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Engineering

Controls Engineer resume keywords

Core keywords are the skill list on the Controls Engineer resume example. Supporting keywords are skills-catalog entries that name this role.

See the matching Controls Engineer resume example. For which applicant tracking systems large employers use, read the State of ATS 2026 report.

Check your Controls Engineer resume

The ATS checker opens with Controls Engineer filled in as the target role, along with the keyword list on this page. Paste your resume there. Free, no signup.

Counted on 2026-10-10 from 45 public job postings whose titles match Controls Engineer. Those postings came from Ashby, Greenhouse, and SmartRecruiters. A posting is counted for this role when the longest published job-title phrase in its title is Controls Engineer. The crawl queried Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, and SmartRecruiters for 133 employers in the State of ATS 2026 dataset that use those vendors, and for 279 additional public boards from the extended coverage tier. The extended boards are not part of the 738-company statistics. 361 boards returned postings out of 412 boards attempted, and 46923 postings were scanned. HTML was stripped before counting, and each posting counts once per term. Phrases beyond the published skill list are the most common two- and three-word phrases in the matched postings. Posting text is not stored. A role page shows these percentages only when at least 30 descriptions were counted.

Core keywords

These are the terms to put on the resume when they match work you have done.

  • PLC Programming

    60% of 45 recent postings mention PLC Programming.

  • HMI Design

    2% of 45 recent postings mention HMI Design.

  • SCADA

    78% of 45 recent postings mention SCADA.

  • Industrial Automation

    9% of 45 recent postings mention Industrial Automation.

  • Robotics

    38% of 45 recent postings mention Robotics.

  • Allen Bradley

    20% of 45 recent postings mention Allen Bradley.

  • Siemens

    64% of 45 recent postings mention Siemens.

  • Process Control

    9% of 45 recent postings mention Process Control.

Supporting keywords
Phrases from recent postings

These phrases showed up often in the matched postings and are not already on the published skill list.

  • controls engineer

    91% of 45 recent postings mention controls engineer.

  • additional requirements

    69% of 45 recent postings mention additional requirements.

  • basic qualifications

    69% of 45 recent postings mention basic qualifications.

  • merit competence

    69% of 45 recent postings mention merit competence.

  • status age

    69% of 45 recent postings mention status age.

  • status mental

    69% of 45 recent postings mention status mental.

  • action plan

    62% of 45 recent postings mention action plan.

  • actively developing

    62% of 45 recent postings mention actively developing.

  • aka green card

    62% of 45 recent postings mention aka green card.

  • asylee under

    62% of 45 recent postings mention asylee under.

  • card holder iii

    62% of 45 recent postings mention card holder iii.

Where to place them

  1. 1

    Headline

    Put the target title and two core terms on the line under your name: Controls Engineer | PLC Programming | HMI Design.

  2. 2

    Skills

    List the core terms together in the skills section: PLC Programming, HMI Design, SCADA, Industrial Automation, Robotics, Allen Bradley, Siemens, Process Control.

  3. 3

    Experience

    Use PLC Programming, HMI Design, SCADA inside bullets for work you did in this role, next to the result.

  4. 4

    Supporting terms

    Add these in the skills section or a bullet when you have used them: LabVIEW, EPLAN Electric P8.

Sample lines from the resume example

These lines are already published on the Controls Engineer resume example. Use them as a pattern for where a keyword sits next to a result, and replace the details with your own.

  • Programmed PLC and HMI systems for 30+ industrial automation projects across manufacturing facilities
  • Designed SCADA systems monitoring 1000+ data points across 5 production plants in real-time
  • Commissioned 20+ robotic workcells reducing manual labor requirements by 40%
  • Reduced production downtime by 25% through improved control system diagnostics and predictive maintenance

Questions about Controls Engineer keywords

What keywords should a Controls Engineer resume include?

Core keywords for a Controls Engineer resume are PLC Programming, HMI Design, SCADA, Industrial Automation, Robotics, Allen Bradley, Siemens, Process Control. Core keywords are the skill list on the Controls Engineer resume example. Supporting keywords are skills-catalog entries that name this role. Percentages are the share of 45 public postings fetched on 2026-10-10 whose titles match this role.

Where should Controls Engineer keywords go on a resume?

Headline: Put the target title and two core terms on the line under your name: Controls Engineer | PLC Programming | HMI Design. Skills: List the core terms together in the skills section: PLC Programming, HMI Design, SCADA, Industrial Automation, Robotics, Allen Bradley, Siemens, Process Control. Experience: Use PLC Programming, HMI Design, SCADA inside bullets for work you did in this role, next to the result. Supporting terms: Add these in the skills section or a bullet when you have used them: LabVIEW, EPLAN Electric P8.

How do I check a Controls Engineer resume?

Open the free ATS checker with Controls Engineer prefilled, paste your resume, and compare it with the keyword list on this page.

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