How To Become A Bioprocess Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a bioprocess engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A bioprocess engineer is responsible for using biological materials to create a variety of products. As a bioprocess engineer, you can work for a developer of alternative fuels, a pharmaceutical company, and a food manufacturing company to research process tracking and data analysis. You will be in charge of applying your knowledge of chemistry and biology to create foods, water filtration systems, and products used in the agriculture industry and biofuels pharmaceuticals. You are also allowed to monitor and troubleshoot equipment all through the production process. To do this, you need to work closely with the research team to analyze, collect, supervise, and present data within the team. Your responsibility enables you to take measurements and interpret data.

To ensure best practices, you are to develop routines and innovative solutions for better productivity. Other duties include managing time constraints and costs, providing operating instructions and process documentation, optimizing, developing, and configuring industrial processes. The skills required for a bioprocess engineer include analytical skills, excellent technical skills, and interpersonal relationship skills. Having experience in process simulation and engineering process software packages is an added advantage. The average salary of a bioprocess engineer annually is $86,000. You need a bachelor's degree in Chemistry Engineering, Biochemistry, or other related disciplines for this role.

ScoreBioprocess EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $99,153

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.4

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.83%

Asian 20.33%

Black or African American 5.64%

Hispanic or Latino 10.40%

Unknown 4.91%

White 57.89%

Gender

female 24.07%

male 75.93%

Age - 33

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 33

Stress level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.4

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a bioprocess engineer

Explore bioprocess engineer education requirements

Most common bioprocess engineer degrees

Bachelor's

66.0 %

Master's

20.8 %

Doctorate

5.7 %

Start to develop specific bioprocess engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
CIP	19.80%
Pilot Plant	16.28%
Scale-Up	14.39%
Data Analysis	11.35%
Drug Substance	11.23%

Complete relevant bioprocess engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New bioprocess engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a bioprocess engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real bioprocess engineer resumes.

Research bioprocess engineer duties and responsibilities

Accomplish QA of inspector worksheets during shipboard inspection, and generate certification report for government approval.
Coordinate off-site manufacturing, research and development activities with CMO's and CRO's.
Process development and optimization of human prourokinase (proUK) production by recombinant CHO cells.
Reformulate freeze-down media and process to facilitate thaw and scale-up with simplify operations and minimizing exposure to contaminants.

Prepare your bioprocess engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your bioprocess engineer resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable bioprocess engineer resume templates

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