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Automation Engineers in Germany

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PLC control, SCADA integration, robotic cells, and industrial commissioning need people who can keep systems stable and code clean. FRATCH matches you fast with vetted, available freelancers who know the work.

Meet FRATCH Automation Engineers in Germany

Verified expert

Emil O.

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Automation & Software Engineer | Industrial Automation

Emil O.

Last position:

Automation Engineer In House at Prevas AB

Working as an Automation Engineer in Prevas' in-house engineering team. My primary assignment involves developing and expanding ABB 800xA SCADA systems for a large-scale data center project. Responsibilities include SCADA graphic design, alarm management, system integration using OPC UA and Modbus, testing, verification, documentation, and commissioning support. In addition, I contribute to PLC and HMI development projects using Siemens, Rockwell, and ABB platforms and provide 24/7 remote support for industrial customers.

  • ABB 800xA & ControlBuilder/ AC800M
  • Rockwell Studio 5000 Logix Designer
  • Siemens TIA Portal
  • ABB 800xA
  • Remote Support
  • Troubleshooting hardware/software
Verified expert

Philipp S.

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Senior Full-Stack Engineer | Certified Data Scientist (XDI) | Digital Strategist

Rostock
Philipp S.

Last position:

Solution Architect, Software Engineer, UX/UI Designer, Full-Stack Developer, Data Engineer, IT Consultant at Geigenbau-Meisterwerkstatt

  • A digital system made up of special software and hardware components. The overall system replaces the traditional process with job slips and handwritten notes and enables more efficient order intake. Orders and work steps for the violin-making company’s projects can now be recorded, processed and logged in real time directly on the workshop’s touchscreen PC, by mobile phone or on the desktop. This gives customers a more transparent view of the work on their instruments and allows them to track the status and progress of their instrument through their customer account.

Tech stack: next.js, React, Flutter, Dart, Raspberry, Linux, Directus

Verified expert

Julian H.

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Senior IT Project & Program Manager | 12+ Years | AI, Cloud, Data, Rollouts, Transformation

Solingen
Julian H.

Last position:

IT Project Manager AI Product for Automating Knowledge-Intensive Processes at Leading provider of large-scale catering & food services

Project: Design and implementation of an AI product for four business use cases

Project management for an AI project at a leading provider of large-scale catering and food services, where a production-ready AI product for four use cases was implemented together with an external development partner: automated briefings based on CRM and document data, voice-based capture and structuring of reports, detection and consolidation of duplicates in master data, and data-based market analyses. A key focus was a data-protection-compliant architecture that passed the internal IT security review and enabled production use.

  • Translation of business requirements into clearly defined AI use cases with a focused product scope and clear value proposition
  • Selection and evaluation of models and architecture options for text extraction, speech-to-text, and context enrichment from business systems, including LLM integration, function calling, and retrieval
  • Development and implementation of an architecture with European hosting, data minimization, and masking of personal data as a prerequisite for approval
  • Management of interfaces between business departments, IT, IT security, and the external development partner under restrictive data access conditions
  • Coordination with the CIO and executive management levels on data access, risk assessment, and approval decisions
  • Preparation for the transition to production use
Verified expert

Piet A.

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Senior Product Engineer / Automation Developer

Cologne
Piet A.

Last position:

Founder at RubberMetrics.com

  • Self-hosted table tennis equipment platform.
  • Development of a custom “Racket Builder” that uses a co-evolutionary genetic algorithm to identify, evaluate, and recommend the optimal combinations of racket blades and rubbers based on physics heuristics and player data within a search space of over 4 billion combinations.
  • Development of a custom fully automated web crawler to capture equipment specifications, integrating an automated pipeline for image normalization as well as data harmonization via DeepSeek.
  • Cloudflare Edge Workers written in Rust to perform low-latency data searches and offload computationally intensive simulations from the main server.
  • High performance and accessibility standards across a large Nuxt 4 codebase achieving 95–100/100/100 Lighthouse scores.
Verified expert

Tommy S.

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AI Systems Architect · Agentic AI, RAG & Production Automation

Berlin
Tommy S.

Last position:

Process Manager · Order-to-Cash & Automation at EWE Tel GmbH

  • Root cause analysis of complex business, technical, and data-related errors in PowerCloud across process, booking, and system boundaries.
  • Data-driven management of payments and receivables; contributed to reducing historical receivables from over 100 Mio. EUR to under 25 Mio. EUR.
  • Identification of automation and straight-through processing potential at the interface between business departments, IT, and external service providers.
Verified expert

Youness R.

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Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Automation Technology | Self-employed Entrepreneur

Neuss
Youness R.

Last position:

Communication modernization and recipe management between S7-300, S7-1500 and WinCC V7 at Siemens AG

  • Consulting and development of suitable communication concepts between S7-300 and S7-1500, taking the existing PROFIBUS infrastructure into account
  • Technical support for connecting the S7-300 controllers to the existing recipe data block of the S7-1500
  • Assisting in the development of the communication sequence for recipe access (read, write, acknowledge, status handling)
  • Configuration of S7 communication (PUT/GET)
  • Creation and adaptation of WinCC V7 scripts (C scripts and VBS scripts) for WinCC-based recipe management
  • Development, optimization, and integration of recipe processes into the existing WinCC project structure
  • Commissioning of the new communication interfaces and recommissioning of the recipe logic on existing systems
  • Creation of technical documents: communication sequences, functional descriptions, commissioning documentation
Verified expert

Jens M.

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Project Management Operations: Plant Engineering, Production, Quality, Procurement

Maisach
Jens M.

Last position:

Automation project manager at Capgemini Engineering @ ACC Battery Factory

PSA, Peugeot Citroën, France (10/2023 – 05/2024)

  • Launch Manager for electrode production rolling lines
  • Setup, modernization, and commissioning of cleanroom production equipment
  • Management of a team of 15 Chinese technicians
  • Recovery of a three-month delay and on-schedule delivery
Verified expert

Artyom N.

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Senior Software & Cloud Consultant

Ludwigsburg
Artyom N.

Last position:

AI Automation Engineer & Solution Architect at Technology Research Project

Designed and developed an AI-powered automation platform using n8n to analyze social media niches, identify target audiences, and automate marketing strategy generation. The solution combined AI agents, workflow orchestration, and data analysis to automate research processes and generate data-driven insights.

  • Designed and implemented complex automation workflows using n8n
  • Developed AI-powered analysis agents for market and audience research
  • Integrated multiple APIs and AI services into automated workflows
  • Built automated market, competitor, and target audience analysis pipelines
  • Leveraged Large Language Models (LLMs) for information summarization, classification, and prioritization
  • Containerized and deployed the platform using Docker

Technologies: n8n, AI Agents, OpenAI APIs, Prompt Engineering, LLMs, Docker, Linux, REST APIs, Webhooks

Verified expert

Mojtaba P.

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Forward Deploy Engineer | AI Voicebots · RAG · Prompt Engineering

Iserlohn
Mojtaba P.

Last position:

AI Voice / RAG / Automation Engineer & Technical Project Manager at Technolohit

  • Technical design, prioritization, and hands-on implementation of AI automation, conversational AI, voice AI, and private AI solutions.
  • Translation of business requirements into system architecture, conversation/workflow logic, APIs, data flows, and production-ready AI workflows.
  • Development of backend and integration components with Python/FastAPI, PostgreSQL/pgvector, Redis, REST APIs, webhooks, and background jobs.
  • Design and implementation of RAG architectures with local/private LLMs, embeddings, document processing, semantic search, and controlled access to company knowledge.
  • Prompt engineering for LLM and voice/conversational AI applications; iterative optimization based on real processes, system responses, and quality requirements.
  • Practical work with ElevenLabs and its APIs in a voice AI project, as well as technical evaluation and integration of voice AI components.
  • Deployment and operation of Docker-based systems on Linux with Nginx, CI/CD, monitoring/logging, backup/restore, and reproducible deployment processes.
Verified expert

Eduard H.

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Forward Deployed AI Engineer | Agentic AI, Enterprise APIs & Automation

Berlin
Eduard H.

Last position:

Founder & Technical Lead | Enterprise Data Quality API at ADDRESSA

Built and scaled a high-performance enterprise API for real-time address validation and data quality with sub-second latency and 99.9 % availability.

Designed and integrated the solution into e-commerce, checkout, and logistics processes of leading European companies. Reduced delivery errors and shipping costs through automated data correction and precise data validation.

End-to-end responsibility for product strategy, technical architecture, software development, enterprise customers, operations, and GDPR-compliant data processing. Combined AI-native engineering workflows, Python, SQL, API integration, data quality, and workflow automation.

Verified expert

Andreas E.

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Modern Workplace

Nortrup
Andreas E.

Last position:

IT Compliance & Security at Bellaseno GmbH

Conducting a GAP analysis to assess existing security measures → identifying critical vulnerabilities

Developing an action plan that takes risk and cost-effectiveness into account

Introducing an IT maturity model based on BSI guidelines

Advising management on compliance, governance, and security strategy

Establishing internal processes for a sustainable security organization

Verified expert

Florian U.

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Senior AI Automation Engineer · AI Automation · GTM Systems · SaaS Development · Data Platforms & APIs

Meckenheim
Florian U.

Last position:

Co-Founder & Managing Director at Allbound Solutions GmbH

  • Implemented customer-specific data, GTM, web, and automation systems from requirements gathering through controlled deployment.
  • Built multi-tenant research and delivery platforms with TypeScript/Node.js, React, APIs, LLM integration, and automated checks.
  • Connected HubSpot, Notion, Clay, Smartlead, n8n, and Make with traceable handoffs, deduplication, error paths, and approvals.
Verified expert

Victor O.

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Senior Software & Security Engineer · Systems Analysis · Automation Architecture

Berlin
Victor O.

Last position:

AI Training Engineer at Confidential AI Research Client

  • Codebase Evaluation & Problem Design: Designed and stress-tested complex software engineering problems against large open-source Python codebases (including pandas), requiring deep context acquisition and architectural understanding to produce well-scoped, realistic problem statements aligned to strict correctness guidelines.
  • Agent Failure Analysis: Assessed LLM coding agent solutions for correctness and completeness, identifying meaningful failures across edge case handling, dtype behaviour, and multi-column NaN propagation logic; documented findings with precision for downstream evaluation use.
  • Programmatic Test Suite Development: Authored comprehensive pytest suites to programmatically verify agent-generated solutions against defined requirements, with deliberate coverage of boundary conditions and failure modes not caught by naive implementations.
  • Containerised Environment Engineering: Built and debugged Docker environments for reproducible agent execution, including git-based repository provisioning, dependency pinning with npm ci, and multi-stage Dockerfile authoring across Linux-based containers.
Verified expert

Thomas M.

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Senior Software Developer & Software Architect | WordPress/WooCommerce · Wix/Velo · Kajabi · APIs

Neumagen-Dhron
Thomas M.

Last position:

Software Architect for Wix, Stripe & SaaS Integration at Axxessio / Sign2x (via DLB Studio)

Overall architecture and technical implementation of a Wix-based subscription frontend with Stripe payments and connection to Axxessio's SaaS backend. Implemented Stripe Checkout, subscriptions, webhooks, and transaction logging end to end. Customer data and contract information transferred automatically via a JWT-protected REST API. Designed and documented proxy and security architecture for IP whitelisting, HMAC, and operations, and aligned it with the backend team.

Stack: Wix Studio, Wix Velo, JavaScript, Stripe, Webhooks, JWT, HMAC, REST API, Hetzner, Cloudflare

Discover over 15,000 top freelancers

Automation Engineers statistics

Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.

Experience

14 years

Automation Engineers in Germany have 14 years of professional experience on average.

Position duration

2.5 years

Automation Engineers in Germany stay in a single position for 2.5 years on average.

Positions per freelancer

10

Automation Engineers in Germany have completed 10 positions on average over the course of their careers.

Top business areas

Information Technology, Product Development, Operations

Automation Engineers in Germany have gathered most of their hands-on project experience in Information Technology, Product Development, and Operations.

Top industries

Manufacturing, Information Technology, Automotive

Automation Engineers in Germany are most in demand in Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Automotive.

Certification focus areas

Information Technology, Product Development, Quality Assurance

Automation Engineers in Germany earn their certifications most often in Information Technology, Product Development, and Quality Assurance.

Bachelor's degree or higher

85%

85% of Automation Engineers in Germany hold at least a Bachelor's degree.

Master's degree or higher

49%

49% of Automation Engineers in Germany hold at least a Master's degree.

Doctorate

8%

8% of Automation Engineers in Germany have a doctorate (PhD).

Certifications per freelancer

2

Automation Engineers in Germany hold 2 professional certifications on average.

Most common languages

German, English, French

Automation Engineers in Germany most often speak German, English, and French.

Speak two or more languages

92%

92% of Automation Engineers in Germany speak two or more languages.

Based on our profile pool as of 14 Oct 2026.

Daily rate distribution

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
5% of Automation Engineers in Germany charge less than €400 per day.
57% of Automation Engineers in Germany charge between €400 and €800 per day.
34% of Automation Engineers in Germany charge between €800 and €1200 per day.
5% of Automation Engineers in Germany charge €1200 or more per day.
<€400 €400-​800 €800-​1200 €1200+

The chart shows how the daily rates of experts in this role in Germany are distributed, based on recent contracts on our platform. Each bar covers a rate range — its height shows the share of experts charging within that range.

Discover detailed Automation Engineers rate benchmarks:

Explore rate insights

Average rates for Automation Engineers in Germany

Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.

800
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200
Rate comparison chart
Daily rate avg. 739 €

The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.

800
600
400
200
Rate comparison chart
Median rate 720 €

The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.

Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 14 Oct 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.

Automation Engineers experts industry focus

See which industries our matched freelancers work in most often — every figure is calculated live from the freelancers on FRATCH.

  • Manufacturing (67%)
  • Information Technology (60%)
  • Automotive (35%)
  • Education (33%)
  • Energy (29%)
  • Banking and Finance (29%)
  • Food and Beverage (25%)
  • Professional Services (25%)

Please note that freelancers can work across multiple industries, so percentages overlap.

About the role

What they do

Automation engineers design, build, and improve control systems that keep machines and production lines running. They turn process logic into reliable code, connect sensors and actuators, and make sure equipment behaves as the plant needs it to.

  • PLC programming and control logic
  • SCADA and HMI setup
  • Robot and machine integration
  • Commissioning and troubleshooting
  • Documentation and handover support

Core skills

Strong automation work needs more than coding. A good engineer understands electrical systems, industrial safety, process flow, and how operators use the line every day. They can read schematics, debug faults under pressure, and coordinate with mechanics, electricians, and production teams.

Common tools and environments include PLC platforms, SCADA systems, industrial networks, motion control, and versioned control code. In practice, the right person is comfortable moving between office design work and plant-floor reality.

When companies hire

Companies bring in freelance automation engineers when a project needs extra capacity, specialist knowledge, or temporary cover for an internal team. That is common during plant upgrades, new line launches, retrofit work, and fault-heavy commissioning phases.

In Germany, this is often useful for manufacturers, machine builders, automotive suppliers, packaging companies, and process plants that need someone who can work with local teams, technical documentation, and on-site constraints. Remote support can help with code review and testing prep, but on-site time is often needed for commissioning and debugging.

Typical deliverables

A strong automation engineer leaves behind working systems, clear documentation, and fewer recurring faults. The exact output depends on the site, but the best freelancers can own a defined part of the control stack from design through startup.

  • PLC software and control sequences
  • HMI screens and alarm logic
  • Test and commissioning support
  • Fault analysis and root-cause fixes
  • Technical handover documents

What good looks like

Good automation professionals write code that is readable, maintainable, and safe to modify later. They test carefully, document changes clearly, and flag risks early instead of hiding them until startup.

They also know how to work with production pressure. A reliable automation engineer stays calm during line stops, communicates clearly with operations, and focuses on getting the system stable without creating new problems.

How to choose

The best fit depends on your stack and your plant environment. Look for real experience with the control platform you use, the kind of machinery you run, and the phase of work you need help with.

For Germany-based projects, it also helps if the freelancer can work comfortably with local technical teams and, when needed, be present on site for testing, commissioning, or acceptance work. That mix matters more than a generic CV.

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Frequently asked questions

Questions about Automation Engineers? Start with the answers below.

A Automation Engineer builds, adapts, and troubleshoots control systems for machines, production lines, and process equipment. In a freelance setup, the work often includes PLC logic, HMI or SCADA changes, commissioning support, and fixing issues that block startup or stable operation.

Look for strong PLC programming, control-system troubleshooting, and the ability to read electrical diagrams and machine behavior together. A good automation engineer also understands testing, documentation, and how to work with production and maintenance teams. For many projects, practical experience matters more than general software skills.

The terms often overlap, but an Automation Engineer usually covers a broader scope than a pure PLC programmer. They may handle control logic, plant integration, HMI work, commissioning, and support after startup. A controls engineer can be similar, depending on the company and industry.

A freelancer makes sense when you need specialist help for a defined project, extra capacity during a busy period, or fast support for a plant issue. That is common in upgrades, new line launches, and commissioning work. It is also useful when your internal team knows the plant but lacks time for hands-on implementation.

Part of the job can be done remotely, especially software review, documentation, simulation, and preparation work. But an Automation Engineer often needs at least some on-site time for wiring checks, I/O tests, startup, and fault finding. The right mix depends on the machine, the risk level, and the phase of the project.

In Germany, automation work is common in manufacturing, automotive supply, packaging, food production, and process industries. These clients usually need people who can fit into existing engineering teams and work with local technical standards and plant routines. On-site collaboration is often important during commissioning and acceptance.

A good Automation Engineer should deliver working control code, clear HMI or SCADA changes, test support, and documentation that others can maintain. Depending on the project, they may also provide fault reports, commissioning notes, and handover material for operations or maintenance teams. The key is not just delivery, but stable behavior after startup.

Ask for examples of machines or lines they have supported, the control platforms they know, and the problems they solved under time pressure. Strong candidates explain how they test, document, and hand over their work instead of only listing tools. For freelance work, proven project delivery is usually the best signal.

The average hourly rate for Automation Engineers in Germany is 92 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 739 € based on an 8-hour working day.

Of the freelancers working as Automation Engineers in Germany, 85% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 49% hold at least a Master's degree, and 8% hold a doctorate.

On average, freelancers working as Automation Engineers in Germany have 14 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 2.5 years.

The most common languages among freelancers working as Automation Engineers in Germany are German (100%), English (90%), and French (19%).

The most common industries among freelancers working as Automation Engineers in Germany are Manufacturing (67%), Information Technology (60%), and Automotive (35%).

The most common business areas among freelancers working as Automation Engineers in Germany are Information Technology (83%), Product Development (83%), and Operations (67%).

FRATCH Automation Engineers main locations

Our freelancers and interim experts are at home across the DACH region — available on-site in the major business hubs or fully remote. Choose a location to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.

Berlin Hamburg Munich Cologne Frankfurt Stuttgart Dusseldorf Leipzig Dortmund Essen Bremen Dresden Hanover Nuremberg

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