Lonza Manufacturing Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I applied online for the Senior Process Engineer job and heard back from a recruiter pretty quickly, which felt good. I ended up having four interviews. Two were with the hiring manager, and they seemed really positive, making me think I was a good fit. I made sure to back up all my technical answers with specific examples from my work history, and the hiring manager seemed to like that. Then, I had two more interviews with separate panels, each with three people. By the last round, though, the questions felt a bit strange, almost like they'd already decided on someone. For instance, someone asked me why I pursued a PhD, even though I've been working in the field for over a decade. Another person asked something like, 'What's your current company's name like this?' – questions that didn't really seem related to the job. It gave me the feeling I was just going through the motions to satisfy some internal requirement rather than being seriously considered. It's a bummer when you put in the time and effort to prepare and interview genuinely, only to realize some big companies might already have their person picked out and are just completing their hiring steps. It felt like I was just providing data for a report to justify their choice, which is frustrating. To top it off, I never even got a rejection email or a response to my follow-ups. I only found out I didn't get the job when I checked the status on their portal.

First, I had a phone chat with a recruiter from a third-party agency. Then, I had a Microsoft Teams interview with the Hiring Manager and another team member, with each interview lasting 30 minutes. The Lonza Recruiter contacted me two days later with a verbal offer. It took two weeks to receive the written offer. They wanted the relocation completed within 15 days, which was done.

HR let me know to come in for an interview within a week. It was a pretty relaxed and nice interview, the people interviewing me were happy to explain the job details if I got the job. The questions weren't too hard either. All in all, it was a good interview.