Analytical Chemist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Analytical Chemist studies the chemical components of materials in a mixture or sample, to identify the components and quantify them. May work to develop new pharmaceutical products or provide quality control or toxicology testing for products.
Job Outlook
There were 401 Analytical Chemist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 9669 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Chemist industry, which includes the Analytical Chemist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Analytical 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 $85,516.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $89,809.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Analytical Chemist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $66,120.
Education and Experience
Posted Analytical 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 | 76.22% |
| Master's Degree | 35.27% |
| Doctoral Degree | 23.8% |
| Other | 2.82% |
Posted Analytical 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 | 40.61% |
| 3 to 5 years | 38.54% |
| 6 to 8 years | 9.58% |
| 9+ years | 11.27% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Analytical 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.
- Communication (37.43%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (34.69%)
- Research (26.12%)
- Detail Oriented (24.41%)
- Problem Solving (22.75%)
- Quality Control (22.12%)
- Management (19.02%)
- Operations (16.51%)
- Writing (14.87%)
- Investigation (14.44%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Pharmaceuticals (26.76%)
- Organic Chemistry (8.44%)
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (6.73%)
- Mass Spectrometry (15.14%)
- Spectroscopy (11.33%)
- Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (21.5%)
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (47.83%)
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (13.39%)
- Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (13.53%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (35.23%)
- Wet Chemistry (17.59%)
- Biochemistry (23.42%)
- Analytical Chemistry (58.13%)
- Scientific Instruments (8.06%)
- Analytical Techniques (42.08%)
- Chemistry (78.8%)
- Chromatography (22.15%)
- Analytical Testing (19.06%)
- Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV/VIS) (13.25%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Technical Issues (2.42%)
- Process Development (7.11%)
- New Product Development (12.55%)
- Laboratory Information Management Systems (10.58%)
- ISO/IEC 17025 (4.61%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (16.52%)
- Instrumentation (8.86%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (5.33%)
- Chemical Engineering (8.03%)
- Reagent (5.49%)
- Housekeeping (4.64%)
- Calibration (9.32%)
- Biotechnology (5.84%)
- Biology (17.81%)
- Biopharmaceuticals (5.57%)
- Data Analysis (13.42%)
- Biochemical Assays (9.45%)
- Auditing (5.99%)
- Application Programming Interface (API) (4.77%)
- Quality Management Systems (3.74%)
- Peer Review (4.08%)
- Laboratory Equipment (19.79%)
- Small Molecules (9.61%)
- Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) (17.16%)
- Laboratory Safety (7.19%)
- Sample Preparation (11.52%)
- Laboratory Experience (18.52%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Optical Emission Spectrometry (3.97%)
- Spectrometry (2.98%)
- Physical Chemistry (1.29%)
- Medicinal Chemistry (3.56%)
- Lab Notebooks (5.76%)
- Ion Chromatography (1.99%)
- Instrumental Chemistry (3.27%)
- Gas Chromatography (7.64%)
- Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (1.26%)
- Instrument Troubleshooting (1.57%)
- Stability Testing (5.36%)
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.
- Instrument Troubleshooting (2.04%)
- Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV/VIS) (17.18%)
- Chromatography (28.73%)
- Analytical Chemistry (75.39%)
- Spectroscopy (14.69%)
- Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (27.88%)
- Mass Spectrometry (19.63%)
- Medicinal Chemistry (4.61%)
- Physical Chemistry (1.67%)
- Spectrometry (3.86%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Analytical Chemist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Chemist
- Scientist
- Analytical Scientist
- Analytical Development Scientist
- Chemistry Scientist
- Associate Scientist
- Principal Scientist
- HPLC Chemist
- Environmental 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.
- Quality Control Chemist
- Research and Development Chemist
- Chemistry Laboratory Supervisor
- Chemist (General)
- Organic Chemist
- Manufacturing Chemist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Analytical Chemist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Actalent (685)
- Eurofins (528)
- Kelly Services (242)
- Diedre Moire (185)
- At Pace Ltd (166)
- Randstad (134)
- Eli Lilly (124)
- AbbVie (114)
- Cambrex (100)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (95)
North Carolina
- Cambrex (56)
- Eurofins (38)
- Actalent (30)
- Cambrex High Point (27)
- RTI International (11)
- Diedre Moire (11)
- State of North Carolina (9)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (8)
- Catalent (8)
- Advanced Personnel Resources (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!
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.