Automation Architect

3M is hiring an Automation Architect. It pays $188k-$230k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on 3M.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
Tools and skills the posting cites include AI agents, AI automation and automation.
Level classifies it as a lead role.
Level lists 759 other open roles at 3M.
The role was posted within the past week.

AI in this role

Lead the enterprise cloud automation and AI-enabled solutions architecture to drive scalable and intelligent workflows.

ai-agentsai-automationautomationcloud-nativearchitectureartificial-intelligencesoftware-development

Job Description:

Automation Architect

Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World

Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers.

This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.

The Impact You’ll Make in this Role

As a 3M Automation Architect, you will shape the future of enterprise automation by turning complex business challenges into scalable, intelligent solutions.

You will establish the architectural direction for automation built on cloud-native services, Artificial Intelligence, and modern development practices. Your work will go beyond designing individual workflows. You will create the patterns, guardrails, and reusable capabilities that enable teams to deliver automation faster, more safely, and with greater confidence.

This is an opportunity to create more than automation. You will build the foundation, technical culture, and talent pipeline that determine how the organization delivers intelligent solutions for years to come.

Key Responsibilities

Define the long-term architecture and roadmap for cloud automation and AI-enabled solutions.
Design resilient, observable, and secure workflows using cloud native solutions and related practices.
Identify where AI can improve decision-making, operational efficiency, and the developer experience.
Build reusable frameworks and standards that reduce one-off development and accelerate delivery.
Guide technical decisions across multiple teams and influence how automation is adopted across the organization.
Mentor upcoming developers, helping them develop strong engineering judgment and architecture skills.
Bring structure to experimentation, ensuring promising ideas can mature into reliable production capabilities.
Raise the technical bar through thoughtful design reviews, practical governance, and hands-on leadership.

Your Skills and Expertise:

To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M requires (at a minimum) the following qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (completed and verified prior to start)
Ten (10) years of experience in software development in a private, public, government or military environment
Five (5) years of experience with infrastructure automation
Three (3) years of experience with AI tools

Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include:AWS Serverless Architecture
Expert-level experience designing secure, resilient, and scalable solutions using AWS Step Functions, Lambda, EventBridge, API Gateway, SQS, SNS, and related service

Enterprise Automation Architecture
Proven ability to turn complex business processes into reusable automation patterns, frameworks, and platforms rather than disconnected scripts or one-off solutions.

AI and Intelligent Automation
Practical experience integrating generative AI, machine learning, or AI agents into business workflows, with strong judgment around security, governance, reliability, and appropriate use cases.

Technical Leadership and Developer Mentorship
Demonstrated success guiding architecture decisions, leading design reviews, establishing engineering standards, and helping developers grow into capable, independent engineers.

Production Engineering and Governance
Strong knowledge of infrastructure as code, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, security, cost management, and operational support for business-critical automation.

Work location: This role has on-site working model, with the employee working at least four days a week in the office at 3M Center, located in Maplewood, MN.
Travel: 10%
Relocation: YES

Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status).

Responsibilities of this position may include direct and/or indirect physical or logical access to information, systems, technologies subjected to the regulations/compliance with U.S. Export Control Laws.

U.S. Export Control laws and U.S. Government Department of Defense contracts and sub-contracts impose certain restrictions on companies and their ability to share export-controlled and other technology and services with certain "non-U.S. persons" (persons who are not U.S. citizens or nationals, lawful permanent residents of the U.S., refugees, "Temporary Residents" (granted Amnesty or Special Agricultural Worker provisions), or persons granted asylum.

To comply with these laws, 3M must help assess candidates' U.S. person status.

The questions asked in this application are intended to assess this and will be used for evaluation purposes only. Failure to provide the necessary information in this regard will result in our inability to consider you further for this particular position.

Supporting Your Well-being

3M offers many programs to help you live your best life – both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope.

Chat with Max

For assistance with searching through our current job openings or for more information about all things 3M, visit Max, our virtual recruiting assistant on 3M.com/careers.

Applicable to US Applicants Only:The expected compensation range for this position is $188,251 - $230,084, which includes base pay plus variable incentive pay, if eligible. This range represents a good faith estimate for this position. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant knowledge, training, skills, work location, and/or experience. In addition, this position may be eligible for a range of benefits (e.g., Medical, Dental & Vision, Health Savings Accounts, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, Disability Benefits, Life Insurance, Voluntary Benefits, Paid Absences and Retirement Benefits, etc.). Additional information is available at: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/.

All US-based 3M full time employees will need to sign an employee agreement as a condition of employment with 3M. This agreement lays out key terms on using 3M Confidential Information and Trade Secrets. It also has provisions discussing conflicts of interest and how inventions are assigned. Employees that are Job Grade 7 or equivalent and above may also have obligations to not compete against 3M or solicit its employees or customers, both during their employment, and for a period after they leave 3M.

Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @3M.

Responsibilities of this position include that corporate policies, procedures and security standards are complied with while performing assigned duties.

Safety is a core value at 3M. All employees are expected to contribute to a strong Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) culture by following safety policies, identifying hazards, and engaging in continuous improvement.

Pay & Benefits Overview: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/

3M does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Please note: your application may not be considered if you do not provide your education and work history, either by: 1) uploading a resume, or 2) entering the information into the application fields directly.

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How we rate this

Automation Architect at 3M rates 65 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Automation Architect is an open job at 3M.
Level rates this role AI Level 3 of 4: Works on AI.
The listed salary is $188k-$230k a year.
The role is based in US, Minnesota, Maplewood.
The job was posted on October 20, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by 3M. Apply on 3M

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

AI agentsAI AutomationAutomationCloud NativeArchitectureArtificial IntelligenceSoftware Development

Questions you could be asked

How do you decide when an AI agent can act on its own versus asking for approval first?
Tell me about a workflow you automated with AI tools, end to end.
Tell me about a project where automation was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where cloud native was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where architecture was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: AI agents, AI Automation, Automation, Cloud Native, and Architecture. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.

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