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Atomic Industries is reinventing manufacturing through AI-driven automation and software. The company combines industrial expertise with Silicon Valley speed to collapse production timelines from months to days. They operate a fully functional factory in Detroit where their technology produces production-grade tooling weekly, enabling rapid iteration and feedback loops.
As an Automation Engineer, you will build the systems connecting Atomic's physical factory to its software platform. This role bridges sensors, electronics, industrial controls, robotics, machine interfaces, data infrastructure, and simulation to make equipment observable, programmable, and increasingly autonomous. Unlike traditional plant controls roles, you'll help define the architecture, standards, and tools through which machines, molds, robots, and workflows operate as an integrated system.
Key responsibilities include:
- Design, build, and commission automation across injection molding cells and mold-making factory equipment (presses, CNCs, EDMs, robots, material handling)
- Connect machines to Atomic's platform using OPC UA, Modbus/TCP, MQTT, industrial Ethernet, and vendor-specific interfaces
- Build data-acquisition systems for temperature, pressure, force, flow, position, power, vision, and other process signals
- Develop closed-loop workflows comparing physical production with simulation
- Establish reusable hardware standards for sensors, controllers, connectors, wiring, enclosures, and networking
- Program and integrate PLCs, robot controllers, motion systems, HMIs, machine interlocks, and safety systems
- Develop digital twins and hardware-in-the-loop environments for pre-physical programming
- Productionize prototypes with version control, automated testing, diagnostics, and observability
- Help define the path toward a fully autonomous mold-making factory
- Collaborate across software, simulation, manufacturing, and operations teams
The company values fast iteration (daily code deployment, weekly factory validation), factory-first mindset, low ceremony with high ownership, and tight cross-functional collaboration.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 3+ years in automation, controls, robotics, mechatronics, test engineering, or related field
- Demonstrated experience taking automation systems from concept through installation, commissioning, and production operation
- Strong programming skills and ability to build maintainable production software
- Experience with industrial communications (OPC UA, Modbus/TCP, MQTT, or comparable protocols)
- Hands-on experience with sensors, data-acquisition hardware, calibration, analog/digital signals, and electrical troubleshooting
- Fluency in at least one PLC or industrial controls ecosystem with understanding of machine states, interlocks, and fault handling
- Experience integrating robots, motion systems, machine tools, vision systems, or production equipment
- Ability to read electrical drawings and create schematics, wiring documentation, and commissioning procedures
- Understanding of industrial safety and the boundary between orchestration software and safety-rated control
- Excellent cross-functional communication skills
- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, mechatronics, computer science, or related discipline (or equivalent practical experience)
Bonus qualifications: injection molding/mold tooling experience, CNC/EDM/CMM/material handling familiarity, digital twins/virtual commissioning/robotics simulation, PCB design/embedded systems/microcontrollers, time-series data/event-driven systems/industrial observability, computer vision/automated inspection, physics-based simulation correlation, ITAR/CMMC regulatory knowledge.
