Process development chemist vs senior research chemist

The differences between process development 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 $75,273 average annual salary of a process development chemist.

The top three skills for a process development chemist include R, HPLC and analytical techniques. The most important skills for a senior research chemist are R, chemistry, and product development.

Process development chemist vs senior research chemist overview

	Process Development Chemist	Senior Research Chemist
Yearly salary	$75,273	$95,520
Hourly rate	$36.19	$45.92
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	70,622	55,511
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 75%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	-	-

Process development chemist vs senior research chemist salary

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

	Process Development Chemist	Senior Research Chemist
Average salary	$75,273	$95,520
Salary range	Between $54,000 And $104,000	Between $69,000 And $130,000
Highest paying City	South San Francisco, CA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Washington	Washington
Best paying company	PerkinElmer	Crunchbase
Best paying industry	Health Care	Pharmaceutical

Differences between process development chemist and senior research chemist education

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

	Process Development Chemist	Senior Research Chemist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 75%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Chemistry	Chemistry
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Process development chemist vs senior research chemist demographics

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

	Process Development Chemist	Senior Research Chemist
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 82.4% Female, 17.6%	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 process development chemist and senior research chemist duties and responsibilities

Process development chemist example responsibilities.

Manage synthesis and production of specialty chemicals for carpet and textile industry.
Perform lab audits to make sure lab are in compliance with FDA regulations.
Train plant operators to run the new circuit in accordance to company's GMP.
Gain working experience with FDA, EPA, and government safety regulations and requirements.
Work also includes in QC department to analysis raw material, in-process and finish products.
Purify oligos on HPLC units that collect either manually or automatically.

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.

Process development chemist vs senior research chemist skills

Common process development chemist skills

R, 14%
HPLC, 9%
Analytical Techniques, 8%
Process Support, 7%
GMP, 6%
NMR, 5%

Common senior research chemist skills

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

Process Development Chemist vs. similar jobs

Process Development Chemist related careers

Process Development Chemist related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Life, Physical, and Social Science Industry
Process Development Chemist
Process Development Chemist vs Senior Research Chemist

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse life, physical, and social science jobs