Industrial Process Development: Strategies for a Technical Career Path

Process development careers in industry offer the opportunity to become an “intrapreneur” and follow a technology from inception through commercialization. Unlike pitching an IPO as an entrepreneur, to be successful in industry one must be both an advocate for the potential of new technologies, and a critical challenger to evaluate and make recommendations relative to technical, business, and commercial risks, where the end game is deployment. Technical skills in the fundamentals of research and development as well as scale-up must be augmented by managerial and people skills in leading and progressing projects through the organization. Opportunities for career advancement are provided via filling white spaces or gaps in resourcing, and thereby learning new skills and capabilities.