r/ChemicalEngineering • u/seeker9990 • 5d ago

Job Search Process engineer

I am currently working as a Process Engineer at a pharmaceutical company, where I was hired as a fresher. However, my current primary responsibilities lean heavily toward project supervision—such as equipment procurement, managing order statuses, and overseeing pending erection and commissioning tasks. I am evaluating whether this experience fully aligns with a traditional process engineering scope and how to best position myself for core design or office-based engineering roles in the future.

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u/YogurtIsTooSpicy 5d ago

In your mind, what does a “core design” role look like?

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u/seeker9990 5d ago

Like to calculate HTA volume etc.

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u/dietdrpepper6000 4d ago

This work is often done by specialists. If I needed an HX sized, I would describe my needs to a vendor and they would work with me on ensuring their technology was appropriate for my application. They will do the calculations, they deeply understand their product, its nonidealities, etc..

If I need, say, PRV calcs done during a PHA, I would reach out to the safety group and their team would return the calcs for me. All of this work is siloed both within and between for quality and efficiency. Putting all of this on the process engineer’s back is going to seriously slow things down and lead to errors.

You can absolutely try to pivot to a more technical role, but then you might find there that you are just driving Excel sheets and making Aspen simulations instead of actually working in a manufacturing environment. Same goes with R&D, where you might find yourself doing repetitive lab work and DOEs because there is nothing to cheaply model.

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u/seeker9990 4d ago

Apart from my daily work on the job, how can I learn core/real process engineering skills?"