How To Become A Senior Food Technologist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior food technologist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Chris Sigler

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior food technologist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.92 an hour? That's $58,083 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 3,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a senior food technologist?

Dr. Chris Sigler

Assistant Teaching Professor/Academic Advisor, Pennsylvania State University

I would stress that food is a commonality all humans share. The education and skill set acquired in a Food Science Degree are going to be needed, more than ever, moving forward, to critically examine and analyze how to approach new concerns and opportunities left in the wake of the pandemic.

Being able to adapt and modify how to connect, collaborate, and share information and resources to better themselves, their colleagues, their employers, and the field of food science, in general, will be critical moving forward.

ScoreSenior Food TechnologistUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $58,083

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.4

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 12.02%

Black or African American 4.06%

Hispanic or Latino 8.03%

Unknown 2.75%

White 72.90%

Gender

female 50.77%

male 49.23%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior food technologist

Explore senior food technologist education requirements

Most common senior food technologist degrees

Bachelor's

68.6 %

Master's

22.9 %

Associate

6.7 %

Start to develop specific senior food technologist skills

Skills	Percentages
Food Safety	11.17%
QA	8.31%
FDA	7.34%
Pilot Plant	7.16%
Technical Support	5.86%

Complete relevant senior food technologist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior food technologists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior food technologist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior food technologist resumes.

Research senior food technologist duties and responsibilities

Conduct GMP audits, review key performance metrics to correct non-conformities and achieve BRC food standards.
Organize schedules for employees and set payroll -Provide direction and solve employee problems -Be extremely personable & manage stock control
Provide technical support to operation, sales, purchasing and QA with product and project relate issues.
Start the establishment and implementation of HACCP and cGMP.

Get senior food technologist experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a senior food technologist. The most common roles before becoming a senior food technologist include food technologist, food scientist team lead and research and development technician.

Apply for senior food technologist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior food technologist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams