Research Technician
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Research Technician assists with a research program or project. Works in a variety of fields within science or the social sciences, in programs based at a university or research institution, or works on government or industry sponsored research projects. Conducts field or library research or recruits participants for a study; may also assist with legal research.
Job Outlook
There were 467 Research Technician job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 10553 in the United States.
We do not have this data at this time.
Salary
Many new Research Technician 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 $50,017.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $48,020.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Research Technician postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $40,919.
Education and Experience
Posted Research Technician 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 | 16.72% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 60.71% |
| Master's Degree | 12.97% |
| Doctoral Degree | 5.77% |
| Other | 25.88% |
Posted Research Technician 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 | 71.05% |
| 3 to 5 years | 24.46% |
| 6 to 8 years | 3.26% |
| 9+ years | 1.23% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Research Technician 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 (90.83%)
- Communication (32.74%)
- Detail Oriented (23.49%)
- Management (19.31%)
- Writing (17.25%)
- Operations (14.27%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (12.99%)
- Organizational Skills (12.73%)
- Microsoft Excel (11.31%)
- Self-Motivation (10.94%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Biology (46.06%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Laboratory Experience (21.35%)
- Data Entry (11.03%)
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (15.7%)
- Physics (4.83%)
- Tissue Culture (9.51%)
- Biochemical Assays (18.83%)
- Molecular Biology (26.25%)
- Research Experiences (12.34%)
- Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (10.02%)
- Cell Cultures (18.29%)
- Cell Biology (12.45%)
- Laboratory Equipment (26.86%)
- Biochemistry (17.03%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (9.65%)
- Animal Husbandry (10.29%)
- Laboratory Techniques (12.25%)
- Data Analysis (16.26%)
- Clinical Research (7.96%)
- Chemistry (15.12%)
- Data Collection (19.39%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Molecular Cloning (3.19%)
- Genotyping (8.25%)
- Western Blot (9.2%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Research Technician skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Laboratory Research Technician
- Research and Development Technician
- Animal Research Technician
- Biological Research Technician
- Clinical Research Technician
- Medical Research Technician
- Neuroscience Research Assistant
- Field Research Technician
- Pharmacy Technician
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 Assistant
- Research Associate (General)
- Biological Technician
- Biologist (General)
- Biomedical Scientist
- Molecular Biologist
- Cell Biologist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Research Technician jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (314)
- Washington University in St. Louis (237)
- Mass General Brigham (216)
- University of Pittsburgh (212)
- UT Southwestern Medical Center (197)
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (173)
- University Of Michigan (167)
- University of Arizona (166)
- Actalent (154)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (152)
North Carolina
- University of North Carolina (95)
- North Carolina State University (87)
- Duke University (79)
- East Carolina University (15)
- Appalachian State University (11)
- Atrium Health (10)
- Eurofins (8)
- North Carolina A&T State University (8)
- North Carolina State Of (8)
- Wake Forest Baptist Health (7)
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!
- Fundamentals of Entomology Undergraduate Certificates
- Microbiology Undergraduate Certificates
- Statistics Master's Degrees
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.