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Senior chemical engineer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

6 min read

Quoted experts

Vianney Gimenez-Pinto Ph.D,

David Nielsen Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical senior chemical engineer skills. We ranked the top skills for senior chemical engineers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 24.7% of senior chemical engineer resumes contained chemical engineering as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a senior chemical engineer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 senior chemical engineer skills for your resume and career

1. Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering is an position that focuses on working with industrial companies' chemicals and compounds. The chemical engineer works with various combinations to create chemicals used for a whole range of products. The chemical engineering intern must have a background in chemical engineering and have the experiences needed to take on it.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use chemical engineering:

Applied principles of chemical engineering to solve environmental, health & safety problems.
Experience Invited to participate and complete the Senior Chemical Engineering Laboratory requirement at the Technical University of Denmark.

2. Chemistry

Chemistry is the branch of science that tells us about the composition, properties, and structure of elements and compounds. The processes these elements undergo and how they undergo change all come under the branch of chemistry.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use chemistry:

Developed new chemistry routes and successfully demonstrated increased productivity without affecting the characteristics or quality of the product.
Research areas: Polymer Material Science and Polymer Chemistry.

3. Project Management

Here's how senior chemical engineers use project management:

Project management, process development and process engineering responsibilities.
Project Management experience directing contract electrical engineering team in designing, prototyping, and testing master processing and motor driver PCB.

4. IDS

An IDS (intrusion detection system) stands for a software application or device that monitors a network to identify policy violations or malicious activities.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use ids:

Developed P & IDs for EO unit chilled water system, unit compression systems and Ethanol storage tank and unloading system.
Performed field inspections of pipe slopes, field weld IDs, and tagging.

5. Technical Support

Technical support or tech support are the services provided by any hardware or software company to users. They help in solving the technical difficulties the customers face with their products or services. Moreover, the tech support employees maintain, manage, and repair the IT faults. They are also responsible for resolving the network problems, installing and configuring hardware and software.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use technical support:

Provide technical support for processing engineer.
Offered extensive onsite technical support as liaison between customer and lab team.

6. Process Control

Process control is a method pertaining to continuous production processes that uses the aid of ICS (Industrial Control Systems) for production. This method enables production to be done with a level of consistency and safety in an economically friendly manner that is impossible to achieve solely through manual control.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use process control:

Provided expert process control troubleshooting and design of innovative water treatment strategies for petroleum refining facilities nationwide.
Created Process Control System (PCS) and Environmental Control System (ECS) Operator's Manuals.

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7. Process Engineering

Process engineering is the agreement and use of the essential standards and laws of nature that permit us to change crude material and energy into items that are valuable to society, at a mechanical level.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use process engineering:

Provide process engineering safety-based calculations along with formal calculation checking for process safety documents on the UPF project.
Process engineering calculations involve steady state and transient numerical analyses models to predict process behavior.

8. R

R is a free software environment and a language used by programmers for statistical computing. The R programming language is famously used for data analysis by data scientists.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use r:

Developed and used X-bar R charts to determine process variation for dry film thickness of paint process.
Experienced in writing protocols, reports and conducting tests for Gage R and R of measurement equipment.

9. Aspen Plus

Here's how senior chemical engineers use aspen plus:

Developed advanced process simulations using MiMiC and Aspen Plus software packages.
Performed Aspen Plus simulation and economic analysis.

10. Process Design

Process design is the act of creating a result-driven process that will lead to the achievement of an organization's goals, visions, and objectives. At its core, process design is the defines the processes and strategies that an organization can implement into achieving its lofty aims and objectives. It's usually presented in form of an infographic labeling each stage and with arrows showing the hierarchy of the steps.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use process design:

Prepared basis of design, design criteria, and process design packages for different-sized plants.
Coordinated GMP Process Design Validation and Site Validations for over 20 FDA regulated products.

11. Statistical Analysis

Here's how senior chemical engineers use statistical analysis:

Performed design of experiment statistical analysis in Minitab to determine correlations in process variables.
Developed a standard reporting procedures and process documentation to collect data and perform statistical analysis to identify trends using productivity analyzer.

12. Test Procedures

Test procedure i defined as a tool for conducting an experiment to analyze or observe the specifications of a process or application.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use test procedures:

Performed test procedures and documented results.
Trained, directed, and advised personnel in test procedures for component analysis.

13. Process Optimization

Here's how senior chemical engineers use process optimization:

Process optimization and sustaining responsibilities for AMAT chemical-mechanical-polish tool
Conceived and implemented SiC wafer characterization: geometrical, structural, electrical and defect analysis provided quick feedback to process optimization.

14. Polymer

A polymer is a material containing large molecules made from several repeating subunits. There are two types of polymers, human-made like amber, wool, and hemp, and synthetic such as synthetic rubber, nylon, etc.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use polymer:

Research areas: Synthetic Polymer, Organic Compound, and Application: Such As Laminating Adhesives, Coating Material, etc.
Designed experiment on 1.5 tons unsaturated polymer resin, 0.5 tons adhesive, and 1-4 Liter of produce nature ester etc.

15. Sigma

In Greek alphabets, sigma is the 18th letter that means "to sum up". In statistics, the lower case symbol of sigma is the unit of measurement for standard deviation which is used to assess the variability in a given set of data. While the upper case symbol is for summation notation means to add up all the given numbers in the data set.

Here's how senior chemical engineers use sigma:

Generated savings of over $100k per year utilizing Six Sigma tools to improve heat-treating and pad printing.
Utilized Six Sigma tools to develop and implement projects to improve yield and cycle time.

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What skills help Senior Chemical Engineers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on senior chemical engineer resumes?

Vianney Gimenez-Pinto Ph.D

Assistant Professor of Physics and Chemistry, Lincoln University of Missouri

Physicists are valued for their abstraction, mathematical reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. However, I would not recommend spelling those out in a resume as they are embedded already in the major. A robust undergraduate resume should have research experiences, either based in their home-university or as an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program in another institution. Also, it should include conference presentations and internships. Those show the candidate's ability to apply the before-mentioned skills successfully.

If we must point out skills: Coding, common languages include (but are not limited to) Java, C/C++ and Python; Mathematical Modeling; and Experimental Design.

What soft skills should all senior chemical engineers possess?

David Nielsen Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Communication, teamwork, decision-making.

What hard/technical skills are most important for senior chemical engineers?

David Nielsen Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Strong fundamental understandings of mass and energy balances, as well as thermodynamics; data analysis.

What senior chemical engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Peter Rosado

Associate Professor of Chemistry, Georgia College and State University

I tell students to call their "gap" year more of a "Developmental" year. If a graduate desires to have such a year, they should focus on their whole as a goal, which means not only developing their professionalism but have other experiences. For example, travel to another country, learn a new language, intern at a company outside of the US, get involved further in the field of study. What stands out in candidates is how they made use of their time, skills that they acquired, and how they could weave them into the position they are applying for. That the candidate has had experiences outside of their comfort zone tells me, as an employer, that they are flexible and can adapt to situations that are new and unpredictable.

What type of skills will young senior chemical engineers need?

Kristine Horvat Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of New Haven

Students graduating with bachelor's degrees in engineering need strong communication skills. From writing emails, creating technical reports, and presenting results to others, engineers need to express their thoughts in a professional, technical manner. This is why we integrate learning communication skills across all undergraduate years at the University of New Haven. Also, having an entrepreneurial mindset is essential for engineers to see the bigger picture, to find ways to create value and identify opportunities when solving different problems in their field. Engineers and chemical engineers work with people of various backgrounds and expertise; therefore, viewing their work to understand the other stakeholders for a project can help them create connections and best drive a project forward.

Engineers capable of viewing the world through this lens will be very successful and sought out by employers. At the University of New Haven, in connection with the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN), we strive to facilitate the development of this mindset throughout our engineering courses. More specific to chemical engineering, potent chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, and unit operations are needed. Gaining hands-on skills through laboratory courses, research opportunities, and internships is very important, and an ability to create programs and simulate chemical processes is a must-have for graduates. In terms of programming, Excel skills are beneficial and adaptable.

Do you want to know more?

List of senior chemical engineer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a senior chemical engineer resume and required skills for a senior chemical engineer to have include:

Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Project Management
IDS
Technical Support
Process Control
Process Engineering
R
Aspen Plus
Process Design
Statistical Analysis
Test Procedures
Process Optimization

Polymer
Sigma
Chemical Processes
Capital Projects
Engineering Support
Aspen
Pilot Plant
Distillation
ISO
PLC
FMEA
Process Equipment
Water Treatment

Technical Reports
P Id
DOE
Equipment Specifications
FDA
PFD
Economic Analysis
EPA
Pilot Scale
CMC
Design Basis
CO2
Project Cost

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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