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 542 Process Engineer (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 12335 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 2016:
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 $116,654.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $109,918.
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 $103,965.
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 | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 83.4% |
| Master's Degree | 30.57% |
| Doctoral Degree | 8.5% |
| Other | 1.69% |
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 | 21.75% |
| 3 to 5 years | 46.92% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.93% |
| 9+ years | 17.4% |
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 (47%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (39.55%)
- Communication (38.39%)
- Problem Solving (34.12%)
- Management (28.86%)
- Leadership (28.38%)
- Planning (18.86%)
- Writing (15.48%)
- Innovation (14.33%)
- Research (13.6%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Process Safety (10.27%)
- Project Management (26.75%)
- Hazard And Operability Study (5.15%)
- Process Engineering (88.97%)
- Chemical Engineering (54.89%)
- Chemical Process (13.85%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Environment Health And Safety (10.64%)
- Root Cause Analysis (11.84%)
- Commissioning (8.23%)
- Process Improvement (30.25%)
- Product Quality (QA/QC) (11.07%)
- Statistical Process Controls (10.97%)
- Risk Analysis (6.71%)
- Process Control (10.91%)
- Process Design (17.92%)
- Process Development (10.32%)
- Process Flow Diagrams (13.45%)
- Process Optimization (10.19%)
- Production Process (9.82%)
- Pharmaceuticals (7.97%)
- Wastewater (4.68%)
- New Product Development (12.89%)
- Mechanical Engineering (22.85%)
- Manufacturing Processes (23.97%)
- Lean Manufacturing (11.91%)
- Industrial Engineering (7.61%)
- Oil and Gas (4.6%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (7.71%)
- Engineering Design Process (7.98%)
- Procurement (6.89%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (25.97%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (10.01%)
- Automation (8.65%)
- Data Analysis (13.78%)
- Chemistry (11.28%)
- Electrical Engineering (8.98%)
- Auditing (9.43%)
- Six Sigma Methodology (9.52%)
- AutoCAD (10.86%)
- Project Implementation (9.2%)
- Materials Science (8.63%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Process Safety Management (6.77%)
- Process Simulation (6.27%)
- Mass Balance (4.67%)
- Material Balance Planning (2.63%)
- Process Hazard Analysis (5.21%)
- Human Factors Engineering (3.94%)
- Aspen HYSYS (5.66%)
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 (16.2%)
- Process Hazard Analysis (14.92%)
- Chemical Process (39.66%)
- Hazard And Operability Study (14.75%)
- Mass Balance (13.36%)
- Material Balance Planning (7.52%)
- Process Safety (29.39%)
- Process Safety Management (19.39%)
- Process Simulation (17.94%)
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
- Engineering Co-Op/Intern
- Process Engineering Manager
- Principal Engineer
- Lead Process Engineer
- Process Engineering Intern
- Materials and Process Engineer
- Process Safety Engineer
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)
- Process Development Engineer
- Ceramic Engineer
- Production Engineer
- Manufacturing Assembly Engineer
- Process Quality 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 (409)
- Actalent (308)
- Primient (253)
- GAF Materials Corporation (219)
- Northrop Grumman (131)
- Chemours (104)
- Micron Technology (80)
- Insight Global (76)
- Jacobs Solutions (76)
- ManpowerGroup (71)
North Carolina
- Black & Veatch (36)
- Corning (35)
- Fujifilm (30)
- Actalent (21)
- Fluor (12)
- Page Southerland & Page (11)
- Amgen (10)
- Eli Lilly (8)
- Zachary Piper Solutions (8)
- US Tech Solutions (7)
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
- 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.