How does studying in the United States affect Chinese doctoral engineering graduates' career decisions? The present study is based on semi-structured interviews with 16 Chinese engineering graduates who completed their doctorates in the United States, focusing on two critical aspects of their career decisions: returning to China and pursuing academic careers. First, the findings categorise Chinese doctoral engineering graduates into four types based on intention to return to China: fresh returnees, advanced returnees, hesitant stayers and resolute stayers. Second, the findings describe the reasons why they pursued academic or non-academic careers. In particular, the study explores how the graduates' learning experiences during their doctoral study in the United States affected them in terms of the research field, industry experiences, information gained and expectations about working conditions. In the decision process, it was important for doctoral students to adopt positive and open attitudes and exercise self-agency to identify the most appropriate directions for their careers. The study has contributions to the agency theory in career decision-making and social implications for international doctoral students to navigate the career decision process after completing doctoral programmes abroad.