How to hire a senior laboratory technician

How to hire a senior laboratory technician, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior laboratory technician hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a senior laboratory technician job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior laboratory technician
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior laboratory technician do?

Post a senior laboratory technician job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   The senior laboratory technician hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect senior laboratory technician also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   The following list breaks down different types of senior laboratory technicians and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Senior Laboratory Technician	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Laboratory Technician	Medical laboratory technologists (commonly known as medical laboratory scientists) and medical laboratory technicians collect samples and perform tests to analyze body fluids, tissue, and other substances.	$16-32
   Laboratory Coordinator	A laboratory coordinator is responsible for supporting laboratory examinations and experiments, collecting laboratory samples, and ensuring the efficiency and performance of laboratory tools and equipment. Laboratory coordinators maintain the cleanliness and orderliness of the laboratory facility at all times to avoid contaminations and hazards that may affect laboratory results and accuracy of examinations... Show more	$18-34
   Technician	Technicians are skilled professionals who primarily work with technology in different industries. They are knowledgeable about the technical aspects of the various items they work with... Show more	$11-27

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Lab Equipment
   • Patients
   • Research Projects
   • Cell Culture
   • Safety Procedures
   • Molecular Biology
   • Troubleshoot
   • R
   • Data Analysis
   • Data Entry
   • RNA
   • Lab Procedures
   • Test Results
   • Animal Handling

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead aerobic, anaerobic and UV light testing, chemical residue testing and centrifuge to separate chemicals from water.
   • Operate a binary distillation column using LabView to separate a mixture of methanol and water.
   • Provide and sign certificate of analyses for wet chemistry and microbiology.
   • Perform CFU-blast, CFU-C, CFU-D, CFU-S assays.
   • Create raw material library on FTIR.
   • Perform manual titration, including testing bacteria and other water tests.

   More senior laboratory technician duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the senior laboratory technician job description is a good way to get more applicants. A senior laboratory technician salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a senior laboratory technician in Kentucky may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level senior laboratory technician. Additionally, a senior laboratory technician with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average senior laboratory technician salary

   $48,530yearly

   $23.33 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior laboratory technician salary

   $34,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 22, 2025

   Average senior laboratory technician salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$61,162	$29
   2	Arizona	$53,421	$26
   3	Delaware	$52,656	$25
   4	New York	$52,484	$25
   5	Maryland	$51,039	$25
   6	Washington	$49,356	$24
   7	New Jersey	$48,976	$24
   8	Pennsylvania	$48,956	$24
   9	Florida	$48,305	$23
   10	Minnesota	$48,177	$23
   11	Ohio	$46,791	$23
   12	Massachusetts	$46,787	$22
   13	North Carolina	$46,206	$22
   14	Illinois	$45,560	$22
   15	Vermont	$44,661	$21
   16	Wisconsin	$42,019	$20
   17	Michigan	$40,991	$20
   18	Tennessee	$40,179	$19
   19	Georgia	$39,499	$19
   20	Texas	$38,957	$19

   Average senior laboratory technician salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Genentech	$77,639	$37.33	15
   2	EPAM Systems	$76,094	$36.58
   3	NVIDIA	$75,388	$36.24
   4	Intuitive Surgical	$74,955	$36.04
   5	Microsoft	$71,900	$34.57	36
   6	Duquesne Light Company	$70,667	$33.97	1
   7	Google	$70,306	$33.80
   8	Merck	$66,961	$32.19	8
   9	Sharp Decisions	$62,124	$29.87
   10	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory	$61,826	$29.72	2
   11	BASF	$61,132	$29.39	2
   12	Salesforce	$61,126	$29.39
   13	Ernst & Young	$60,855	$29.26
   14	Washington Hospital Healthcare System	$60,745	$29.20
   15	VMware	$59,826	$28.76
   16	Amazon	$59,747	$28.72	253
   17	Lennox International	$59,306	$28.51	2
   18	Novelis	$59,198	$28.46	6
   19	Dignity Health	$58,824	$28.28	113
   20	Mayo Clinic	$58,810	$28.27	141

4. Writing a senior laboratory technician job description

   A job description for a senior laboratory technician role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a senior laboratory technician job description:

   Senior laboratory technician job description example

   The Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (HNRCA) investigators conduct advanced studies on nutrition and aging. Their research focuses on determining the optimal nutrient profile necessary to promote well-being for older adults. HNRCA scientists examine how nutrition plays a major role in the prevention of the major chronic degenerative conditions and diseases associated with aging.
   
   The HNRCA is operated by Tufts University through a cooperative agreement with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Located adjacent to the Tufts University Health Science campus in Boston, Massachusetts, the HNRCA is one of six human nutrition research centers in the United States supported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
   
   The mission of the Nutrition and Vision Research Laboratory (LNVR) is to discover mechanisms of aging in the eye and seek nutritional and other means to delay age-related vision impairments.
   What You'll Do
   
   After training by senior researchers, the Senior Research Technician will conduct routine and specialized laboratory experiments. Precision and accuracy are essential. Techniques include histology, genotyping, enzyme assays, protein analysis, and ELISAs. The Technician, in consultation with senior lab members, will be expected to make decisions regarding the appropriate protocol or procedure necessary to achieve desired results, the reliability and accuracy of results, and whether modification or repetition is necessary. They will record test results and analyze data derived from experiments. Some basic statistical analysis is essential for this task. The Technician is responsible for maintaining the mice colonies and performing required experiments on the animals, following appropriate training. The Technician will maintain laboratory equipment and supplies and ensure that all laboratory, chemical, radioactive, and biohazard standards are being met. The Technician will also be expected to search out, read and interpret scientific literature, including co-authoring manuscripts from this group.
   
   What We're Looking For
   
   Basic Requirements: Bachelors degree in biochemistry or related discipline and at least one year of related laboratory experience required. Preferred Qualifications: MS in a laboratory science preferred. Advanced knowledge and experience with laboratory techniques and procedures Ability to read and write clearly in English are major advantages Knowledge of basic statistics Entry to the work building requires either American citizenship or name trace clearance. An employee in this position must complete all appropriate background checks at the time of hire, promotion, or transfer.
   
   Equal Opportunity Employer - minority/females/veterans/disability/sexual orientation/gender identity.
   
   recblid 3tvelv4v0hqyqw8vuthk9liumnrh7s

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right senior laboratory technician for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior laboratory technician job on Zippia to find and recruit senior laboratory technician candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting senior laboratory technicians requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior laboratory technician

   Once you've found the senior laboratory technician candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new senior laboratory technician. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a senior laboratory technician?