r/ChemicalEngineering • u/SurvivingCheme • 1d ago

Career Advice Anyone heard of an Optimization Specialist?

I’m screening for a job as an "Optimization Specialist" position that involves monitoring a materials manufacturing process, troubleshooting equipment, and analyzing data for efficiency and safety (seems similar to their other job postings for "chemical engineer"). The posting says they prefer a B.S. in Chemical/Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering, but it also notes that technical certifications or vocational training can substitute for a degree. (I find this odd)

As a ChemE student about to graduate, I’m wondering: would this kind of role be considered real chemical engineering experience, and would it help me advance into process engineering positions later on?

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u/babyd42 1d ago

So you're joining CI

1

u/SurvivingCheme 1d ago

What is CI?

5

u/Eadwyne 1d ago

Continuous Improvement. Many companies have such groups to try to promote optimization of operations rather than just “fighting fires”.

As nice as it sounds, the real bottleneck usually is at the resources level and not really a lack of drive from the different groups, i.e. operations, engineering, etc.

1

u/Mechanical1996 1d ago

Bingo, and it's the same at every single plant. Not enough resource, no improvement...

1

u/Academic-Track9011 1d ago

This is a CI role , it would be good start to pivot into industry. As someone else said , the main constraint would be resources and how adaptive your coworkers are to accept a change