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Product development scientist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted experts
Tedley Pihl,
Shelley Minteer Ph.D.
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical product development scientist skills. We ranked the top skills for product development scientists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 12.3% of product development scientist resumes contained chemistry as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a product development scientist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 product development scientist skills for your resume and career

1. Chemistry

Chemistry is the branch of science that tells us about the composition, properties, and structure of elements and compounds. The processes these elements undergo and how they undergo change all come under the branch of chemistry.

Here's how product development scientists use chemistry:
  • Developed and validated HPLC/Wet Chemistry methods supporting color cosmetic and OTC skincare products.
  • Performed non-routine laboratory testing to support product investigations on VITROS Chemistry Systems.

2. Project Management

Here's how product development scientists use project management:
  • Provide project management for New Product Development.
  • Experience in project management and development from discovery to launch of new products.

3. Data Analysis

Here's how product development scientists use data analysis:
  • Performed software verification for a data analysis tool designed for internal users.
  • Lead formulation, ingredient evaluation, pilot trials, sensory testing, data analysis, shelf-life studies and support production.

4. FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services that regulates the production and sale of food, pharmaceutical products, medical equipment, and other consumer goods, as well as veterinary medicine. The FDA is now in charge of overseeing the manufacture of products like vaccines, allergy treatments, and beauty products.

Here's how product development scientists use fda:
  • Led all risk analysis and FDA notification documentation.
  • Generated nutritional labels according to FDA guidelines.

5. Experimental Design

Experimental design is the process of researching in an objective and controlled manner to maximize precision and draw specific conclusions about a hypothesis statement. It is a concept used to efficiently organize, conduct, and interpret the results of experiments to ensure that as much useful information as possible is obtained by conducting a small number of trials. This minimizes the effects of the variables to increase the reliability of the results.

Here's how product development scientists use experimental design:
  • Provided technical support and experimental design advice to academic and industry customers.
  • Provided necessary guidelines to other technologists and scientists on experimental designs.

6. GMP

GMP stands for Good Manufacturing Practice. It is a system that ensures that all products like food, beverages, and medicinal drugs that are produced comply with the quality standards. It helps in minimizing the risks and hazards that cannot be eliminated after the testing of final products.

Here's how product development scientists use gmp:
  • Set up the GMP cell banking system and laboratory from an existing R&D facility.
  • Maintained compliance with all GMP and EHS training requirements.

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7. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how product development scientists use product development:
  • Led numerous product development projects including troubleshooting of gas tube failures to improvement of a plastic fibers manufacturing process.
  • Provided experienced technical and culinary support relative to new product development within the Savory Ingredients Group.

8. Technical Support

Technical support or tech support are the services provided by any hardware or software company to users. They help in solving the technical difficulties the customers face with their products or services. Moreover, the tech support employees maintain, manage, and repair the IT faults. They are also responsible for resolving the network problems, installing and configuring hardware and software.

Here's how product development scientists use technical support:
  • Provide technical support for Particle customers and the Particle Technology sales/marketing team.
  • Provide Technical support and quality data review for manufacturing transfer to Third Party manufacturing and OEM sites.

9. Formulation Development

Formulation Development of a product requires knowledge of patentability, lifecycle, and stability of the product, which leads to its ultimate success. In the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, formulation development is an important skill to possess as it is an integral part of pharmaceutical product development. For example, in large pharmaceutical companies, formulation chemists are hired to deal with the physical drugs' characterization, conduct long-term drug stability, develop prototypes for testing, and more. All of these complicated tasks require you to have extensive knowledge in the formulation development of medical products.

Here's how product development scientists use formulation development:
  • Performed blend uniformity, content uniformity and impurity profile testing to support formulation development.
  • Led formulation development, experimental design, analysis and quality control.

10. Dosage Forms

Here's how product development scientists use dosage forms:
  • Worked with team to develop formulation of various solid oral dosage forms including conventional tablets and modified release formulations.
  • Performed process capability analysis to set control limits for various solid oral dosage forms.

11. Drug Products

A drug product is a drug that has the finished dosage form which is the final product from a pharmaceutical company bearing an active ingredient. The active ingredient is tagged along with other inactive ingredients that make the product whole in the effect that it offer to users.

Here's how product development scientists use drug products:
  • Provided technical leadership for implementing process improvements, risk identification/mitigation, and tech transfer for commercialization of drug products.
  • Ensured drug substance, API, drug product and placebo were stable during entire course of clinical and nonclinical studies.

12. R

R is a free software environment and a language used by programmers for statistical computing. The R programming language is famously used for data analysis by data scientists.

Here's how product development scientists use r:
  • Designed R-statistical algorithms and wrote R codes to develop numerical regression.
  • Created and validated R based automated analysis scripts for quality control release of manufactured materials.

13. Troubleshoot

Troubleshooting is the process of analyzing and fixing any kind of problem in a system or a machine. Troubleshooting is the detailed yet quick search in the system for the main source of an issue and solving it.

Here's how product development scientists use troubleshoot:
  • Designed and carried out laboratory experiments to troubleshoot product related issues.
  • Set up, maintain, and troubleshoot Waters MicroMass Quattro Micro API Mass Spectrometer.

14. CMC

CMC stands for "chemistry, manufacturing, and controls," which represents a standard procedure when producing new pharmaceutical drugs. First the drug is developed through chemical tests and analysis, then the drug is manufactured. Before the pharmaceutical can be offered to the public, it must be tested on individuals, often animal test subjects first and then human beings. This allows pharmacists to determine whether the drug must be reconsidered, reproduced, or whether any side effects accompany the drug.

Here's how product development scientists use cmc:
  • Prepared regulatory submission package (CMC section) including reference standard, drug substance characterization and impurity characterization.
  • Participated in CMC meetings to define process development goals for purification department.

15. Technical Reports

Technical reports are a type of document that is used to indicate either the progress, result, or process of scientific research or the state of problems occurring within such research. A technical report may also showcase the report's overall conclusion and may also include recommendations. This kind of report does not require a peer review and isn't published officially but distributed within the organizations where it was formed.

Here's how product development scientists use technical reports:
  • Established formal and informal protocols, generated and analyzed data, prepared technical reports.
  • Compile and analyze development data and prepare technical report.
top-skills

What skills help Product Development Scientists find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on product development scientist resumes?

Tedley PihlTedley Pihl LinkedIn profile

Assistant Professor of Practice, University of Arizona

Data analysis, Microbiology, Internships in applied areas.

What soft skills should all product development scientists possess?

Shelley Minteer Ph.D.

Dale and Susan Poulter Endowed Chair in Biological Chemistry, Associate Chair of Chemistry, University of Utah

The most important soft skills are communication and people management skills. It is critical to be strong in both oral and written communication.

What hard/technical skills are most important for product development scientists?

Dr. Sheryl Barringer

Professor and Department Chair, The Ohio State University

The critical technical skills in food science are a good understanding of chemistry, engineering, and microbiology.

What product development scientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Scott Johnson

Professor and Director, University of Maine

This would depend on the student's goals. If interested in working in the environmental industry: HAZWOPER training, obtaining a Professional Geologist certification, developing programming skills. The PG can be obtained through self-study to pass the exam; then, the experience is needed to receive official accreditation. HAZWOPER training can be obtained through short courses. Programming skills in many popular languages can be learned online and with freely available material on the internet. I'd also advocate for people getting work experience, if possible. On a general note, computer programming skills, math/physics knowledge, GIS/remote sensing, and UAV training are valuable ways to use a gap year. Students can do these things effectively from anywhere, as long as they have a computer. There are many online options and even apps to improve knowledge in these fields and are needed for what we do.

What type of skills will young product development scientists need?

Sajid Alavi Ph.D.Sajid Alavi Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Professor, Kansas State University

Besides the traditional skills in the area of food science and technology, in these times, adaptability and ability to manage people and use diversity in the workforce to its full potential are additional skills that would be useful. Also, the ability to straddle both the operational and R&D needs of a company, to some extent, would be very beneficial to bridge the gap between production and innovation.

What technical skills for a product development scientist stand out to employers?

Dr. Joey Neilsen

Assistant Professor, Villanova University

I think programming skills and data analysis/statistics are especially valuable right now, while data science is so big. Our students take a year of Computational Physics in Python, and we integrate Python into some of our upper-level courses and labs as well. Our recent graduates, both in academia and the private sector, report using those skills on a regular basis. Two other skills that US Physics graduates report using regularly are technical problem solving and technical writing. This makes lots of sense from an employer perspective: you want to hire people who can identify and solve problems and then clearly explain the solution to your team. This is a great reason to let those lab reports shine!
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about product development scientist

List of product development scientist skills to add to your resume

Product development scientist skills

The most important skills for a product development scientist resume and required skills for a product development scientist to have include:

  • Chemistry
  • Project Management
  • Data Analysis
  • FDA
  • Experimental Design
  • GMP
  • Product Development
  • Technical Support
  • Formulation Development
  • Dosage Forms
  • Drug Products
  • R
  • Troubleshoot
  • CMC
  • Technical Reports
  • Development Projects
  • Clinical Trials
  • PCR
  • HPLC
  • Method Development
  • QC
  • Stability Studies
  • Bench Top
  • Next-Generation Sequencing
  • Test Methods
  • DOE
  • ISO
  • Cell Culture
  • Analytical Methods
  • Product Quality
  • Extraction
  • Pharmaceutical Industry
  • DSC
  • GLP
  • Test Results
  • Process Validation
  • Pilot Plant
  • CE
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Process Optimization
  • QA
  • Assay Development
  • Stem Cells
  • Elisa
  • IND
  • QbD
  • Laboratory Notebook

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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