Quality Control Chemist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Quality Control Chemist uses chemistry analysis to test samples of manufacturing or pharmaceutical products, to ensure that products meet quality standards.
Job Outlook
There were 170 Quality Control Chemist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2689 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Chemist industry, which includes the Quality Control Chemist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Quality Control 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 $64,946.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $63,537.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Quality Control Chemist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $57,113.
Education and Experience
Posted Quality Control 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 | 10.75% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 83.49% |
| Master's Degree | 15.32% |
| Doctoral Degree | 2.79% |
| Other | 7.96% |
Posted Quality Control 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 | 56.5% |
| 3 to 5 years | 39.36% |
| 6 to 8 years | 3.15% |
| 9+ years | 0.99% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Quality Control 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.
- Quality Control (63.74%)
- Communication (23.73%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (23.61%)
- Investigation (23.54%)
- Detail Oriented (22.5%)
- Management (18.85%)
- Operations (14.99%)
- Problem Solving (14.39%)
- Quality Assurance (11.27%)
- Microsoft Office (10.9%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Good Manufacturing Practices (53.44%)
- Analytical Chemistry (22.92%)
- Chemistry (73.58%)
- Analytical Techniques (21.75%)
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (45.15%)
- Laboratory Equipment (22.88%)
- Pharmaceuticals (27.27%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Laboratory Information Management Systems (10.95%)
- Environmental Monitoring (3.02%)
- Chromatography (11.12%)
- Chemical Engineering (4.03%)
- Wet Chemistry (20.34%)
- Biology (16.47%)
- Finished Good (9.75%)
- Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) (14.86%)
- Calibration (13.21%)
- Biochemical Assays (8.78%)
- Auditing (10.91%)
- Corrective And Preventive Action (CAPA) (8.5%)
- Data Integrity (5.03%)
- Analytical Testing (18.28%)
- Laboratory Instrumentation (5.8%)
- Stability Testing (7.77%)
- Instrumentation (8.58%)
- Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV/VIS) (17.32%)
- Laboratory Experience (17.36%)
- Laboratory Testing (9.26%)
- Biochemistry (14.54%)
- New Product Development (4.71%)
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (17.84%)
- SAP Applications (4.67%)
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1.69%)
- Spectroscopy (8.34%)
- Housekeeping (10.43%)
- Scientific Instruments (3.3%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (19.09%)
- Product Testing (5.72%)
- pH Meters (7.61%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Empower 3 Chromatography Software (3.34%)
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.
- Chemistry (82.48%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (59.91%)
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (50.61%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Quality Control Chemist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Chemist
- Quality Chemist
- Quality Assurance Chemist
- Laboratory Technician
- Quality Control Analyst
- Quality Control Analytical Chemist
- HPLC Chemist
- Quality Laboratory Associate
- Raw Materials 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.
- Chemist (General)
- Analytical Chemist
- Manufacturing Chemist
- Research and Development Chemist
- Chemistry Laboratory Supervisor
- Forensic Chemist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Quality Control Chemist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Actalent (460)
- Kelly Services (70)
- Eurofins (63)
- Randstad (45)
- Fujifilm (39)
- Clean Harbors (34)
- Ajulia Executive Search (21)
- Cambrex (20)
- System One (20)
- Sofie Sarl (16)
North Carolina
- Actalent (59)
- Randstad (9)
- Integrated Resources (6)
- ManpowerGroup (5)
- Katalyst Healthcares & Life Sciences (5)
- Pioneer Data Systems (4)
- Baxter International (3)
- Bestco (3)
- Evergreen Technologies (3)
- Kelly Services (3)
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.