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 22 Organic Chemist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 668 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 2016:
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 $100,493.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $100,493.
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 $82,627.
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 | 42.51% |
| Master's Degree | 44.01% |
| Doctoral Degree | 58.68% |
| Other | 0.6% |
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 | 34.88% |
| 3 to 5 years | 39.15% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.52% |
| 9+ years | 12.46% |
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 (51.05%)
- Communication (30.69%)
- Writing (20.81%)
- Teaching (20.51%)
- Presentations (16.62%)
- Problem Solving (16.32%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (15.72%)
- Detail Oriented (15.27%)
- Innovation (14.97%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (12.13%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Organic Compounds (8.99%)
- Chemistry (76.5%)
- Biochemistry (20.79%)
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (23.21%)
- Organic Synthesis (26.69%)
- Organic Chemistry (62.96%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Laboratory Experience (10.44%)
- Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV/VIS) (5.13%)
- Materials Science (4.06%)
- Workflow Management (1.64%)
- Chemical Reactions (4.64%)
- Laboratory Equipment (4.74%)
- Small Molecules (18.18%)
- Analytical Techniques (11.61%)
- Application Programming Interface (API) (2.22%)
- Analytical Chemistry (19.25%)
- Chromatography (8.22%)
- Biology (17.02%)
- Data Analysis (8.03%)
- Chemical Synthesis (11.12%)
- Column Chromatography (4.84%)
- Chemical Engineering (8.03%)
- Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (5.42%)
- Mass Spectrometry (7.64%)
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (3.87%)
- Drug Discovery (13.06%)
- Project Management (2.32%)
- New Product Development (3.38%)
- Lab Notebooks (5.8%)
- Medicinal Chemistry (29.98%)
- Process Development (11.51%)
- Laboratory Techniques (4.06%)
- Polymer Chemistry (6.38%)
- Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (13.25%)
- Process Chemistry (4.74%)
- Pharmaceuticals (11.9%)
- Spectroscopy (7.64%)
- Effective Communication (3.29%)
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (26.4%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- ChemDraw (3.58%)
- Reaction Mechanism (0.87%)
- Physical Organic Chemistry (2.51%)
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.
- Biochemistry (100%)
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
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Scientist
- Medicinal Chemist
- Synthetic Chemist
- Organic Chemistry Lab Teaching Assistant
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
- Analytical Chemist
- Chemistry Laboratory Supervisor
- 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
- Cambrex (17)
- Grand Canyon University (15)
- Entegris (12)
- Kelly Services (12)
- Actalent (11)
- Indiana University-Bloomington (11)
- Eurofins (9)
- EssilorLuxottica (9)
- J&W Pharmlab (8)
- Pfizer (7)
North Carolina
- Rbw Consulting (3)
- Soelect (2)
- Syngenta Group (2)
- Antylia Scientific (1)
- University of North Carolina Wilmington (1)
- Cambrex (1)
- Biogen (1)
- Atrium Health (1)
- Cole Parmer Instrument Company (1)
- Spex Certiprep (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.