Food chemist vs senior research chemist

The differences between food chemists and senior research chemists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a senior research chemist has an average salary of $95,520, which is higher than the $62,727 average annual salary of a food chemist.

The top three skills for a food chemist include laboratory equipment, FDA and sops. The most important skills for a senior research chemist are R, chemistry, and product development.

Food chemist vs senior research chemist overview

	Food Chemist	Senior Research Chemist
Yearly salary	$62,727	$95,520
Hourly rate	$30.16	$45.92
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	61,028	55,511
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 79%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	-	-

Food chemist vs senior research chemist salary

Food chemists and senior research chemists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Food Chemist	Senior Research Chemist
Average salary	$62,727	$95,520
Salary range	Between $44,000 And $87,000	Between $69,000 And $130,000
Highest paying City	Vancouver, WA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Delaware	Washington
Best paying company	Cargill	Crunchbase
Best paying industry	-	Pharmaceutical

Differences between food chemist and senior research chemist education

There are a few differences between a food chemist and a senior research chemist in terms of educational background:

	Food Chemist	Senior Research Chemist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 79%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Chemistry	Chemistry
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Food chemist vs senior research chemist demographics

Here are the differences between food chemists' and senior research chemists' demographics:

	Food Chemist	Senior Research Chemist
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 57.3% Female, 42.7%	Male, 79.1% Female, 20.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 18.2% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 27.5% White, 52.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between food chemist and senior research chemist duties and responsibilities

Food chemist example responsibilities.

Manage food chemistry testing laboratory and measure clenbuterol levels in beef samples by HPLC
Position are focused around ensuring that the different products being test pass the specifications put in place by the FDA.
Provide calculated electronic absorption (UV/Vis) spectra for molecular candidates suspect to be impurity chromophores in a commercial nylon process.
Establish extraction profiles and develop appropriate QC methods for product certification and annual qualification.

Senior research chemist example responsibilities.

Manage an analytical laboratory, which include SEM-EDS, GC-MS, GPC, FT-IR, ICP-MS, TGA and DSC equipment.
Conduct HPLC analysis of two main products to support equivalency programs.
Establish the fast HPLC column screening system and serve as super user.
Calculate amounts of unknown components of a distillation bottoms mixture using NMR.
Train over twenty plant operators and scientists to use the FTIR system.
Act as leading analyst to provide analytical services to several GMP API productions.

Food chemist vs senior research chemist skills

Common food chemist skills

Laboratory Equipment, 18%
FDA, 17%
Sops, 13%
R, 9%
HPLC, 9%
Food Products, 8%

Common senior research chemist skills

R, 16%
Chemistry, 14%
Product Development, 8%
Analytical Laboratory, 6%
Organic Synthesis, 4%
Polymer, 4%

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Food Chemist vs Senior Research Chemist

Updated January 8, 2025

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