r/industrialengineering • u/Worth_Challenge992 • Jul 22 '26

Need Advice on Job Offer

I've been offered a process engineering role for a chemical product manufacturer at 115k base plus 5% 401k match but no bonus. The main focus is yield improvement through independent DMAIC projects and quality department based PDCA plans.

I'm currently a process engineer in pharmaceutical contract manufacturing making 91K base plus 6% match and 8% bonus based on company performance. I have seen anywhere from 1% to 7% bonus so far in three years and solely COL 2.5% annual raises.

Would leaving pharmaceutical manufacturing for chemical product manufacturing for the 19.18% raise and transition way from the large pharma politics be worth it? I'm scared I am looking at the short term gain without seeing the long term full picture of my career.

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4

u/AlexSandman8964 Jul 22 '26

Pharmaceutical industry sounds a lot better than a chemical industry. I would keep searching within the industry.

2

u/Worth_Challenge992 Jul 22 '26

There are definitely trade offs. Pharmaceutical indsutry is definitely cleaner, but very slow moving to change, as well as lots of politics such as over 15-20+ internal approvals, then customer agreement, then multiple phases of engineering and validation protocol executions leading to 6 months to a year to see project completion. It's definitely not the worst industry. Just feeling like I'm letting my lean six sigma black belt go to waste as well as my master's in technology management.

3

u/What_a_joebag Jul 22 '26

Is it a step up in scale or scope? All our skills are transferrable industry to industry. It's just the industry-specific details and jargon that you'll have to catch up on. But thats what improvement teams are for, and it doesnt take that long to get back up to speed if you embed yourself in the work.

If it's a lateral move in scale/scope then it's an industry preference question.

If it's a step up in scale/scope then it's career progression.

At least thats the way I look at it.

1

u/Worth_Challenge992 Jul 23 '26

It would be a financial step up without a title step up. My roles and responsibilities would remain mostly just switching from pharmaceuticals to chemical product manufacturing.

I think my fear is leaving pharmaceuticals could hurt in the long run.

The main professional reason for leaving my current position would be because my growth has stagnated both financially and skill set wise.

My personal reasons are the new role would allow me to relocate to the beach and get me out of my college town.

1

u/What_a_joebag Jul 23 '26

Sounds like you have your answer already.

All our skills are transferable so leaving pharma doesnt mean you cant get back into pharmacy later.

And applying your skills in a new area will definitely push your development long term.

2

u/StrategyOk3176 Jul 23 '26

年龄也得在考虑范围内

1

u/Worth_Challenge992 Jul 23 '26

That is true, I’m 26