Do you have a taste for challenge, innovation and would like to improve the quality of life of many people? Quickly discover the profession of R&D engineer in the air quality sector, and bring a breath of fresh air to our daily lives.
L’Research and development engineer (R&D) is responsible for the design of an innovative product or the improvement of an already existing product or service. Thanks to its technical and organizational knowledge, theR&D engineer quality sectorair will first analyze and prepare the project, identifying the technical or environmental constraints and designating the tools needed to design the product.
Once the project has been prepared, the research and development engineer moves on to the design and development of the product or service by working with the team. project on the phases of experimentation, configuration and legal protection of the new product.
Once the product has been designed, the Air Quality Research and Development engineer will carry out a series of tests to identify possible operating problems and test the new product in different situations or conditions before proceeding with its validation.
Once the product has been tested and the anomalies identified, the R&D engineer will be responsible for making corrections and improvements before the production goes into production and the official launch of the product on the market. The research and development engineer is therefore a real project manager who will intervene at all stages of a innovation projectfrom its conception to its commercialization.
The main skills and qualities to have
The profession of Research and Development engineer requires many qualities and skills:
- have a great command of project management;
- great ease with computers and professional software;
- have knowledge of electronics;
- have a good understanding or curiosity for chemical principles;
- have a perfect knowledge of its market and its sector of activity;
- know how to carry out a competitive, technological and economic watch;
- master the legal and regulatory framework of its scope of activity;
- demonstrate intellectual curiosity;
- have analytical and adaptive skills;
- be a good communicator and have good interpersonal skills;
- know how to work in a team;
- to speak English fluently ;
- have a taste for challenge and discovery;
- be rigorous and organized.
How to become a Research and Development engineer?
A baccalaureate level + 5 minimum is necessary to access the profession of R&D engineer. Here is the possible route:
- General Scientific baccalaureate or with scientific specialties;
- CPGE: preparatory class for the Grandes Ecoles, preparing for entrance examinations to an engineering school;
- generalist or specialized engineering school: Esme SudriaSup’Biotech, EPITA, IPSA, ICAM, UniLaSalle, ITECH…
- master 2 professional or research;
- doctorate.
Work conditions
The R&D engineer in the air quality sector works within a research and development team in a start-up or a public or private company. Working in a team, he may have to travel to see a client or participate in trade fairs and conferences to promote his innovations. His working hours are intense but regular. Good resistance to stress is recommended because the economic stakes can be very high, especially in a highly competitive business sector.
The salary of an Air Quality Research and Development Engineer
As a beginner, an air quality R&D engineer earns a monthly salary of between 2,250 and 2,800 euros gross, depending on his degree, his company and his place of activity. A young executive will receive a gross monthly salary of between 2,900 and 4,000 euros. A senior R&D engineer may receive a salary of around 6,000 euros gross per month, depending on his company and his sector of activity.
The career prospects of an R&D engineer
An air quality R&D engineer can progress to a position of innovation management consultant, research and development project manager, patent engineer or technical product manager.
Companies that employ R&D engineers
More and more companies are opening a Research and Development department. Public sector, start-ups, private companies, everyone is concerned. Same observation in all sectors of activity: environment, IT, digital, telecommunications, aeronautics, automotive, pharmacy, agri-food, agriculture…
3 questions to Yann Poisson, R&D engineer at Nanosense
We know that indoor air pollution is much more important and harmful than outdoor pollution. How can R&D engineers help us in our daily lives?
As an R&D engineer, our mission is to do our best to draw on innovations and global progress, enough to design more efficient, more precise, less energy-consuming, more intelligent, more connected, more affordable products, etc.. All that to always better measure, evaluate but above all improve the impact of air quality. In my case, we talk about indoor air quality and we therefore measure what is happening in the buildings where we spend most of our time.
As the time of exposure to pollutants is just as important as the quantity to which we are exposed, it is essential to understand what is happening in the enclosed spaces in which we spend nearly 90% of our time.
Air quality is becoming a major societal and health issue, yet it seems that awareness is slow to come, both on the part of individuals and politicians… How to trigger this awareness and make things happen ?
It’s a daily battle! We have grouped ourselves into professional sectors and we rely on associations of enlightened citizens. The word of the doctors is more and more difficult to ignore and little by little, the awareness reaches the politicians, unfortunately still stuck in their legendary immobility…
The problem is that we have the impression of barely emerging from a period of obscurantism, when we realize that there are still people who doubt that our planet is polluted by human activity. This awareness was the first to pass. Now more and more people are asking questions and realizing that all this outdoor pollution enters our buildings and adds to all the pollutants that are already present there.
Indoor air quality can be worse than outdoors, which we already pollute a lot. This truth is starting to become more democratic and we are less and less astonished when we hold this discourse, it shows that things are changing! But how fast? If we had become aware of these problems earlier and improved our existing ventilation systems or generalized the measurement of air quality, many contagions could have been avoided and the fight against the virus would have been much easier. Not to mention the 67,000 premature deaths each year mainly due to fine particles (combustion residues such as traffic, heating or industry) that penetrate our body, as well as the constantly increasing 8% of asthmatics. It is high time to change things!
What will be the professions and innovations of tomorrow in air quality and what partnerships should universities establish to bring trained and competent young people to the market?
It is essential that universities or schools get closer to industry players and once again, professional associations are a very good way to do this.
We are only at the beginning of raising awareness on these subjects, which makes air quality or ecological transition sectors of the future and growing markets. Who says growth says exponential need for talent to develop sectors.
We need chemists, researchers to advance fundamental subjects, but above all engineers to implement all the solutions that already exist, and entrepreneurs to meet the challenges of tomorrow and pilot ships until then.
All industries must transform to take into account all aspects of these changes. Indeed, on cross-cutting subjects such as these, it is general awareness that makes it possible to implement improvement policies across all industries.
Actors often overlooked by schools to improve their positioning and programs are their Alumni Associations. Indeed, these are students who have entered working life and who are able to transcribe the reality or the needs in relation to the training they have had. They are indeed very well placed to form partnerships between the schools they are close to and the industry in which they operate.
This is why I joined AIESME (Association of ESME Sudria Engineers), making it my second fight for associative investment, in order to help young people find their place in this world ” Savage”.
Job sheet produced in partnership with Ionis Group.
My job explained to my mother
By Yann Poisson, R&D engineer at Nanosense:
Mom, dad, now that I’m grown up, I search, I find, I test and I distribute lots of ways to allow you to breathe better!
To be able to start from scratch and create all this, I need to know about electronics, mechanics and project and innovation management.
There is even a bit of chemistry and applied physics to understand how the sensors we use work and a bit of networking and communication to be able to make them into connected objects, whose information is accessible from anywhere!