Assay Development Scientist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Assay Development Scientist creates assays or systems to test and evaluate the effect of a chemical compound on an organism. Directs assay development as part of a research process to develop new drugs.
Job Outlook
There were 64 Assay Development Scientist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 1206 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Chemist industry, which includes the Assay Development Scientist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Assay Development Scientist 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 $120,931.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $109,914.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Assay Development Scientist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $102,266.
Education and Experience
Posted Assay Development Scientist 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 | 68.66% |
| Master's Degree | 62.02% |
| Doctoral Degree | 50.91% |
| Other | 0.83% |
Posted Assay Development Scientist 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 | 30.49% |
| 3 to 5 years | 40.45% |
| 6 to 8 years | 17.78% |
| 9+ years | 11.28% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Assay Development Scientist 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.
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (43.03%)
- Communication (41.21%)
- Research (38.23%)
- Detail Oriented (27.53%)
- Writing (26.87%)
- Problem Solving (23.71%)
- Innovation (20.23%)
- Presentations (16.75%)
- Multitasking (16.5%)
- Self-Motivation (16.25%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) (17.53%)
- Assay Development (68.03%)
- Biotechnology (22.95%)
- Molecular Biology (37.73%)
- Biology (52.34%)
- Automation (20.87%)
- Chemistry (24.12%)
- Data Analysis (38.48%)
- Biochemistry (52.67%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (19.7%)
- Biochemical Assays (86.89%)
- Bioassays (7.1%)
- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent (ELISA) Assay (37.31%)
- Immunology (29.97%)
- Immunoassay (23.79%)
- Ligand Binding Assay (7.35%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Biomarkers (13.61%)
- Laboratory Experience (17.7%)
- Statistical Analysis (5.51%)
- Laboratory Safety (3.09%)
- Analytical Testing (4.34%)
- Virology (5.51%)
- Workflow Management (17.86%)
- Quality Management Systems (4.59%)
- Laboratory Equipment (13.61%)
- Analytical Techniques (11.94%)
- Cell Biology (28.21%)
- Antibodies (14.11%)
- DNA Sequencing (8.43%)
- Cell Cultures (28.55%)
- Business Development (1.42%)
- Biopharmaceuticals (11.6%)
- Biological Engineering (3.67%)
- Calibration (2%)
- Reagent (16.86%)
- Clinical Trials (12.19%)
- Instrumentation (3.17%)
- Medical Laboratory (6.01%)
- GraphPad Prism (6.34%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (11.44%)
- Experimental Data (8.18%)
- Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reactions (21.29%)
- R (Programming Language) (7.18%)
- Western Blot (8.76%)
- Flow Cytometry (22.04%)
- Drug Discovery (11.27%)
- Electronic Lab Notebook (8.26%)
- Project Management (9.43%)
- Life Sciences (7.1%)
- New Product Development (15.86%)
- ISO 13485 Standard (2.84%)
- Oncology (7.68%)
- Microbiology (7.1%)
- Process Development (9.27%)
- Laboratory Techniques (5.76%)
- Sample Analysis (6.34%)
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (16.36%)
- Quantification (3.42%)
- Pharmaceuticals (13.86%)
- Research And Development (5.51%)
- Process Improvement (4.67%)
- Mammalian Cell Cultures (11.19%)
- Scientific Literature (7.1%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Assay Troubleshooting (2.75%)
- Bioassay Development (3.92%)
- Clinical Assay (6.09%)
- Cell-Based Bioassays (2.17%)
- Softmax (3.42%)
- High Throughput Screening (5.34%)
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.
- Cell-Based Bioassays (3.08%)
- Data Analysis (54.69%)
- Biotechnology (32.62%)
- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent (ELISA) Assay (53.02%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Assay Development Scientist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Scientist
- Associate Scientist
- Analytical Development Scientist
- Bioanalytical Scientist
- Principal Scientist
- Cell Culture Scientist
- Analytical Scientist
- Development Scientist
- Flow Cytometry Specialist
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.
- Cell Biologist
- Biologist (General)
- Molecular Biologist
- Biochemist
- Biomedical Scientist
- Research Technician
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Assay Development Scientist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Eurofins (74)
- Actalent (25)
- Randstad (25)
- Amgen (22)
- AstraZeneca (20)
- Bioagilytix (20)
- Spectraforce Technologies (19)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb (18)
- Pfizer (17)
- IQVIA (17)
North Carolina
- IQVIA (12)
- Bioagilytix (12)
- Actalent (6)
- Fujifilm (6)
- Eurofins (3)
- Quintiles (3)
- CSL (3)
- Askbio (3)
- Grail (2)
- Connexion Systems & Engineering (2)
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.