Sales Engineer — Industrial Controls & Automation

💰  $80,000 – $100,000 Base Commission    |  🏠  Remote (Southwest Michigan)  | Full-Time

🏢 Industrial Control, an MCE Company    | Territory: Southwest Michigan | Must reside in territory

At Industrial Control, we've spent 46 years helping Michigan manufacturers and machine builders accelerate their competitive advantage with high-technology automation solutions robotics, motion control, machine vision, barcoding, controls & networking, and safety. As our Sales Engineer covering Southwest Michigan, you'll be the face of that expertise in the field: building relationships, identifying opportunities, and working side-by-side with engineering and inside sales teams to deliver the right automation solutions for complex applications.

If you're a self-driven sales professional with a technical mindset, a hunter's instinct, and the ability to build trust at every level of a manufacturing organization, this territory is yours to own.

Compensation & Benefits

$80,000 – $100,000 base salary plus commission structured to reward territory growth and performance. We take care of our team with a full benefits package:

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Company-paid life, AD&D, and short- and long-term disability insurance.
• 401(k) with a generous company match.
• Generous PTO and paid holidays.
• Tuition reimbursement
• Paid parental leave.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Voluntary benefit products.

What You'll Do

Own & Grow Your Territory

• Promote and sell industrial control products, services, and engineering solutions as your primary focus with cross-sell opportunities across MCE's full product portfolio.
• Develop regional and core accounts by identifying, pursuing, and closing new business while retaining and growing existing customers.
• Build and execute a target account business plan including sales strategy and strategic account development in partnership with your sales manager.
• Research the Southwest Michigan market continuously to identify emerging opportunities, competitive threats, and new target accounts.

Delivering Technical Solutions

• Develop a deep understanding of each customer's manufacturing operations and business drivers to recommend the best automation and control solutions.
• Work in partnership with engineering, inside sales, and production leadership to design and present optimum manufacturing and automation solutions for complex customer applications.
• Involve application engineering as needed to evaluate staffing, budget, execution, and feasibility ensuring every opportunity is profitable and viable before quoting.
• Prepare accurate product and service quotations; negotiate pricing, terms, and conditions; and close transactions.

Manage Projects & Relationships

• Work with the inside sales team to confirm project costs align with quoted pricing; obtain Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) as needed.
• Work with OEMs, engineering teams, and technical staff to clarify customer needs and define specifications.
• Build rapport across all organizational levels from maintenance technicians to C-suite — becoming the trusted advisor customers call first.
• Collect and share market and account intelligence with the broader sales team to sharpen strategy.

What We're Looking For

Must Have:

• 3 years of outside sales experience proven track record of hitting targets and growing territory.
• Self-motivated and driven to generate leads and follow up on opportunities without constant oversight this is a hunter role.
• Ability to build credibility and rapport across all organizational levels, from the shop floor to the executive suite.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills are comfortable leading technical conversations and customer presentations.
• Valid driver's license; must reside in Southwest Michigan territory.

Nice to Have:

• Background in industrial controls, automation, or a related technical sales field robotics, motion control, machine vision, barcoding, or safety systems experience is a strong plus.
• Ability to read mechanical drawings, electrical diagrams, and building blueprints.
• Experience selling to manufacturers or machine builders in Michigan or the Great Lakes region.
• Familiarity with PLC/HMI systems, VFDs, motor controls, machine vision, or industrial networking.

About Industrial Control

Founded in the 1970s and headquartered in Zeeland, MI, Industrial Control has spent 46 years building deep expertise as a value-added distributor of specialty automation products for Michigan manufacturers and machine builders. Our product focus covers the full automation stack: robotics, motion control, machine vision, barcoding systems, controls & networking, and safety solutions and we back it all with application engineering support that helps customers actually implement what we sell.

Industrial Control joined Motion & Control Enterprises (MCE) in 2023, giving our team the resources and reach of a top-50 national industrial distributor while keeping the specialized Michigan expertise and customer-first culture that have grown our business organically for over four decades. We're expanding our territory coverage and this role is a direct investment in that growth.

Industrial Control and MCE are proud Equal Opportunity Employers. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, experiences, and identities.

If you're a technically sharp, self-driven sales professional who knows Michigan manufacturing and wants to represent 46 years of automation expertise we want to hear from you.

Apply today! It only takes a few minutes.

Salary : $80,000 - $100,000