PLC programming jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills
As of 2026-09-28, PLC programming appears in 183 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — Automation Engineer has the most postings mentioning PLC programming, with demand down 70% vs the prior 4 weeks.
Last updated · 90d ending 2026-09-28
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Frequently asked questions about PLC programming
+Is PLC programming in demand in 2026?
Yes. PLC programming appears in 183 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-09-28, with demand down 70% vs the prior 4 weeks. Automation Engineer accounts for the most postings mentioning PLC programming (41.0% of all postings mentioning PLC programming).
+What jobs require PLC programming?
According to the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-28, among roles with at least 20 postings, the highest shares mentioning PLC programming are Automation Engineer (10.6% of that role’s postings mention PLC programming), Control Systems Engineer (8.3% of that role’s postings mention PLC programming), Automation and Controls Engineer (2.9% of that role’s postings mention PLC programming).
+What skills are commonly paired with PLC programming?
Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-09-28), PLC programming most often appears alongside SCADA, HMI, Ethernet/IP, Siemens, Python.
+Where is PLC programming most in demand?
As of 2026-09-28, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring PLC programming are Allentown, Costa Mesa, Houston, Philadelphia, Raleigh, according to the Skillenai jobs index.
+How can I keep up with new PLC programming content and jobs?
Skillenai indexes news, blog posts, and research papers mentioning PLC programming alongside the jobs index. You can subscribe to a daily email digest of new PLC programming content from your Skillenai account.
Weekly job postings requiring PLC programming — last 90 days
Roles most likely to require PLC programming
Among roles with at least 20 postings in the same period.
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | % of role postings mentioning skill |
|---|---|---|
| Automation Engineer | 75 | 10.6% |
| Control Systems Engineer | 4 | 8.3% |
| Automation and Controls Engineer | 1 | 2.9% |
| Test Engineer | 6 | 0.5% |
| Software Engineer in Test | 1 | 0.5% |
| Systems Engineer | 11 | 0.3% |
| Technical Lead | 1 | 0.3% |
| Embedded Software Engineer | 1 | 0.1% |
| Engineering Manager | 1 | 0.0% |
| Software Engineer | 7 | 0.0% |
Roles with the most PLC programming postings
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | Share of skill postings |
|---|---|---|
| Automation Engineer | 75 | 41.0% |
| Systems Engineer | 11 | 6.0% |
| Robotics & Automation Engineer | 8 | 4.4% |
| Software Engineer | 7 | 3.8% |
| Manufacturing Automation Engineer | 6 | 3.3% |
| Test Engineer | 6 | 3.3% |
| Controls & Automation Engineer | 5 | 2.7% |
| Automation & Controls Engineer | 4 | 2.2% |
| Control Systems Engineer | 4 | 2.2% |
| Industrial Automation Engineer | 4 | 2.2% |
Top metros hiring for PLC programming
| Name | Postings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Allentown | 3 | 1.6% |
| Costa Mesa | 3 | 1.6% |
| Houston | 3 | 1.6% |
| Philadelphia | 3 | 1.6% |
| Raleigh | 3 | 1.6% |
| Redmond | 3 | 1.6% |
| Suzhou | 3 | 1.6% |
| Atlanta | 2 | 1.1% |
| Bogotá | 2 | 1.1% |
Skills commonly paired with PLC programming
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How this was computed
Counts derive from the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-28. Skills are resolved against the Skillenai canonical taxonomy, so the same entity is counted whether a posting writes 'Python', 'Python 3', or 'python'. Role prevalence divides postings mentioning PLC programming by all postings for each role in the same window, ranking roles with at least 20 postings. Role distribution divides each role’s PLC programming postings by all PLC programming postings, including postings without a role. Shares need not sum to 100% for the displayed roles. Pages refresh weekly (or daily for the top-50 most-requested skills).
- source
- Skillenai jobs index, deduplicated daily
- entity_id
- bc0c4f8b4179d2f8
- data_as_of
- 2026-09-28
- window_days
- 90
The demand, skills, and geo numbers on this page come from the same Skillenai labor market index that powers our API. Use it for compensation benchmarking, hiring-competition analysis, and skill-adoption tracking.
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