Senior food scientists work in research and development, regulatory, processing and, quality assurance areas. Choosing one of these areas usually guides your career path. You might work in one area for a while and then move onto another specialization. There may be some career overlap, too, allowing you to work in multiple areas simultaneously.
Your job responsibilities will depend upon your food science specialization. For example, if you work in quality assurance, then your job is to monitor food production and ensure that food-making processes are working correctly. You'll also analyze the food to determine the number of nutrients, sugars, vitamins, and fats so manufacturers can adequately label the food.
You'll need a bachelor's degree in food science, agricultural science, or a similar major to get into the food processing industry. Entry-level research positions usually require a master's degree, while senior research positions need a doctorate.
Your salary as a senior food scientist will likely depend on the industry you decide to go into. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that senior food scientists in all sectors had a mean annual wage of $92,570
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior food scientist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $29.35 an hour? That's $61,041 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 2,300 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many senior food scientists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed math skills, communication skills and observation skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior food scientist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 22.3% of senior food scientists included r, while 13.1% of resumes included product development, and 8.0% of resumes included food processing. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the senior food scientist job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior food scientists actually find jobs in the manufacturing and retail industries.
If you're interested in becoming a senior food scientist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 30.8% of senior food scientists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 50.0% of senior food scientists have master's degrees. Even though most senior food scientists have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior food scientist. When we researched the most common majors for a senior food scientist, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior food scientist resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior food scientist. In fact, many senior food scientist jobs require experience in a role such as food scientist. Meanwhile, many senior food scientists also have previous career experience in roles such as food technologist or product development scientist.