Polymer Chemist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Polymer Chemist studies large complex molecules or polymers. May work to develop new products or chemical processes in aerospace, biomedical, agricultural or manufacturing industries.
Job Outlook
There were 13 Polymer Chemist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 483 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Chemist industry, which includes the Polymer Chemist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Polymer 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 $104,255.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $104,255.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Polymer Chemist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $85,674.
Education and Experience
Posted Polymer 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 | 44.31% |
| Master's Degree | 34.99% |
| Doctoral Degree | 48.03% |
| Other | 1.45% |
Posted Polymer 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 | 33.48% |
| 3 to 5 years | 50.64% |
| 6 to 8 years | 6.44% |
| 9+ years | 9.44% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Polymer 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 (45.55%)
- Communication (33.95%)
- Innovation (24.84%)
- Presentations (19.88%)
- Writing (19.46%)
- Problem Solving (17.18%)
- Leadership (14.49%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (14.49%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (14.08%)
- Detail Oriented (10.14%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Synthetic Polymers (4.34%)
- Materials Science (45.77%)
- Chemical Engineering (46.64%)
- Chemistry (80.26%)
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (14.32%)
- Polymer Chemistry (61.61%)
- Polymer Synthesis (22.78%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Laboratory Experience (7.38%)
- Analytical Techniques (10.41%)
- Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV/VIS) (2.82%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (4.34%)
- Collaborative Research (3.69%)
- Laboratory Equipment (8.24%)
- Small Molecules (4.77%)
- Data Analysis (11.5%)
- Biochemistry (4.12%)
- Analytical Chemistry (8.24%)
- Medical Devices (4.34%)
- Biology (4.34%)
- Business Development (2.39%)
- Experimental Data (3.25%)
- Wet Chemistry (3.69%)
- Biotechnology (2.17%)
- Experimental Design (8.68%)
- Metal Coating (5.42%)
- Experimentation (17.14%)
- Chemical Kinetics (4.56%)
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (13.45%)
- Composite Materials (6.94%)
- Commercialization (7.16%)
- Renewable Energy (1.95%)
- Electrochemistry (7.81%)
- Manufacturing Processes (7.59%)
- Material Characterization (7.81%)
- Patents (6.07%)
- Physics (8.03%)
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (5.42%)
- Scale (Map) (9.33%)
- Injection Molding (4.12%)
- Spectroscopy (9.98%)
- Project Management (7.59%)
- Search Engine Marketing (11.06%)
- Organic Synthesis (6.94%)
- New Product Development (23.86%)
- Process Improvement (3.04%)
- Organic Chemistry (18.87%)
- Extrusion (8.03%)
- Research Experiences (6.29%)
- Environment Health And Safety (7.16%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Polymer Characterization (6.72%)
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.
- Polymer Synthesis (32.92%)
- Materials Science (66.14%)
- Chemical Engineering (67.4%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Polymer Chemist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Chemist
- Polymer Scientist
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Synthetic Chemist
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Polymer Engineer
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Scientist
- Process 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
- Materials Research Engineer
- Organic Chemist
- Chemical Engineer (General)
- Chemistry Laboratory Supervisor
- Analytical Chemist
- Chemist (General)
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Polymer Chemist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Kelly Services (24)
- Actalent (16)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (14)
- Argonne National Laboratory (10)
- Allnex (10)
- Clean Harbors (8)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (7)
- Kyyba (6)
- Sika (6)
- Medtronic (5)
North Carolina
- Soelect (2)
- Bluesky Polymers (1)
- Schneider Electric (1)
- SYRE (1)
- The Chatham Group (1)
- Kao Specialties Americas (1)
- Clean Harbors (1)
- Critical Fit Recruiting (1)
- BASF (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.