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Science and Research | Chemist (General)

Chemist (General)

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Chemist studies the chemical and physical properties of substances or materials, focusing in one of many specialized areas. May work to develop new products or chemical processes.

Job Outlook

There were 547 Chemist (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 12651 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Chemist industry, which includes the Chemist (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Chemist (General) 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 $95,037.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $91,490.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Chemist (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $72,873.

Education and Experience

Posted Chemist (General) 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 LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree73.12%
Master's Degree33.81%
Doctoral Degree25.76%
Other5.15%

Posted Chemist (General) 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 ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years43.95%
3 to 5 years35.9%
6 to 8 years12.15%
9+ years8%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Chemist (General) 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.

  • Communication (36.32%)
  • Research (28.01%)
  • Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (24.62%)
  • Management (22.62%)
  • Problem Solving (20.11%)
  • Detail Oriented (19.06%)
  • Operations (18.22%)
  • Quality Control (16.96%)
  • Writing (15.22%)
  • Innovation (13.73%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV/VIS) (7.94%)
  • Analytical Techniques (24.36%)
  • High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (28.27%)
  • Analytical Chemistry (19.5%)
  • Chemistry (70.9%)
  • Wet Chemistry (7.91%)
  • Good Manufacturing Practices (26.77%)
  • Pharmaceuticals (21.79%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Laboratory Experience (16.2%)
  • Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) (11.29%)
  • Workflow Management (4.41%)
  • Laboratory Equipment (15.63%)
  • Analytical Testing (14.42%)
  • Biochemical Assays (9.7%)
  • Data Analysis (15.3%)
  • Biology (22.48%)
  • Scientific Instruments (3.31%)
  • Housekeeping (7.85%)
  • Chemical Engineering (17.13%)
  • Experimentation (7.58%)
  • Manufacturing Processes (6.49%)
  • Chromatography (11.9%)
  • Biochemistry (20.64%)
  • Mass Spectrometry (6.44%)
  • Reagent (3.78%)
  • Standard Operating Procedure (13.49%)
  • Process Development (15.01%)
  • Project Management (10.9%)
  • New Product Development (18.46%)
  • Environment Health And Safety (8.59%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Stability Testing (3.6%)
  • Small Molecules (6.32%)
  • Chemical Synthesis (3.04%)
  • Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (9.19%)
  • Organic Chemistry (6.55%)
  • Medicinal Chemistry (3.48%)
  • Physical Chemistry (3.18%)
  • Radiochemistry (2.75%)
  • Scale (Map) (5.1%)
  • Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (5.55%)
  • Organic Synthesis (1.66%)
  • Lab Notebooks (4.68%)
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (4.21%)
  • Process Chemistry (2.72%)
  • Quality By Design (QbD) (1.38%)

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.

  • Small Molecules (17.99%)
  • Analytical Techniques (69.31%)
  • Chemical Synthesis (8.64%)
  • Scale (Map) (14.52%)
  • Medicinal Chemistry (9.9%)
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (11.99%)
  • Organic Synthesis (4.74%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Chemist (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Chemist
  • Scientist
  • Analytical Scientist
  • Analytical Development Scientist
  • Associate Scientist
  • Formulation Chemist
  • Formulation Scientist
  • Process Development Scientist
  • Laboratory Pack Chemist
  • Chemistry Scientist

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.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Chemist (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • Actalent (716)
  • Clean Harbors (452)
  • Eurofins (390)
  • CDM Smith (347)
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific (179)
  • Kelly Services (170)
  • Randstad (135)
  • Heritage Environmental Services (94)
  • Spectraforce Technologies (94)
  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (92)

North Carolina

  • Eurofins (32)
  • Actalent (24)
  • Cambrex (20)
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific (19)
  • CDM Smith (14)
  • System One (13)
  • BASF (11)
  • ManpowerGroup (11)
  • Clean Harbors (10)
  • Crystal Clean (9)

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!