Principal chemist vs organic chemist

The differences between principal chemists and organic chemists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an organic chemist has an average salary of $76,894, which is higher than the $74,065 average annual salary of a principal chemist.

The top three skills for a principal chemist include analytical chemistry, R and product development. The most important skills for an organic chemist are NMR, method development, and HPLC.

Principal chemist vs organic chemist overview

	Principal Chemist	Organic Chemist
Yearly salary	$74,065	$76,894
Hourly rate	$35.61	$36.97
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	42,121	2,680
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	-	-

What does a principal chemist do?

Principal chemists require a bachelor's or master's degree, or even a doctorate, with a post-doctoral fellowship to gain hands-on experience doing research and chemistry, math, science, communication, problem-solving, and analytical skills. They will be expected to conduct quantitative and qualitative experiments on chemical substances for quality control, as well as develop new products or knowledge about said products, and conduct a battery of experiments on organic and inorganic compounds.

What does an organic chemist do?

An organic chemist studies the properties of chemicals with carbon. This type of chemistry is vital for industries concerning products and services related to living organisms, such as plants, animals, and people. Pharmaceuticals, the food industry, and agriculture all require an organic chemist's skill to create and develop products suitable for living organisms. The organic chemist's role is to help in the development phase of a product, determine its effects on biological life, and note all side-effects: many companies, especially those concerned in medicine and food production.

Principal chemist vs organic chemist salary

Principal chemists and organic chemists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Principal Chemist	Organic Chemist
Average salary	$74,065	$76,894
Salary range	Between $52,000 And $105,000	Between $50,000 And $116,000
Highest paying City	Richland, WA	Newark, DE
Highest paying state	Washington	Delaware
Best paying company	Edwards Lifesciences	Entegris
Best paying industry	-	Pharmaceutical

Differences between principal chemist and organic chemist education

There are a few differences between a principal chemist and an organic chemist in terms of educational background:

	Principal Chemist	Organic Chemist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Chemistry	Chemistry
Most common college	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	University of Southern California

Principal chemist vs organic chemist demographics

Here are the differences between principal chemists' and organic chemists' demographics:

	Principal Chemist	Organic Chemist
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 72.6% Female, 27.4%	Male, 65.7% Female, 34.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.8% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.5% Asian, 29.2% White, 51.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 19.0% White, 58.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between principal chemist and organic chemist duties and responsibilities

Principal chemist example responsibilities.

Accomplish ISO and CFR certifications for laboratory operations.
Ensure compliance with regulate standards to comply with FDA regulations.
Train individuals on dissolution, HPLC, and other general analytical techniques.
Implement systems and procedures per FDA guidance, ICH requirements, and CFR regulations.
Establish statistical quality controls in the laboratory to bring data and laboratory practices in compliance with ISO regulations.
Evaluate efficacy of extraction solvents and dosing methodology for soil degradation studies, determining reduction of chemical compounds in control environment.

Organic chemist example responsibilities.

Achieve and maintain ISO 9001-2000 certification by creating and implementing policies and serving as management representative.
Ensure compounds are of the highest possible purity using LCMS, NMR spectroscopy, GC, and HPLC.
Perform organic analysis for semi-volatile and acid-base-neutrals using GCMS, HPLC, GCFID, GCNPD, GCECD and IR.
Perform GC analyses for gas, diesel, BTEX and PCB analyses in Washington and remote sites of Alaska.
Facilitate routine analyses in organic analytic chemistry - distillation, extraction, separation, crystallization, and purification.
Utilize 1H-NMR , 13C-NMR, GC/MS, HPLC, MALDI-TOF, ChemDraw, and ChemWindow.

Principal chemist vs organic chemist skills

Common principal chemist skills

Analytical Chemistry, 13%
R, 10%
Product Development, 6%
HPLC, 6%
Sops, 5%
USP, 5%

Common organic chemist skills

NMR, 8%
Method Development, 8%
HPLC, 7%
Organic Synthesis, 7%
Laboratory Equipment, 6%
Sample Preparation, 5%

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Principal Chemist vs Organic Chemist

Updated January 8, 2025

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