Controls Engineer a new title on company job boards
Engineering · Emerging · not on Hacker News yet · 72 open roles at 20 companies · median $172k
An engineer who designs and manages control systems to automate mechanical and physical operations.
Why it exists
Written by rule from our own data
First seen in our data in December 2025, in a company job-board posting from Waymo. Today 72 open roles use the title at 20 companies, most of them in AI labs.
- PostingThe oldest Controls Engineer posting we holdWaymo, Dec 2025 · backs: first sighting
- PostingControls Engineer, Power Generation & MicrogirdOpenAI, Nov 2026 · backs: an open posting with the title
Where it is posted
Sectors
- AI lab7
- AI infrastructure7
- Robotics and autonomy5
Cities
- San Francisco6
- Palo Alto6
- Austin5
- Denver3
- Dallas3
- Los Angeles3
- Phoenix1
- Munich, Germany1
Countries and remote
- United States70
- Germany1
Posted pay
Middle half $149k to $214k, median $172k from 50 postings that state a base range (USD a year).
Who is hiring for it
Open postings on their own job boards, read 5h ago| # | Company | Open roles | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anduril IndustriesA company hiring most for Systems Engineer and Test Engineer. | 27 | |
| 2 | FluidstackA company hiring most for Security Engineer and Controls Engineer. | 7 | |
| 3 | 6 | ||
| 4 | Relativity SpaceA company hiring most for Test Engineer and Systems Engineer. | 5 | |
| 5 | 3 | ||
| 6 | Commonwealth Fusion SystemsAn American fusion power company founded in 2018 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). | 3 | |
| 7 | K2 SpaceA company hiring most for Design Engineer and Test Engineer. | 3 | |
| 8 | OkloA company hiring most for Controls Engineer and Design Engineer. | 3 | |
| 9 | 3 | ||
| 10 | 2 | ||
| 11 | 1 | ||
| 12 | Aurelius SystemsA company hiring most for Machine Learning Engineer and Controls Engineer. | 1 |
Open roles
8 of 72; company pages list the restSr Instrumentation and Controls Engineer
Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, United States
| Role | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Controls Engineer, Power Generation & Microgird | San Francisco | $257k to $327k | |
| Principal Robotic Controls EngineerAurelius SystemsSan Francisco$250k to $315k | Aurelius Systems | San Francisco | $250k to $315k |
| Sr Instrumentation and Controls EngineerRelativity SpaceStennis Space Center, Mississippi, United States$124k to $186k | Relativity Space | Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, United States | $124k to $186k |
| Principal Power Controls EngineerAnduril IndustriesCosta Mesa, California, United States$220k to $292k | Anduril Industries | Costa Mesa, California, United States | $220k to $292k |
| Senior Controls EngineerCommonwealth Fusion SystemsDevens, MA$134k to $205k | Commonwealth Fusion Systems | Devens, MA | $134k to $205k |
| Controls Engineer - Data Center OperationsFluidstackAbernathy, TX$202k to $258k | Fluidstack | Abernathy, TX | $202k to $258k |
| Senior Mechanical Controls Engineer | San Francisco Office (Fremont St) | $230k to $340k | |
| Instrumentation & Controls EngineerOkloIdaho Falls, ID$90k to $150k | Oklo | Idaho Falls, ID | $90k to $150k |
Share of Hacker News hiring posts
1 posts since Apr 2011 · new in 6 monthsRelated titles
About this title
An engineer who designs and manages control systems to automate mechanical and physical operations.
...| Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Robotic Controls Engineer | New York, NY | ONSITE | Full-time | $220K-$300K Nirvana Robotics...
73 open postings titled "Controls Engineer" at Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Nuro and 15 more (job-board scan, 2026-11-02; proposed by the model). One of the postings. Not checked by hand yet.
Median posted salary $172k from 50 postings that state a base pay range (the median of their midpoints, USD a year). Not a survey of what people earn.