What does a product development chemist do?
Product development chemist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real product development chemist resumes:
- Lead a collaboration with another biotechnology company to design ELISAs for the purpose of evaluating novel reagents.
- Execute HPLC method development and method validation to provide data toward supporting specification, and testing of reference materials.
- Write and review work instructions and maintain ISO paperwork.
- Develop and implement CAPA as an outcome of investigations.
- Create validation protocols, OOS reports and final reports for test methods.
- Authore and revise operating procedures to reflect changes in the testing methods to comply with ISO requirements.
- Prepare documentation for FDA submissions.
- Perform HPLC instrument maintenance and qualification.
- Maintain awareness of regulatory and GMP requirements relevant to job responsibilities.
- Document and execute equipment and method validation to comply with FDA requirements and partner expectations.
- Manufacture development and production oligonucleotides.
- Resolve customer testing inquires by developing DSC methods.
- Provide training to field operators on IC community hyperspectral imaging instrument maintenance and operation.
- Manufacture development and production oligonucleotides.
Product development chemist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Product Development Chemists are proficient in Lab Equipment, Product Development, and Analytical Methods. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Math skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Product Development Chemists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Lab Equipment, 10%
Evaluate and select raw material and lab equipment according to customer needs.
- Product Development, 8%
Provided technical support to product development, quality control, manufacturing and other process operations.
- Analytical Methods, 7%
Developed and validated several analytical methods for NDA/ANDA products and completed numerous technical special projects.
- HPLC, 5%
Performed HPLC instrument maintenance and qualification.
- QC, 5%
Analyzed SQC parameters from LIMS for top 20 solvents and demonstrated that a key QC instrument needed replacing.
- Test Methods, 5%
Generated management reports detailing product performance results from production processes and quality assurance test methods.
Most product development chemists use their skills in "lab equipment," "product development," and "analytical methods" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential product development chemist responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a product development chemist to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what product development chemists do because "chemists and materials scientists need to evaluate the results of experiments to ensure accuracy in their research." Additionally, a product development chemist resume shows how product development chemists use analytical skills: "analyzed raw materials and handled trouble shooting using fourier transform infrared spectrometer (ftir). "
Math skills. Another essential skill to perform product development chemist duties is math skills. Product development chemists responsibilities require that "chemists and materials scientists regularly use calculus, algebra, statistics, and other math for calculations." Product development chemists also use math skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "evaluated quantitative elisa protocol by plackett-burman analysis. "
Problem-solving skills. This is an important skill for product development chemists to perform their duties. For an example of how product development chemist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "chemists’ and materials scientists’ work involves posing questions during research and finding answers through results." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a product development chemist: "perform dissolution testing utilizing uv-vis and distek dissolution system with varian software. ".
Time-management skills. A big part of what product development chemists do relies on "time-management skills." You can see how essential it is to product development chemist responsibilities because "chemists and materials scientists usually need to meet deadlines and must be able to prioritize tasks while maintaining quality." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical product development chemist tasks: "reduced production costs and qualification times significantly, improved product quality and lot-to-lot consistency. "
Communication skills. Another crucial skill for a product development chemist to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what product development chemists relies on this skill, since "chemists and materials scientists must be able to convey information clearly in reports and presentations for both technical and nontechnical audiences." How this skill relates to product development chemist duties can be seen in an example from a product development chemist resume snippet: "provided broad scientific support for clinical trials from protocol concept through data interpretation and communication. "
The three companies that hire the most product development chemists are:
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Compare different product development chemists
Product development chemist vs. Senior research chemist
Chemists are generally responsible for observing and investigating chemical substances to create new and safe compounds essential for practical applications. They are often grouped depending on a particular area of specialization to focus and understand the complexities of the matter. A chemist usually takes time performing research and conducting experiments to test and further improve the quality and usage of a specific chemical substance. Chemists are expected to write on their observations and findings to establish scientific results.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between product development chemists and senior research chemist. For instance, product development chemist responsibilities require skills such as "lab equipment," "analytical methods," "qc," and "stability studies." Whereas a senior research chemist is skilled in "chemistry," "analytical laboratory," "organic synthesis," and "polymer." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Senior research chemists tend to make the most money working in the pharmaceutical industry, where they earn an average salary of $95,875. In contrast, product development chemists make the biggest average salary, $84,696, in the manufacturing industry.The education levels that senior research chemists earn slightly differ from product development chemists. In particular, senior research chemists are 2.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a product development chemist. Additionally, they're 20.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product development chemist vs. Chemist
Quality Assurance Chemists generally offer pay of around $54K per year and require strong skills in analysis and instrumentation and general knowledge of chemistry, attention to detail, and various organizational skills. Also, they must be able to investigate and analyze problems whenever they crop up. This career choice requires a bachelor's or advanced degree in chemistry, depending on the industry, and will often be offered in pharmaceutical fields, where standard duties consist of the measurement and testing of lab materials and products according to industry standards.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that product development chemist responsibilities requires skills like "qc," "icp," "product line," and "ir." But a chemist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "chemistry," "gc," "ms," and "sample preparation."
On average, chemists earn a lower salary than product development chemists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, chemists earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $75,495. Whereas product development chemists have higher pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $84,696.In general, chemists achieve similar levels of education than product development chemists. They're 3.0% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 20.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for product development chemists in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Betsy Smith
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Elmira College
Product development chemist vs. Wet chemistry analyst
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, product development chemists are more likely to have skills like "lab equipment," "r," "product development," and "qc." But a wet chemistry analyst is more likely to have skills like "laboratory equipment," "analyze samples," "gc," and "laboratory procedures."
Most wet chemistry analysts achieve a lower degree level compared to product development chemists. For example, they're 7.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product development chemist vs. Quality assurance chemist
Types of product development chemist
Updated January 8, 2025
