Process Engineer (General)
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Process Engineer solves problems related to the manufacturing and use of products, including chemicals, fuel, food, and clothing. Designs new products, improves existing ones, or develops new processes for better use of existing materials. May specialize in a chemical engineering process, such as making plastics, or in an industry such as health care.
Job Outlook
There were 1020 Process Engineer (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 26157 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Chemical / Process Engineer industry, which includes the Process Engineer (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Process Engineer (General) jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $99,814.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $92,549.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Process Engineer (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $88,486.
Education and Experience
Posted Process Engineer (General) jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 2.27% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 79.33% |
| Master's Degree | 21.49% |
| Doctoral Degree | 6.94% |
| Other | 2.89% |
Posted Process Engineer (General) jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 22.43% |
| 3 to 5 years | 48.38% |
| 6 to 8 years | 12.95% |
| 9+ years | 16.24% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Process Engineer (General) positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Operations (40.02%)
- Communication (39.36%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (29.87%)
- Problem Solving (29.25%)
- Management (29.06%)
- Leadership (25.52%)
- Planning (16.78%)
- Writing (16.05%)
- Innovation (14.65%)
- Research (13.26%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Manufacturing Processes (22.8%)
- Chemical Process (9.34%)
- Hazard And Operability Study (4.31%)
- Process Design (14.35%)
- Process Safety (7.61%)
- Project Management (27.16%)
- Process Engineering (78.41%)
- Chemical Engineering (38.43%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Oil And Gas (3.37%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (9.03%)
- Engineering Support (5.84%)
- Process Optimization (7.03%)
- Statistical Process Controls (8.86%)
- Lean Manufacturing (14.11%)
- AutoCAD (9.22%)
- Auditing (9.28%)
- New Product Development (12.6%)
- Process Flow Diagrams (10.06%)
- Environment Health And Safety (9.22%)
- Automation (10%)
- Pharmaceuticals (8.12%)
- Chemistry (8.15%)
- Root Cause Analysis (10.9%)
- Process Control (9.48%)
- Production Process (9.42%)
- Product Quality (QA/QC) (8.12%)
- Mechanical Engineering (18.66%)
- Data Analysis (11.77%)
- Engineering Design Process (10.28%)
- Commissioning (8.95%)
- Six Sigma Methodology (10.75%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (19.91%)
- Process Development (9.89%)
- Process Improvement (28.3%)
- Risk Analysis (6.75%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Mass Balance (2.65%)
- Process Safety Management (4.35%)
- Aspen HYSYS (5.2%)
- Operability (2.6%)
- Hydraulic Calculations (1.29%)
- Process Modeling (2.65%)
- Process Hazard Analysis (3.47%)
- Process Simulation (4.71%)
- Material Balance Planning (2.71%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Aspen HYSYS (10.48%)
- Process Hazard Analysis (6.99%)
- Chemical Engineering (77.46%)
- Hazard And Operability Study (8.68%)
- Mass Balance (5.34%)
- Material Balance Planning (5.47%)
- Process Design (28.93%)
- Process Modeling (5.34%)
- Process Safety (15.35%)
- Process Safety Management (8.76%)
- Process Simulation (9.5%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Process Engineer (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Process Engineer
- Chemical Process Engineer
- Human Factors Engineer
- Principal Engineer
- Process Safety Engineer
- Project Engineer
- Process/Project Engineer
- Lead Process Engineer
- Process Improvement Engineer
- Process Engineering Manager
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Process Industrial Engineer
- Chemical Engineer (General)
- Industrial Engineer (General)
- Process Development Engineer
- Manufacturing Product Design Engineer
- Manufacturing Engineer (General)
- Manufacturing Assembly Engineer
- Process Manager
- Plastics Engineer
- Industrial Plant Engineer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Process Engineer (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Black & Veatch (871)
- Actalent (547)
- The Judge Group (249)
- ManpowerGroup (235)
- GPAC (220)
- Institution Of Chemical Engineers (Icheme) (218)
- Intel (210)
- Bausch & Lomb (183)
- Grifols (182)
- Randstad (182)
North Carolina
- Black & Veatch (95)
- Wolfspeed (35)
- Fujifilm (21)
- Zachary Piper Solutions (20)
- Actalent (19)
- Pfizer (16)
- Eli Lilly (15)
- Randstad (15)
- Novartis (14)
- Ramboll (14)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Chemical Engineering Master's Degrees
- Engineering – 2+2 Undergraduate Degrees
- Nanoengineering Master's Degrees
- Textile Engineering Master's Degrees
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.