Chemical engineer CV example: process lines, HAZOP roles and lab evidence
Say which process you designed, ran or improved and by how much, name the safety studies you joined, such as a HAZOP, with your role in them, and show the lab or pilot work behind your figures.1
Written 13 October 2026. CitedCV. How we write our guides
Pick the job family before you write a line
Chemical engineering adverts fall into three families, and each one reads a CV from a different end. Decide which one the advert belongs to, then let the top third of your CV answer that family first.
| Job family | Read first | Evidence that lands |
|---|---|---|
| Process or production engineer | The unit, the throughput and what you changed | Yield, energy per tonne, off-spec batches, downtime |
| Process safety engineer | The studies and systems you worked in | HAZOP nodes, actions closed, management of change, permit system |
| R&D, lab or scale-up | Methods, instruments and scale | Lab to pilot to plant, analytical methods, reports and patents |
A graduate with one internship can still choose: the internship task decides the family, and the final-year design project is written as the strongest piece of evidence.
What the official profiles say the work is
O*NET's profile for chemical engineers (17-2041.00) puts developing safety procedures for people working near equipment or reactions at the top of its task list, followed by troubleshooting manufacturing processes, monitoring and analysing process data, and evaluating equipment for performance and compliance with safety and environmental rules. Cost estimates and equipment layout follow.
BLS reports that chemical manufacturing employs the largest share of chemical engineers, about 28%, followed by engineering services and research and development. The UK National Careers Service splits the job into research and development, where you test methods in the lab and scale them up to pilot and full production, and manufacturing, where you oversee plant operations and work with quality control and health and safety teams.
Software the profiles name
O*NET lists Minitab, MATLAB, AutoCAD, SCADA software, LabVIEW and Microsoft Visio among the tools. Prospects says chemical engineers develop and test process simulation models when a plant is expanded or reconfigured. Name the simulator you used, such as Aspen Plus or HYSYS, only if you built or ran models in it.
Writing HAZOP and process safety honestly
IEC 61882:2016 is the international application guide for hazard and operability studies. Its own page describes a structured review of a system using guide words, with steps for definition, preparation, examination sessions, documentation and follow-up. That vocabulary is what a reviewer expects to see.
In the US, OSHA's process safety management standard, 29 CFR 1910.119(e), requires a process hazard analysis for covered processes. It allows What-If, Checklist, What-If/Checklist, HAZOP, FMEA, Fault Tree Analysis or an equivalent method, done by a team with engineering and operations expertise, and revalidated at least every five years.
Say what you did in the study
- Led or facilitated the study: say so, with the number of nodes and the unit.
- Recorded the sessions: say scribe or recorder; it is real work, but not leadership.
- Took part as process engineer: give the nodes you prepared and the actions you owned and closed.
- Attended a HAZOP training course: put it under training, with the provider and year.
Other safety work worth a line
Management of change reviews, pressure relief sizing checks, permit-to-work audits and incident investigations all show the same judgement. Give each one a count or an outcome, not a list of acronyms.
Example: a process engineer CV section
Example. Priya Nair is invented; the plant, units and numbers are illustrative. Copy the structure, then fill it with your own facts.
Profile
Process engineer with five years on continuous solvent recovery and batch resin units. Runs debottlenecking studies in Aspen Plus, joins HAZOP teams as the process lead for the units she supports, and owns the management of change paperwork for them.
Process Engineer, Riverside Specialty Chemicals, 2022 to present
- Raised solvent recovery column throughput by 9% after a tray efficiency test and a reflux control change, with no loss of overhead purity.
- Process lead in a 22-node HAZOP of the resin unit revamp; owned 17 of the 64 actions and closed all 17 before start-up.
- Wrote 30 management of change packages in 2024, covering instrument changes, a new raw material and two relief valve replacements.
- Cut off-spec batches on reactor R-3 from 6 to 2 a quarter by moving the temperature ramp and adding a viscosity check at 80% conversion.
Graduate Engineer, Delta Coatings, 2020 to 2022
- Scaled a waterborne binder from 2 L lab reactor to 500 L pilot batch over six runs; wrote the transfer report used for the first plant trial.
- Ran GC and Karl Fischer analyses for the pilot runs and set the in-process water specification.
Skills table for chemical engineers
| Skill | Typical tools | How to prove it on the CV |
|---|---|---|
| Process simulation | Aspen Plus, HYSYS, CHEMCAD | What you modelled and the decision the model supported |
| Process control and data | DCS, SCADA, historian, Excel, Minitab | The loop or variable you changed and the effect |
| Process safety | HAZOP, LOPA, MOC, permit to work | Your role, node count, actions closed |
| Design and drawings | P&IDs, AutoCAD, Visio | The equipment or line you specified |
| Lab and analysis | GC, HPLC, Karl Fischer, rheometer | Method, sample load, specification set |
| Scale-up | Lab, pilot and plant reactors | Scales, runs and the transfer report |
Licences and chartership, checked on 13 October 2026
United States
BLS says licensure is not required for entry-level chemical engineers. A Professional Engineer licence generally needs a degree from an accredited engineering programme, a pass in the FE exam, several years of relevant experience and a pass in the PE exam; each state issues its own, and some require continuing education.
United Kingdom
The National Careers Service says your degree should be accredited by IChemE, and chartered status gives professional recognition. IChemE's chartered membership lets you use MIChemE and the title Chartered Chemical Engineer or Professional Process Safety Engineer, and either can apply for CEng registration. Prospects adds that career development usually depends on chartered status.
Germany
Ingenieur is a protected title there; the Germany engineer guide covers when a foreign degree lets you use it.
Limits of this page
This page does not cover food plants, where HACCP and ISO 22000 shape the CV; the food engineer guide does. It also leaves industrial engineering work, such as line balancing, to its own guide. Licence rules change and differ by state and country, so check the linked page before you claim a title.
Next steps
Applying abroad: start with the Germany engineer guide for the title rules and the degree recognition guide for how to show a foreign diploma. Run your finished draft through a free checker to see how a parser reads tables of tools and units.
CitedCV can build the CV from the plant facts you enter, in English, Turkish or German, and it asks when a figure is missing rather than supplying one.
Questions people ask
How do I put HAZOP experience on my resume?
Name the unit, the number of nodes, your role (leader, recorder or process lead) and the actions you owned and closed; a training course goes under training instead.
Do chemical engineers need a PE license?
Not at entry level, according to BLS; experienced engineers may get a state PE licence after the FE exam, several years of work and the PE exam.
What software should a chemical engineer list on a CV?
List the simulator, control system and analysis tools you actually used, such as Aspen Plus, a DCS historian or Minitab, and show one result from each.
How do I write lab experience on a chemical engineering CV?
Give the method, the instrument, the scale and what your results decided, for example the specification you set or the batch you released.
What is a Chartered Chemical Engineer?
It is a title IChemE gives its chartered members, who can use MIChemE and apply for CEng registration after a peer-reviewed professional review.
Should a graduate chemical engineer include the final-year design project?
Yes, write it like a job: the process, the capacity, the part you designed and any safety or cost study inside it.
Is a process engineer CV different from a chemical engineer CV?
Often the same person, but a process engineer advert reads throughput, yield and downtime first, so put those lines at the top.
Sources
- O*NET OnLine: Chemical Engineers (17-2041.00)www.onetonline.org/link/summary/17-2041.00
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Chemical Engineerswww.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/chemical-engineers.htm
- IEC 61882:2016 Hazard and operability studies (HAZOP studies): Application guidewebstore.iec.ch/en/publication/24321
- OSHA 29 CFR 1910.119 Process safety management of highly hazardous chemicalswww.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.119
- IChemE: Chartered Memberwww.icheme.org/chartered
- National Careers Service: Chemical engineernationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/chemical-engineer
- Prospects: Chemical engineer job profilewww.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/chemical-engineer