Bench chemist vs process chemist

The differences between bench chemists and process chemists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a process chemist has an average salary of $81,542, which is higher than the $57,401 average annual salary of a bench chemist.

The top three skills for a bench chemist include analytical methods, HPLC and wet chemistry. The most important skills for a process chemist are lab equipment, HPLC, and R.

Bench chemist vs process chemist overview

	Bench Chemist	Process Chemist
Yearly salary	$57,401	$81,542
Hourly rate	$27.60	$39.20
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	3,038	29,813
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	-	-

Bench chemist vs process chemist salary

Bench chemists and process chemists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Bench Chemist	Process Chemist
Average salary	$57,401	$81,542
Salary range	Between $39,000 And $84,000	Between $54,000 And $121,000
Highest paying City	-	Wilmington, DE
Highest paying state	-	Delaware
Best paying company	-	Bio-Rad Laboratories
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between bench chemist and process chemist education

There are a few differences between a bench chemist and a process chemist in terms of educational background:

	Bench Chemist	Process Chemist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Chemistry	Chemistry
Most common college	University of California, Berkeley	University of Southern California

Bench chemist vs process chemist demographics

Here are the differences between bench chemists' and process chemists' demographics:

	Bench Chemist	Process Chemist
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 58.2% Female, 41.8%	Male, 77.3% Female, 22.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 18.2% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 20.5% White, 57.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between bench chemist and process chemist duties and responsibilities

Bench chemist example responsibilities.

Test developmental compounds to ASTM standards and manage certification submissions.
Prepare ASTM samples and test physical properties.
Perform USP testing on a wide variety of pharmaceuticals to guarantee product quality.
Analyze intermediates and products through analytical data such as LCMS, NMR, etc.
Maintain detailed notebooks containing results and transmit those results via LIMS to the proper plant personnel.
Perform final release testing on batch samples to establish conformance to company, third party, or FDA specifications.

Process chemist example responsibilities.

Manage synthesis and production of specialty chemicals for carpet and textile industry.
Support new, modify and existing chemical processes by developing and validating HPLC and GC methods with a rapid turnaround time.
Analyze unknown materials with FTIR, Raman, and SEM-EDS.
Display improving working knowledge of business processes as they relate to GMP manufacturing.
Create titration solution and other solutions such as stock solutions used in analysis.
Show a desire to learn about and understand advance chemistry principles underlying project assignments.

Bench chemist vs process chemist skills

Common bench chemist skills

Analytical Methods, 12%
HPLC, 10%
Wet Chemistry, 10%
Method Development, 9%
GC, 8%
GMP, 8%

Common process chemist skills

Lab Equipment, 7%
HPLC, 6%
R, 5%
GMP, 5%
NMR, 4%
Sigma, 4%

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Bench Chemist vs Process Chemist

Updated January 8, 2025

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