Organic Chemist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Organic Chemist studies carbon-based compounds and chemicals in living organisms. May work to develop new products or chemical processes in medicine or in pharmaceutical, biotechnical, chemical, consumer product or petroleum industries.
Job Outlook
There were 18 Organic Chemist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 804 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Chemist industry, which includes the Organic Chemist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Organic Chemist jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $98,009.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $98,009.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Organic Chemist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $78,226.
Education and Experience
Posted Organic Chemist jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 42.79% |
| Master's Degree | 43.66% |
| Doctoral Degree | 62.69% |
| Other | 0.5% |
Posted Organic Chemist jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 40.67% |
| 3 to 5 years | 39.45% |
| 6 to 8 years | 11.01% |
| 9+ years | 8.87% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Organic Chemist positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Research (55.72%)
- Communication (28.48%)
- Teaching (24%)
- Writing (18.66%)
- Problem Solving (17.29%)
- Innovation (16.42%)
- Presentations (15.92%)
- Detail Oriented (14.18%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (12.69%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (10.82%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (29%)
- Organic Chemistry (80.45%)
- Organic Compounds (13.75%)
- Chemistry (77.3%)
- Biochemistry (23.08%)
- Organic Synthesis (28.12%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Materials Science (5.42%)
- Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV/VIS) (6.94%)
- Laboratory Experience (12.99%)
- Laboratory Equipment (7.82%)
- Chemical Reactions (3.28%)
- Small Molecules (16.14%)
- Analytical Techniques (14.63%)
- Data Analysis (9.96%)
- Biology (13.62%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (2.77%)
- Column Chromatography (6.68%)
- Chemical Engineering (8.83%)
- Experimentation (5.67%)
- Chemical Synthesis (11.98%)
- Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (14%)
- Chromatography (11.73%)
- Analytical Chemistry (11.73%)
- Medicinal Chemistry (15.51%)
- Mass Spectrometry (11.35%)
- Research Experiences (7.69%)
- Reagent (3.28%)
- Pharmaceuticals (9.46%)
- Drug Discovery (8.2%)
- Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (7.31%)
- Spectroscopy (9.46%)
- Process Development (7.94%)
- Laboratory Techniques (5.17%)
- Polymer Chemistry (6.81%)
- New Product Development (4.41%)
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (34.93%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Enantioselective Synthesis (0.88%)
- Physical Organic Chemistry (4.79%)
- Biocatalysis (2.65%)
- Peptide Synthesis (3.28%)
- ChemDraw (6.43%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- ChemDraw (19.17%)
- Column Chromatography (19.92%)
- Organic Synthesis (83.83%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Organic Chemist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Synthetic Organic Chemist
- Chemist
- Assistant Professor of Chemistry
- Chemistry Scientist
- Synthetic Chemist
- Scientist
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Associate Professor of Chemistry
- Medicinal Chemist
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Research and Development Chemist
- Chemist (General)
- Manufacturing Chemist
- Polymer Chemist
- Inorganic Chemist
- Chemistry Laboratory Supervisor
- Analytical Chemist
- Quality Control Chemist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Organic Chemist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Actalent (20)
- Grand Canyon University (19)
- Kelly Services (13)
- Cambrex (10)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb (9)
- Indiana University (9)
- Neurocrine Biosciences (9)
- Workforce (8)
- California State University (8)
- Pfizer (7)
North Carolina
- North Carolina Central University (4)
- GPAC (2)
- Antylia Scientific (1)
- Biogen (1)
- Cole Parmer Instrument Company (1)
- Evergreen Technologies (1)
- University of North Carolina (1)
- Spex Certiprep (1)
- North Carolina Department Of Health And Human Services (1)
- Brothers Research Corp (1)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.