Senior laboratory technician vs research laboratory technician

The differences between senior laboratory technicians and research laboratory technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a senior laboratory technician, becoming a research laboratory technician takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a senior laboratory technician has an average salary of $48,530, which is higher than the $38,308 average annual salary of a research laboratory technician.

The top three skills for a senior laboratory technician include lab equipment, patients and research projects. The most important skills for a research laboratory technician are patients, chemistry, and laboratory equipment.

Senior laboratory technician vs research laboratory technician overview

	Senior Laboratory Technician	Research Laboratory Technician
Yearly salary	$48,530	$38,308
Hourly rate	$23.33	$18.42
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	63,876	86,476
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age	44	40
Years of experience	12	4

What does a senior laboratory technician do?

A Senior Laboratory Technician is responsible for supervising and coordinating scientific investigations and experiments. They supervise staff, provide technical support, and construct, maintain, and operate standard laboratory equipment.

What does a research laboratory technician do?

Research laboratory technicians play a vital role in scientific laboratories. They perform varied duties and responsibilities, which include setting up, operating, and maintaining the laboratory equipment, assisting in laboratory-based research activities such as sampling, testing, and analyzing results, and providing technical support to the laboratory team members. In addition, they are expected to support the development and advancement of science and modern medicine. Other typical duties of research laboratory technicians include preparing samples and specimens, keeping abreast with current technical developments, and ensuring strict compliance with safety procedures.

Senior laboratory technician vs research laboratory technician salary

Senior laboratory technicians and research laboratory technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Laboratory Technician	Research Laboratory Technician
Average salary	$48,530	$38,308
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $67,000	Between $30,000 And $48,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Chicago, IL
Highest paying state	California	Illinois
Best paying company	Genentech	Accenture
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	Manufacturing

Differences between senior laboratory technician and research laboratory technician education

There are a few differences between a senior laboratory technician and a research laboratory technician in terms of educational background:

	Senior Laboratory Technician	Research Laboratory Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common major	Biology	Biology
Most common college	New York University	Cornell University

Senior laboratory technician vs research laboratory technician demographics

Here are the differences between senior laboratory technicians' and research laboratory technicians' demographics:

	Senior Laboratory Technician	Research Laboratory Technician
Average age	44	40
Gender ratio	Male, 58.6% Female, 41.4%	Male, 49.0% Female, 51.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 12.0% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 12.3% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 13.5% Asian, 15.7% White, 49.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.5%
LGBT Percentage	8%	6%

Differences between senior laboratory technician and research laboratory technician duties and responsibilities

Senior laboratory technician example 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.

Research laboratory technician example responsibilities.

Manage RT-PCR screening of candidate genes.
Manage the development of innovative visualization and concept mapping of contest environment analysis challenges and analyst skill sets.
Use many scientific techniques to collect and analyze RNA, DNA, and specific proteins from lines of potato plants.
Preform computational molecular simulation of DNA and RNA.
Retain patients from previous research projects and update database using patient histories and correlating pertinent medical data.
Work with non human primates in an HIV testing laboratory.

Senior laboratory technician vs research laboratory technician skills

Common senior laboratory technician skills

Lab Equipment, 9%
Patients, 8%
Research Projects, 5%
Cell Culture, 4%
Safety Procedures, 4%
Molecular Biology, 4%

Common research laboratory technician skills

Patients, 9%
Chemistry, 7%
Laboratory Equipment, 7%
Cell Culture, 5%
Research Data, 4%
Research Projects, 4%

Senior Laboratory Technician vs. similar jobs

Senior Laboratory Technician related careers

Senior Laboratory Technician related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Industry
Senior Laboratory Technician
Senior Laboratory Technician vs Research Laboratory Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse healthcare practitioner and technical jobs