Process Design Development Engineer

A process design development engineer works out how something is actually going to be made or processed at scale - the sequence of steps, the equipment, the operating conditions and the controls - and then improves that design as products and volumes change. The work sits between research or product design on one side and the factory or plant on the other, and is found in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food and drink, energy, water, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing. The job title is used fairly loosely, so in a chemical plant it means flowsheets and mass balances, while in a manufacturing business it may mean designing assembly or machining processes for a new product.

Starting salary: £28k–£36k
Live graduate jobs: 1 open now
Main way in: Engineering graduate schemes at large manufacturers, chemical…
They usually ask for: An engineering or physical science degree

Approximate graduate salary

Typically around £28,000–£36,000 to start, though this varies widely. Large graduate schemes in oil, gas, chemicals and pharmaceuticals and roles in the South East tend to sit at or above the top of that range, while smaller manufacturers and some food and consumer goods employers start lower. Shift allowances, site allowances and sponsorship towards chartership can add meaningfully to the package.

What you'd actually do

Working through calculations and models of a process step - material and energy balances, cycle times, yields, pressure drops, tolerances - to check whether a proposed design will actually hit the required output and quality
Producing and marking up technical drawings and diagrams: process flow diagrams and P&IDs (piping and instrumentation diagrams, which show every vessel, pipe, valve and instrument) in process industries, or process flow charts, work instructions and fixture drawings in discrete manufacturing
Running or supporting trials on a pilot rig, test cell or production line, collecting data, then analysing it to decide whether a parameter should be changed
Writing things down properly - design basis documents, test reports, change requests, risk assessments - because almost everything in regulated industries has to be traceable

Show 3 more

Sitting in design reviews and safety studies such as HAZOP (a structured line-by-line review of what could go wrong with a design) and taking away actions to resolve
Talking to equipment vendors about lead times, capability and cost, and feeding that back into the design
Spending time on the shop floor or plant with operators and maintenance staff, because the people who run the process daily usually know why the design does not work as drawn

How graduates get in

Engineering graduate schemes at large manufacturers, chemical, pharmaceutical, food, energy and water companies - the most common structured route, usually with rotations through design, operations and projects before you specialise
Direct entry to a junior or graduate process engineer post at a smaller manufacturer, contractor or equipment supplier - very common, less structured, often means doing real design work sooner
Engineering consultancies and EPC contractors (engineering, procurement and construction firms that design and build plants for clients) - a strong route in process industries, giving exposure to many different designs quickly
Converting from a placement year or summer internship at the same employer - probably the single most reliable way in, as process roles lean heavily on people who have already seen a plant or line running

Show 2 more

Starting in a production, quality or manufacturing engineering role and moving into process design after a couple of years - normal and well-trodden, particularly in automotive, electronics and food
A specialist MSc or EngD (engineering doctorate) in process engineering, advanced manufacturing or a sector-specific area - useful rather than required, and more common for R&D-flavoured process development roles

What employers ask for

An engineering or physical science degree: chemical, process, mechanical, manufacturing, materials or production engineering most often; chemistry, physics and biochemical engineering are accepted in some sectors. The subject genuinely does matter here - this is not a role open to any degree discipline
Typically a 2:1, though many smaller employers and contractors will take a 2:2 with a placement year or relevant experience. MEng is preferred by some employers because it maps more neatly onto chartership requirements, but a BEng is widely accepted
A degree accredited by the relevant professional body - IChemE for chemical/process, IMechE for mechanical, IET for control and electrical - matters if you intend to become chartered later; an unaccredited degree is not a blocker but means extra work to demonstrate learning
Some hands-on exposure to a real plant, line or lab: an industrial placement, summer work, a final-year project with an industrial partner, or Formula Student-type team experience

Show 2 more

Comfort with the software of the sector - CAD for mechanical work, process simulation packages in chemical industries, and data handling in Excel, Python, MATLAB or similar. Employers usually expect you to learn their specific tools on the job rather than arrive knowing them
In regulated sectors (pharma, food, nuclear, water) an awareness of GMP, HACCP or similar quality frameworks is a plus but is normally taught after you join

Skills that matter

Mass and energy balance / first-principles calculation

The core check on any process design is whether what goes in, comes out, and whether the heat and pressure add up - this is the arithmetic that stops a design being wrong before money is spent.

Reading and marking up technical drawings

P&IDs, GA drawings and process flow diagrams are the shared language of the job, and you will spend a lot of time interpreting ones you did not draw.

Statistical and experimental thinking

Process development is largely trials and data, so knowing how to design an experiment, distinguish a real effect from noise, and interpret process capability stops you optimising the wrong variable.

Structured safety and risk reasoning

Process design carries real hazards - pressure, heat, chemicals, moving machinery - and HAZOP, FMEA and risk assessment thinking is expected of you quite early.

Explaining a design to people who did not create it

You have to persuade operators, maintenance technicians, quality staff and budget-holders that a change is worth making, often in a ten-minute conversation on a noisy shop floor.

Disciplined documentation and change control

In regulated industries an undocumented change is effectively an unapproved one, and the ability to write a clear, auditable change record is a genuine differentiator early on.

Putting these on a CV? We counted which skills 12,914 live graduate adverts ask for, and what to do with the answer — part of our application advice.

Where it leads

Graduate or junior process engineer, typically for the first two to three years - supporting a senior engineer's design, running trials, owning small changes and learning the plant or product.
Process engineer owning your own designs, equipment packages or production cells, with budget responsibility for modest projects. Many people work towards chartered status (CEng) through IChemE or IMechE around this stage; the usual guidance is several years of structured experience, but timelines vary a lot depending on employer support.
Senior or lead process engineer, running the process design for a whole product introduction, plant modification or capital project, and reviewing junior engineers' work.
From there the paths genuinely split: technical specialist or principal engineer in one area (catalysis, separations, automation, tooling); project or engineering management running teams and capital budgets; operations management taking charge of a plant or production area; or a move into consultancy, technical sales for equipment vendors, or continuous improvement and operational excellence leadership.
A smaller number move towards commercial or strategic roles - manufacturing strategy, technology transfer between sites, or starting out in process equipment and automation businesses. Timeframes for all of this vary widely with sector and company size.

What people get wrong

“It is a desk job where you design things in simulation software.”

A large share of the week is spent at the plant or line watching the real process, and the value of the job is usually in noticing the gap between what the model says and what the equipment actually does. Engineers who stay at their desk tend to produce designs that do not work.

“"Process" means chemical engineering, so other degrees need not apply.”

In discrete manufacturing - automotive, aerospace, electronics, medical devices - process design is dominated by mechanical and manufacturing engineers, and the work is about tooling, fixtures, cycle times and assembly sequence rather than reactors and columns. The same job title covers two quite different worlds.

“The best design is the most technically elegant one.”

Designs are chosen on cost, lead time, safety case, maintainability and whether existing operators can run them. A clever design that needs a six-month equipment lead time or specialist operators will usually lose to a dull one that can be installed in the next shutdown.

“Once a process is designed, the job is finished.”

Most of the role is redesigning things that already exist - debottlenecking, scaling up from pilot, dealing with a raw material change, improving yield or meeting a new regulation. Genuine blank-sheet designs are a minority of the work for most engineers.

Where this varies

This title covers two fairly different jobs. In the process industries (chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food and drink, water, oil and gas) the work is fluid- and reaction-focused: flowsheets, mass and energy balances, P&IDs, scale-up from lab to plant, and heavy safety and regulatory process. In discrete manufacturing (automotive, aerospace, electronics, medical devices) it is about how a part is made and assembled: cycle time, tooling and fixtures, line layout, tolerances and process capability, often under lean or Six Sigma frameworks. Regulation also changes the character of the role sharply - in pharma, nuclear and food, validation and documentation take up a large share of your time, whereas in general engineering you can trial a change far more quickly. Company size matters too: at a large employer you may own one narrow part of a big design, while at a small manufacturer you may be the only person doing process work and will cover everything from vendor selection to commissioning.

See all 1 live Process Design Development Engineer jobsFrom employers' own careers sites, updated daily Tailor your CV for this roleFree with an account, 3 a month

General guidance about the role across the UK market, not about any specific employer. Entry routes and requirements vary — always check the individual job advert.