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What Kind of Jobs Can Engineers Get in the Pharma Industry?
There are an enormous variety and range of engineering disciplines so it can be a real challenge to figure out what kind of jobs or roles you would be suitable for in the pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturing industries or the engineering consultancies that service them.
So we have put together this guide to help you get a better understanding of what kinds of roles are available based on your background and what retraining (we have suggested combinations of different technical modules for different jobs) if any would be required.
Click on the links to jump the engineering discipline you’re interested in.
Mechanical Engineers
Facilities/Maintenance/Plant Engineer
Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
Production/Manufacturing/Industrial Engineer
Quality Engineer
Process/Chemical Engineer
Petroleum Engineer
BioMedical Engineer
Project Engineer
Validation Engineer
Civil Engineer
Instrumentation/Control Engineer
Automation Engineer
Mechanical Engineers
The majority of roles for mechanical engineers tend to be in:
- plant, maintenance or facility engineering roles both within pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing
- design engineering roles within medical device manufacturing and engineering consultancies
Depending on your experience, you are probably going to need some retraining, especially for plant engineering or maintenance type roles. For more design engineering focused roles, your current qualifications may be enough especially if you are a strong candidate and the labour market is tight.
Another option would be to retrain for validation roles as your background in engineering design, plant engineering, fluid dynamics and even thermodynamics are all relevant to this field.
So as a mechanical engineer, you’d have roughly 3 broad options.
Option 1
Apply for mechanical design engineer roles as you are with engineering consultancies or med device or pharma companies.
Polish up your CV/Resume and apply as you are. You could apply for advertised positions or you could send out speculative job applications.
For a list of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and engineering consultancies, click here if you are in Ireland and here if you are in the United Kingdom. For other locations, do a search for engineering consultancies for the pharma or med device sector.
You might consider bolstering your qualifications by taking our 5-week GMPs Training for Beginners Course to learn about the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and the risk management techniques used in the FDA regulated manufacturing environment.
Option 2
Retrain for plant, maintenance or facility engineer roles in pharmaceutical companies.
Pharma needs purified water and clean air systems to manufacture safe medicines that are used for injections. These aseptic processes have to be designed, validated, monitored, maintained and updated in FDA-regulated manufacturing facilities.
Here, you will take our 15-week Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma to learn GMPs and how safe medicines are made in a regulated environment. You will also learn the air, water and steam systems that underpin aseptic/sterile processing.
You will receive a strong grounding in the modern pharmaceutical science and engineering concepts of the environmental controls (air) and clean utility systems design that underpin an aseptic manufacturing facility and the quality systems.
Typical roles and the expected salaries:
- Facilities Engineer
Some companies might call this role:
-
- Maintenance Engineer
- Plant Engineer
Options for further study
Then take our 10-Week Validation Training Course – For Starter Validation Roles – to learn more about how these systems are validated.
Finally, take our Computer System Validation Course to learn about the management of the electronic data produced by the control systems used to generate and distribute clean air and purified water. This will round out your qualifications and give yourself a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Option 3
Retrain for validation roles in both pharmaceutical companies and engineering consultancies.
Take our 15-week Equipment Validation Training Course – For Starter Validation Roles
This course explains the documentation used to specify and install new equipment systems in a manufacturing facility – and how to develop the test IQ OQ PQ protocols, generally referred to as Installation Qualification (IQ), Operational Qualification (OQ) and Performance Qualification (PQ).
As the final assessment, you will learn to complete an IOQ validation protocol for a clean-in-place system.
Typical roles:
- Validation Technician – you work directly for a pharmaceutical company on ongoing projects.
- Validation Team Member – you work with an engineering consultancy firm on capital projects.
(Note that actual job titles may vary – the distinction is more between who’d employ you and what type of projects you’d work on).
Options for further study
Take our 30-week online Certificate in Validation program for Senior Pharmaceutical Validation Roles to get a level 7 university qualification from Technological University Dublin, Ireland and a more interesting job with a higher salary such as;
Some companies might call this role:
- Validation Specialist
- CQV Specialist
- C&Q Specialist
Finally, take our Computer System Validation Course and extend your role to CSV Projects. Round out your qualifications and give yourself a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Facilities/Maintenance/Plant Engineer
The majority of roles for mechanical facilities, maintenance or plant engineer in pharma tend to be in:
- plant, maintenance or facility engineering roles both within pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing
- maintenance and design roles with engineering consultancies
GMP manufacturing experience or some relevant qualification is generally required but you may well get hired without this especially if the labour market is tight and you are a strong candidate.
Another option would be to retrain for validation roles as your background in engineering design and interpreting P&ID technical drawings are highly relevant to this field.
You would have roughly 3 broad options to bolster your qualifications.
Option 1
Apply for maintenance roles with engineering consultancies, pharma or med device manufacturing companies
Polish up your CV/Resume and apply as you are. You could apply for advertised positions or you could send out speculative job applications.
For a list of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and engineering consultancies, click here if you are in Ireland and here if you are in the United Kingdom. For other locations, do a search for engineering consultancies for the pharma of med device sector.
You could consider taking our GMP Training for Beginners program to bolster your qualifications.
Option 2
Retrain for plant engineering or facility or maintenance engineer roles in pharmaceutical or med device companies.
Pharma needs purified water and clean air systems to manufacture safe medicines which are used for injections. These aseptic processes have to be designed, validated, monitored, maintained and updated in FDA regulated manufacturing facilities.
Here, you’d need to take the following programs
Take our 15-week online Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma to learn GMPs and how safe medicines are made in a regulated environment. You will also learn the air, water and steam systems that underpin aseptic/sterile processing.
You will receive a strong grounding in the modern pharmaceutical science and engineering concepts of the environmental controls (air) and clean utility systems design that underpin an aseptic manufacturing facility and the quality systems.
Then take our 10-Week Online Starter Validation program to learn how those systems are validated.
Option 3
Retrain for validation roles in both pharmaceutical companies and engineering consultancies.
Take our 15-week online Starter Validation program and learn to populate an IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocol.
IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocols form a crucial part of pharmaceutical plant projects and having a fundamental understanding of how these protocols are put together and interpreted is a fundamental skillset of any engineer cross-training to work in this area.
Typical roles:
- Validation Technician – you work directly for a pharmaceutical company on ongoing projects.
- Validation Team Member – you work with an engineering consultancy firm on capital projects.
(Note that actual job titles may vary – the distinction is more between who’d employ you and what type of projects you’d work on).
Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
As an aircraft maintenance engineer, you could consider applying for maintenance or plant engineering roles within the pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturing sector. Engineering consultancies could also be another option.
You are going to need to take a course in GMPs and the air, steam and water systems used within the pharmaceutical industry to make safe medicines.
Another option would be to retrain for validation roles as your background in engineering design and interpreting technical drawings are highly relevant to this field.
You would have roughly 2 broad options to bolster your qualifications.
Option 1
Retrain for maintenance engineering or facility engineer roles in pharmaceutical companies
Pharma needs purified water and clean air systems to manufacture safe medicines which are used for injections. These aseptic processes have to be designed, validated, monitored, maintained and updated in FDA regulated manufacturing facilities.
Here, you’d need to take the following programs
Take our 15-week online Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma to learn GMPs and how safe medicines are made in a regulated environment. You will also learn the air, water and steam systems that underpin aseptic/sterile processing.
You will receive a strong grounding in the modern pharmaceutical science and engineering concepts of the environmental controls (air) and clean utility systems design that underpin an aseptic manufacturing facility and the quality systems.
Then take our 10-Week Online Starter Validation program to learn how those systems are validated.
Option 2
Retrain for validation roles in both pharmaceutical companies and engineering consultancies.
Take our 15-week online Starter Validation program and learn to populate an IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocol.
IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocols form a crucial part of pharmaceutical plant projects and having a fundamental understanding of how these protocols are put together and interpreted is a fundamental skillset of any petroleum engineer cross-training to work in this area.
Production/Manufacturing/Industrial Engineer
Production, manufacturing and industrial engineers bring a lot of strengths to this sector especially those with a strong background in the application of Lean Manufacturing principles.
The majority of roles tend to be in:
- medical device manufacturing as there is a much broader use of discrete manufacturing
- engineering consultancies also hire manufacturing production engineers into process optimisation consultancy roles
Pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing will also have roles but the majority (but not all) tend to be concentrated around packaging operations (Think running a highly automated packaging line).
Another option would be to retrain for validation roles as your background in engineering design and interpreting technical drawings are relevant to this field.
For most roles though, you are probably going to need some retraining, especially in GMPs and risk management techniques.
So you would have roughly 2 broad options.
Option 1
Retrain for production/manufacturing roles within a GMP regulated manufacturing environment such a medical device or pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Take our 15-week online Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma to learn GMPs and how safe medicines and medical devices are made in a regulated environment. You will also learn the air, water and steam systems that underpin medical device manufacturing.
Option 2
Retrain for validation roles for both pharmaceutical companies and engineering consultancies.
Take our Validation Training Course – For Starter Validation Roles and retrain for the following roles:
- Validation Technician – you work directly for a pharmaceutical company on ongoing projects.
- Validation Team Member – you work with an engineering consultancy firm on capital projects.
(Note that actual job titles may vary – the distinction is more between who’d employ you and what type of projects you’d work on).
Options for further study
Take our 30-week online Certificate in Validation program for Senior Validation Roles to get a level 7 university qualification from Technological University Dublin, Ireland and a more interesting job with a higher salary such as;
Some companies might call this role:
- Validation Specialist
- CQV Specialist
- C&Q Specialist
Take our Computer System Validation Course and extend your role to CSV Projects. Round out your qualifications and give yourself a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Quality Engineer
The majority of quality assurance or quality control roles for those with an engineering background will be in medical device manufacturing as there is a much broader use of discrete manufacturing. Pharmaceutical and biopharma may have a few roles but the majority (but not all) tend to be concentrated around packaging operations.
If you came into quality from a mechanical engineering or plant engineering background, you could also look at environmental quality roles. Pharma needs purified water and clean air systems to manufacture safe medicines which are used for injections and part of your job would be to maintain and ensure the quality of the output of these systems.
NOTE: The majority of Quality Control roles in pharmaceutical manufacturing (and food processing) involve laboratory testing and for that reason, the majority of QC roles in the pharma sector tend to be filled by those with a lab/science background, not engineering/manufacturing backgrounds.
You would have roughly 2 broad options.
Option 1
Retrain for production quality roles within a GMP regulated medical device manufacturing environment.
Take our 15-week online Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma to learn GMPs and how safe medicines and medical devices are made in a regulated environment. You will also learn the air, water and steam systems that underpin medical device manufacturing.
Option 2
Retrain for environmental quality roles within a GMP regulated manufacturing environment.
Take our 15-week online Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma
As a quality engineer, you’d be well placed to work in environmental quality roles within both the pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing space. Pharma needs purified water and clean air systems to manufacture safe medicines which are used for injections. These aseptic processes have to be designed, validated, monitored, maintained and updated in FDA regulated manufacturing facilities.
You will receive a strong grounding in the modern pharmaceutical science and engineering concepts of the environmental controls (air) and clean utility systems design that underpin an aseptic manufacturing facility and the quality systems.
Then take our 10-Week Online Starter Validation program to learn how those systems are validated.
Process/Chemical Engineer
As a process or chemical engineer, you are already well-positioned to apply for process or chemical engineering roles within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. You could also look at roles with medical device manufacturing companies as well. Engineering consultancies could also be another option.
You generally don’t need any additional training but you could certainly benefit from taking a course on GMPs if you have no experience working in a GMP manufacturing environment or have not covered them in your undergraduate program.
Another option would be to retrain for validation roles as your background in engineering design and interpreting P&ID technical drawings are highly relevant to this field.
You would have roughly 3 broad options to bolster your qualifications.
Option 1
Apply for process or chemical engineer roles as you are with engineering consultancies or pharma companies
Polish up your CV/Resume and apply as you are. You could apply for advertised positions or you could send out speculative job applications.
For a list of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and engineering consultancies, click here if you are in Ireland and here if you are in the United Kingdom. For other locations, do a search for engineering consultancies for the pharma of med device sector.
You might consider bolstering your qualifications by taking our 5-week GMPs Training for Beginners Course to learn about the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and the risk management techniques used in the FDA regulated manufacturing environment.
Option 2
Retrain for validation roles in both pharmaceutical companies and engineering consultancies.
Take our 15-week Online Starter Validation program and learn to populate an IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocols.
Validation Protocols form a crucial part of pharmaceutical plant projects and having a fundamental understanding of how these protocols are put together and interpreted is a fundamental skillset of any process or chemical engineer working in this area.
Options for further study.
Take our 30-week online Certificate in Validation program for Senior Validation Roles to get a level 7 university qualification from Technological University Dublin, Ireland and a more interesting job with a higher salary such as;
Some companies might call this role:
- Validation Specialist
- CQV Specialist
- C&Q Specialist
Take our Computer System Validation Course and extend your role to CSV Projects. Round out your qualifications and give yourself a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Option 3
Retrain to get a better understanding of the plant engineering and validation process used in pharmaceutical companies.
Pharma needs purified water and clean air systems to manufacture safe medicines which are used for injections. These aseptic processes have to be designed, validated, monitored, maintained and updated in FDA regulated manufacturing facilities.
Here, you’d need to take the following programs
Take our 15-week online Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma to learn GMPs and how safe medicines are made in a regulated environment and learn the air, water and steam systems that underpin aseptic/sterile processing.
You will receive a strong grounding in the modern pharmaceutical science and engineering concepts of the environmental controls (air) and clean utility systems design that underpin an aseptic manufacturing facility and the quality systems.
Then take our 10-Week Online Starter Validation program to learn how those systems are validated.
Petroleum Engineer
As a petroleum engineer, you are reasonably well-positioned to apply for chemical engineering or process engineering roles within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. You could also look at roles with medical device manufacturing as well. Engineering consultancies could also be another option.
Your undergraduate qualifications and work experience should equip you with the necessary skills and knowledge to apply for entry-level or higher-level types of roles. It is difficult to anticipate how HR or Line Managers will react to your qualification or your lack of experience working in a GMP regulated manufacturing environment. For some, this may prove a stumbling block though so you may need to take a GMP course on that.
A second option would be to retrain for validation roles as your background in engineering design and interpreting P&ID technical drawings are highly relevant to this field.
Another option would be to retrain for plant engineering or maintenance type roles.
So you would have roughly 3 broad options.
Option 1
Apply for process or chemical engineer roles as you are with engineering consultancies or pharma companies.
Reframe and polish up your CV/Resume and apply as you are. You could apply for advertised positions or you could send out speculative job applications.
For a list of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and engineering consultancies, click here if you are in Ireland and here if you are in the United Kingdom. For other locations, do a search for engineering consultancies for the pharma of med device sector.
As mentioned, it is difficult to anticipate how HR or Line Managers will react to your qualification or your lack of experience working in a GMP regulated manufacturing environment. For that reason, you might consider bolstering your qualifications by taking a GMP course.
Option 2
Retrain for validation roles in both pharmaceutical companies and engineering consultancies.
Take our 15-week online Starter Validation program and learn to populate an IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocol.
IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocols form a crucial part of pharmaceutical plant projects and having a fundamental understanding of how these protocols are put together and interpreted is a fundamental skillset of any petroleum engineer cross training to work in this area.
Options for further study
Take our 30-week online Certificate in Validation program for Senior Validation Roles to get a level 7 university qualification from Technological University Dublin, Ireland and a more interesting job with a higher salary such as;
Some companies might call this role:
- Validation Specialist
- CQV Specialist
- C&Q Specialist
Take our Computer System Validation Course and extend your role to CSV Projects. Round out your qualifications and give yourself a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Option 3
Retrain for plant engineering or facility engineer roles in pharmaceutical companies.
Pharma needs purified water and clean air systems to manufacture safe medicines which are used for injections. These aseptic processes have to be designed, validated, monitored, maintained and updated in FDA regulated manufacturing facilities.
Here, you’d need to take the following programs
Take our 15-week online Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma to learn GMPs and how safe medicines are made in a regulated environment. You will also learn the air, water and steam systems that underpin aseptic/sterile processing.
You will receive a strong grounding in the modern pharmaceutical science and engineering concepts of the environmental controls (air) and clean utility systems design that underpin an aseptic manufacturing facility and the quality systems.
Then take our 10-Week Online Starter Validation program to learn how those systems are validated.
BioMedical Engineer
As a biomedical engineer, you are already well-positioned to apply for a wide range of roles such as R&D Engineer, Operations Engineer, Product Design Engineer, Device Equipment Engineer, Combination Product Design and even manufacturing engineering roles.
The majority of roles will be within the medical device manufacturing sector. There may be some roles within pharmaceutical manufacturing as well.
You would have 3 broad options.
Option 1
Apply for roles with medical device or pharma manufacturing companies
Polish up your CV/Resume and apply as you are. As a biomedical engineer, you are already in an excellent position to apply for roles especially within the medical device sector.. You could apply for advertised positions or you could send out speculative job applications.
For a list of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and engineering consultancies, click here if you are in Ireland and here if you are in the United Kingdom. For other locations, do a search for engineering consultancies for the pharma of med device sector.
Option 2
Take our 15-week online Starter Validation program and learn to populate an IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocol.
Validation Protocols form a crucial part of pharmaceutical plant projects and having a fundamental understanding of how these protocols are put together and interpreted is a fundamental skill set of any engineer working in this area.
Options for further study.
Take our 30-week online Certificate in Validation program for Senior Validation Roles to get a level 7 university qualification from Technological University Dublin, Ireland and a more interesting job with a higher salary such as;
Some companies might call this role:
- Validation Specialist
- CQV Specialist
- C&Q Specialist
Option 3
Retrain to get a better understanding of the plant engineering and validation process used in pharmaceutical companies.
Pharma needs purified water and clean air systems to manufacture safe medicines which are used for injections. These aseptic processes have to be designed, validated, monitored, maintained and updated in FDA regulated manufacturing facilities.
Here, you’d need to take the following programs
Take our 15-week online Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma to learn GMPs and how safe medicines are made in a regulated environment and learn the air, water and steam systems that underpin aseptic/sterile processing.
You will receive a strong grounding in the modern pharmaceutical science and engineering concepts of the environmental controls (air) and clean utility systems design that underpin an aseptic manufacturing facility and the quality systems.
Then take our 10-Week Online Starter Validation program to learn how those systems are validated.
Project Engineer
As a project engineer, coming from outside this sector, your main opportunities would be managing capital projects within the pharmaceutical, medical device sectors or the many engineering consultancies that focus on these sectors. Depending on your background, you probably won’t need training in GMPs but it would certainly help bolster your qualifications.
Another option would be to retrain for validation roles.
And finally, you retrain or move into plant engineering roles. Or you could remain focus on project engineering roles but use this knowledge to bolster your qualifications.
So you would have roughly the following broad 3 options.
Option 1
Apply for project engineering roles with engineering consultancies or pharma companies
Polish up your CV/Resume and apply as you are. You could apply for advertised positions or you could send out speculative job applications.
For a list of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and engineering consultancies, click here if you are in Ireland and here if you are in the United Kingdom. For other locations, do a search for engineering consultancies for the pharma of med device sector.
You might consider bolstering your qualifications by taking our 5-week GMPs Training for Beginners Course to learn about the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and the risk management techniques used in the FDA regulated manufacturing environment.
Option 2
Bolster your qualification and take our 15-week online Starter Validation program and learn to populate an IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocol
IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocols form a crucial part of pharmaceutical plant projects and having a fundamental understanding of how these protocols are put together and interpreted is a fundamental skillset of any project engineer working in this area.
Option 3
Take the following programs to get a better understanding of the plant engineering and validation process used in pharmaceutical companies
Pharma needs purified water, steam and clean air to work and these systems have to be monitored, managed, updated and validated.
Here, you’d need to take the following programs
Take our 15-week online Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma to learn GMPs and how safe medicines are made in a regulated environment and how the purified water, steam and clean air systems that underpin aseptic processing work.
You will receive a strong grounding in the modern pharmaceutical science and engineering concepts of the environmental controls (air) and clean utility systems design that underpin an aseptic manufacturing facility and the quality systems.
Then take our 10-Week Online Starter Validation program to learn how those systems are validated.
Validation Engineer
As a validation engineer, there is a good chance you are already working in the pharma or device manufacturing sector.
If you are working in junior-level roles, you could consider levelling up and taking our Certificate in eValidation to get more interesting roles.
Another option would be to move into Computer System Validation
So you’d have the following 2 options to bolster your qualifications.
Option 1
Take our 30-week online Certificate in Validation program for Senior Validation Roles to turn your experience into a level 7 university qualification from Technological University Dublin, Ireland and get a more interesting job with a higher salary such as;
Some companies might call this role:
- Validation Specialist
- CQV Specialist
- C&Q Specialist
Option 2
Take our Computer System Validation Course and extend your role to computer system validation CSV projects. Round out your qualifications and give yourself a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Civil Engineer
As a civil engineer, coming from outside this sector, your main opportunities would be working on capital projects within the pharma and industry-focused engineering consultancies.
Another option would be to retrain for validation roles in the pharma sector or engineering consultancies as your background in engineering design and interpreting technical drawings are relevant to this field.
So you’d have 2 broad options.
Option 1
Apply for civil engineering roles as you are with engineering consultancies
Polish up your CV/Resume and apply as you are. You could apply for advertised positions or you could send out speculative job applications.
For a list of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and engineering consultancies, click here if you are in Ireland and here if you are in the United Kingdom. For other locations, do a search for engineering consultancies for the pharma of med device sector.
Option 2
Retrain for validation roles in both pharmaceutical companies and engineering consultancies.
Take our 15-week online Starter Validation program and learn to populate an IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocol.
IQ OQ PQ Validation Protocols form a crucial part of pharmaceutical plant projects and having a fundamental understanding of how these protocols are put together and interpreted is a fundamental skillset of any petroleum engineer cross-training to work in this area.
Typical roles:
- Validation Technician – you work directly for a pharmaceutical company on ongoing projects.
- Validation Team Member – you work with an engineering consultancy firm on capital projects.
(Note that actual job titles may vary – the distinction is more between who’d employ you and what type of projects you’d work on).
Instrumentation/Control Engineer
As an instrumentation or control engineer coming from outside this sector, you are in an excellent position to apply for these types of roles within the pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturing sectors or with the numerous engineering consultancies that focus on these sectors.
There is a high demand for people with your skill set across multiple markets.
You’d have the following 2 options to help bolster your qualifications.
Option 1
Bolster your qualifications by taking our 5-week GMPs Training for Beginners Course to learn about the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and the risk management techniques used in the FDA regulated manufacturing environment.
Option 2
Take our Computer System Validation Course and extend your role to CSV Projects. Round out your qualifications and give yourself a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Automation Engineer
As an automation engineer coming from outside this sector, you are in an excellent position to apply for process automation roles within the pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturing sectors or the numerous engineering consultancies that focus on these sectors.
There is a high demand for people with your skillset across multiple markets.
You’d have the following 2 options to help bolster your qualifications.
Option 1
Bolster your qualifications by taking our 5-week GMPs Training for Beginners Course to learn about the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and the risk management techniques used in the FDA regulated manufacturing environment.
Option 2
Take our Computer System Validation Course and extend your role to computer system validation projects and learn how to manage electronic data for GxP computerized system applications . Round out your qualifications and give yourself a competitive edge in the marketplace.
About GetReskilled
GetReskilled has a variety of technical modules for experienced engineers focussed on the systems necessary to consistently manufacture safe medicines in an FDA regulated manufacturing environment. This means you can pick the modules most needed for your new job and combine them with an optional advanced career change skills module. The customisable structure of these courses are a key part of providing experienced engineers with opportunities for securing new jobs and good careers in the Pharma and Medical Devices manufacturing industries.
All our technical programs and courses are delivered in an online learning environment that is accessible to a wide range of experienced engineers, and is accessible across all ages and technical backgrounds, irrespective of where they live. Flexibility, responsiveness and innovation are combined to meet the specific needs of:
- the Pharma and Med Devices industry (e.g. GMP, Validation, CSV etc) who are looking for capable candidates with the skills necessary for working in this highly regulated industry
- Experienced engineers who are looking to build new skills for new careers in the Pharma or Med Devices industry.
Combinations of different technical modules are suggested below for different jobs in Pharma and Med Devices companies, for experienced engineers coming from different engineering disciplines, with different work experience backgrounds
But before we start…
A Word of Caution
Please do not take the following recommendations as absolutes. We are making broad-level generalisations based on our own 15 years experience and these recommendations are an approximate guide to the career opportunities available. There will always be exceptions.
GMPs
Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing facilities are regulated according to Good Manufacturing Practice or GMPs. While it’s often compared to ISO 9001, it’s not trying to do the same thing. GMP is a product quality standard. Its focus is on getting the right quality product to the only customer of GMPs – the patient. ISO 9001 is more about running the whole business, a goal of which will be producing products of the right quality – but it has other aims too.
Another key difference is that GMPs are government regulations. If you don’t follow ISO 9000, you may or may not end up with some disgruntled customers. If you don’t follow GMPs, you’ll be facing an audit from the government regulator, a very serious fine and potentially some very sick or even dead people.
For most engineer roles, you would certainly benefit from taking a course in GMPs if you have no experience working in a GMP manufacturing environment or have not covered them in your undergraduate program. However, you can get hired without GMP experience, especially if the labour market is tight and you are a strong candidate.
For example, two of this author’s nephews who are automation engineers were hired by engineering consultancies straight from university. Both spend weeks sitting behind a desk on their first job taking GMP elearning courses and reading standards before the client company would let them touch anything on the factory floor.
Different companies can call the same job different things
After reading this article, I’d highly recommend you head to our Irish jobs board and spend some time reading through the engineering, maintenance or manufacturing job descriptions on the companies’ website even if you are not looking for a job in Ireland.
You’ll get a great sense of where your skills and qualifications fit into the job landscape. And, you’ll also start to notice here that different companies can call the same job different things, and that the same job title can mean different things in different companies.
About the Author
Donagh Fitzgerald
Head of Marketing & Product Development
Mechanical/Production Engineer
Donagh looks after the marketing and product development including the training and pedagogical elements of our programs and makes sure that all GetReskilled’s users can have a great online learning experience. Donagh has lived and worked in many countries including Ireland, America, the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Donagh has also served as the Program Manager for the Farmleigh Fellowship based out of Singapore.
Donagh holds Degrees in Production Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from South East Technological University, Ireland.
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