Environmental laboratory technician vs lead field technician

The differences between environmental laboratory technicians and lead field technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an environmental laboratory technician and a lead field technician. Additionally, a lead field technician has an average salary of $40,838, which is higher than the $40,682 average annual salary of an environmental laboratory technician.

The top three skills for an environmental laboratory technician include lab equipment, water samples and sops. The most important skills for a lead field technician are customer service, data collection, and GPS.

Environmental laboratory technician vs lead field technician overview

	Environmental Laboratory Technician	Lead Field Technician
Yearly salary	$40,682	$40,838
Hourly rate	$19.56	$19.63
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	58,055	88,080
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Average age	38	38
Years of experience	2	2

What does an environmental laboratory technician do?

Environmental laboratory technicians are professionals who are responsible for testing all contaminants that may affect the environment and the health of both humans and wildlife. These technicians are required to prepare and test samples such as gases, soils, water, and industrial wastewater to determine the level of pollutants or identify the sources of contamination. They must discuss and report the summary of the data from test results with supervisors and customers. Environmental laboratory technicians must also design monitoring programs and set up equipment when working in the field.

What does a lead field technician do?

The Lead Field Technician serves as the assistant of the Field Supervisor. Their responsibility includes taking immediate action and making decisions for instances that individuals or organizations need their help. They are the one who implements and monitors a company's guidelines and policy and maintains the standard procedure of all the systems. Also, being an assistant, they can act as an overseer to determine the employees and equipment types that need to work smoothly and orderly.

Environmental laboratory technician vs lead field technician salary

Environmental laboratory technicians and lead field technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Environmental Laboratory Technician	Lead Field Technician
Average salary	$40,682	$40,838
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $56,000	Between $24,000 And $67,000
Highest paying City	-	Oakland, CA
Highest paying state	-	Nevada
Best paying company	-	Schneider Electric Industrial Services
Best paying industry	-	Utilities

Differences between environmental laboratory technician and lead field technician education

There are a few differences between an environmental laboratory technician and a lead field technician in terms of educational background:

	Environmental Laboratory Technician	Lead Field Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Most common major	Biology	Business
Most common college	University of California, Berkeley	Stanford University

Environmental laboratory technician vs lead field technician demographics

Here are the differences between environmental laboratory technicians' and lead field technicians' demographics:

	Environmental Laboratory Technician	Lead Field Technician
Average age	38	38
Gender ratio	Male, 60.9% Female, 39.1%	Male, 87.2% Female, 12.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 5.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 10.5% White, 56.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between environmental laboratory technician and lead field technician duties and responsibilities

Environmental laboratory technician example responsibilities.

Manage daily RCRA inspections and mechanical, electrical, and electronic equipment preventive/corrective maintenance procedures.
Support short and long term projects meeting establish deadlines such as the upcoming revisions to the USP heavy metals testing.
Initiate and maintain paperwork in accordance with FDA guidelines and perform investigations for any deviant results.
Perform internal audits of laboratories in accordance with current standard operating procedure of good laboratory practices and FDA regulations.
Assist HAZWOPER technicians with logistical support for operations on project operations including research of facilities and vendors need for project completion.
Monitor temperature and pressure of production distillation towers

Lead field technician example responsibilities.

Lead training, operations, user hardware and software support, and logbook oversight.
Work directly with Crestron representatives to insure proper deployment and operations of all control devices and A/V systems.
Navigate in remote forest habitat with compass, aerial map, and GPS unit.
Call in on a very complex issue involving some RF interference at a local TV station.
Determine the best course of action to resolve loss of connectivity, virus attack or RF issues.
Provide training, schedule projects and ensure all new PC's are imaged and ready for delivery.

Environmental laboratory technician vs lead field technician skills

Common environmental laboratory technician skills

Lab Equipment, 9%
Water Samples, 8%
Sops, 6%
Environmental Samples, 6%
Test Equipment, 5%
Environmental Lab, 4%

Common lead field technician skills

Customer Service, 34%
Data Collection, 13%
GPS, 7%
Technical Support, 6%
Preventative Maintenance, 4%
Fiber Optic, 3%

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Environmental Laboratory Technician
Environmental Laboratory Technician vs Lead Field Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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