ABB Robot Programming on Third Shift in Spartanburg, South Carolina, From November 2

There are two on-site positions open in Spartanburg, South Carolina for ABB robot programmer, from Monday, November 2, 2026, through February 2, 2027: about three months of work. The robot cells dispense a two-part adhesive and fasten aluminum with blind rivets, and most of the need falls on third shift, 10:45 PM to 7:00 AM. Pay is $72 an hour base, $88 an hour overtime and $112 an hour double time, in US dollars, paid to you by Automate America on Net 15 terms. The contract is open for applications now.

The cells and the controller

The posting marks one platform as required: ABB IRC5. The robots are IRB 6700s, one of ABB's large industrial arms, running RobotWare 6.15, with SafeMove supervising them. If most of your robot hours have been spent on IRC5, the FlexPendant and the RAPID programs behind it will be familiar ground from the first night.

SafeMove is ABB's safety-rated supervision of where a robot is allowed to go and how fast it may move there. Programmers who have worked inside a SafeMove configuration know it is handled with more care than an ordinary program edit, and that experience is worth naming when you apply. Allen-Bradley / Rockwell GuardLogix is listed as good to have rather than required, so safety PLC work on a robot cell counts in your favor without being a condition of applying.

What a two-part dispensing path asks of a programmer

In a dispensing cell the robot carries the nozzle while the dispensing equipment meters and mixes the material; this posting names Sika and Atlas Copco. The programmer's share of a good bead comes down to motion and timing. The path has to hold an even speed along the joint, because a bead grows where the robot slows down and thins where it speeds up. The dispense signal has to switch on and off at the right moment against the motion, or the start leaves a lump and the finish drags a tail. Corners, tight radii and sudden changes of direction are usually where those faults show first.

Two-part material adds a clock of its own. Once the two components meet in the mixer they begin to cure, so pauses, restarts and purges matter more than they would with a single-component bead. A programmer who has lived with that thinks about what the cell does after a stop, not only what it does while everything is running.

Blind rivets in aluminum

A blind rivet is set from one side of the joint, which is what lets a robot fasten an assembly where no one can reach the back. For the program, most of the work is in the approach. The tool has to arrive on the hole and square to the surface every cycle, and the cell needs a sensible answer when a rivet fails to feed or a set does not complete. On aluminum panels, a tool that lands off angle or off center leaves its mark in the finished joint, so care with taught positions shows directly in the parts.

Third shift, and the two shifts beside it

On paper the shift is variable, but third shift, 10:45 PM to 7:00 AM, is where most of the need sits, along with an occasional Saturday or Sunday. First-shift hours run 6:45 AM to 3:00 PM and second-shift hours 2:45 PM to 11:00 PM, and there is work on both; 8-hour days are planned. Each shift starts fifteen minutes before the previous one ends, so every change of shift has a short overlap.

Nights suit some programmers better than days. There tend to be fewer people around the cells and fewer interruptions, and more of the shift goes to the robots themselves. The trade-off is fewer people to ask, so the programmer on third shift has to be comfortable making a careful call alone and leaving the morning crew a clear record of what changed and why. That fifteen-minute overlap is the natural moment to pass it on. If you have worked nights before, say so when you apply; if you have not, sort out your sleep before the first week rather than during it.

Pay, dates and the days before you start

The base rate is $72 an hour, with overtime at $88 and double time at $112, in US dollars. Your pay comes from Automate America, on Net 15 terms. Work begins on Monday, November 2, 2026, and runs about three months, through February 2, 2027.

Before the first shift there is a safety orientation and lockout/tagout. Lockout/tagout is the procedure for isolating a machine's energy sources and keeping them isolated while people work on it. OSHA sets out the requirement in 29 CFR 1910.147, the control of hazardous energy, and its lockout/tagout overview makes a useful refresher before you arrive.

How to apply

Applying starts on the contract page, and you apply with your profile. The application carries five eligibility questions and five interview questions. Answer them as specifically as you would brief the next shift: which controller, which robot, which process, what went wrong and what you did about it. Name the IRC5 systems and RobotWare versions you have programmed, the dispensing or riveting cells you have worked on, and any SafeMove or GuardLogix experience. Bring your profile up to date first; it goes in with your application.

For service companies with an ABB programmer

If you employ an ABB programmer with IRC5 experience who comes free around the start of November, you can put them forward for this contract; the application is the same one an independent professional fills in. Two programmers are needed, so one person or two from your team can apply. That is three months of planned 8-hour days, November into February.

Posting robot work of your own

The customer behind this contract had robot cells to cover for a set stretch, mostly overnight, and wrote the need up as a posting with its own rate. Plants, integrators and machine builder with robot work ahead can do exactly that. Automate America is a marketplace where it is free to post, free to apply and free to hire. The customer writes the posting, sets the rate and decides who to hire. Each application arrives with the professional's profile, including ratings and reviews from contracts already finished, and people from service companies apply alongside independent professionals.

This article is one of the ways a posting reaches people: the same contract also goes out by email, in a short video and across the social channels we run. A customer who would rather not set up every professional as a new vendor can also have Automate America pay the professionals and send one invoice. If you have robot programming, controls or maintenance work coming, post it on the marketplace at your own rate.

The contract, in brief

ABB Robot Programmer, IRC5, dispensing and riveting. Two needed, on site in Spartanburg, South Carolina. ABB IRC5 required; Allen-Bradley / Rockwell GuardLogix good to have. IRB 6700 robots, RobotWare 6.15, SafeMove; two-part dispensing (Sika, Atlas Copco) and blind riveting of aluminum. Monday, November 2, 2026, through February 2, 2027, about three months. Variable shift: mainly third, 10:45 PM to 7:00 AM, with an occasional Saturday or Sunday; first, 6:45 AM to 3:00 PM, and second, 2:45 PM to 11:00 PM, too; 8-hour days planned. $72/hr base, $88/hr overtime, $112/hr double time, in US dollars, paid by Automate America on Net 15. Safety orientation and lockout/tagout before the first shift. Five eligibility and five interview questions on the application.

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Tony Wallace, Co-Founder · Automate America · Text first 586-770-8083 · TonyW@AutomateAmerica.com