius, and a week that runs out Monday and home Friday rather than months away all win the conversation before money comes up.
To check your own number, pull three or four live ads for the closest role to yours, posted in the last month. Add 10 to 15% to the top of each range, because an advertised range is what a firm hopes to pay rather than what it pays for the engineer it wants. Then put your band next to it, along with anything a candidate said when they turned you down on money in the last six months. Most firms find they’re either fine or around 8% light.
If you want the current range for a specific platform, level and region, ask us. We’ll tell you what we’re seeing on calls with engineers that month.
