Top 12 Development Chemist Skills to Put on Your Resume
In the competitive world of chemical development, the right mix of skills on a resume doesn’t just help. It lifts you above the noise. Below, you’ll find twelve core development chemist skills worth spotlighting—technical depth, practical savvy, and a clear signal to hiring teams that you’re ready to build, troubleshoot, and deliver.
Development Chemist Skills
- HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography)
- GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry)
- NMR Spectroscopy
- IR Spectroscopy
- UV/Vis Spectrophotometry
- PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)
- GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice)
- GLP (Good Laboratory Practice)
- ChemDraw
- MATLAB
- Python (for data analysis)
- ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay)
1. HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography)
HPLC separates, identifies, and quantifies components in complex mixtures by driving analytes through a packed column under high pressure. It’s the workhorse for purity, stability, and assay development. Fast, precise, and unforgiving of sloppy prep—exactly what development demands.
Why It's Important
For a Development Chemist, HPLC anchors method development, release testing, impurity tracking, and formulation work. When specifications tighten and timelines shrink, a robust HPLC method keeps projects moving.
How to Improve HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography) Skills
Sharper HPLC comes from deliberate tuning and tidy habits:
Column choice: Match stationary phase and particle size to analyte chemistry. Smaller particles boost resolution; confirm system can handle the backpressure.
Mobile phase tuning: Adjust pH, buffer strength, and organic composition to clean up tailing and sharpen selectivity. Keep additives volatile if pairing with MS.
Gradient strategy: Start simple. Use scouting gradients to map retention, then narrow windows to target critical pairs.
Temperature control: A stable column oven does wonders for reproducibility. Small changes can untangle coelutions.
Sample prep: Filter, dilute appropriately, and protect columns with guards. Dirty samples cost time and hardware.
Flow rate and dwell volume: Align flow and gradient ramps with system dwell volume to avoid shifted retention and distorted profiles.
Detector settings: Set wavelengths, bandwidth, and sampling rates for your peaks. With MS, optimize source conditions and transitions thoughtfully.
Method validation: Stress the method early—specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, robustness. Fix cracks before scale-up.
Maintenance: Replace seals, frits, and lamps on schedule. Flush salts. Prime lines. A quiet baseline is earned.
Data handling: Use consistent integration rules and system suitability criteria. Document tweaks with intention.
How to Display HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography) Skills on Your Resume
2. GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry)
GC-MS couples gas-phase separation with mass-selective detection. Volatile and semi-volatile analytes get cleanly resolved, then identified with spectral fingerprints and fragmentation patterns.
Why It's Important
It’s a staple for residual solvents, flavor/fragrance profiling, extractables/leachables, and impurity hunting. When you need specificity with teeth, GC-MS steps in.
How to Improve GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) Skills
Dial in both the GC and MS sides, and keep samples tidy:
Sample prep: Use clean glassware and appropriate extraction or headspace techniques. Control matrix effects; avoid carryover.
Column selection: Choose stationary phase, film thickness, and dimensions based on analyte polarity and volatility.
Carrier gas and flow: High-purity gas, leak-free lines, and optimized linear velocity produce tight peaks and shorter runs.
Temperature program: Build ramps that separate early volatiles without baking late eluters forever. Mind inlet temperature and split ratios.
Ion source tuning: Tune regularly. Keep sources clean. Balance sensitivity with robustness.
Acquisition mode: Full scan for discovery; SIM or MRM for quantitation and sensitivity.
Method validation: Check specificity, linearity, recovery, LOQ, carryover, and matrix tolerance. Stress test stability.
Preventive maintenance: Replace septa and liners often. Trim columns. Bake out wisely.
Library and interpretation: Use curated libraries and confirm with retention indices or reference standards when decisions matter.
How to Display GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) Skills on Your Resume
3. NMR Spectroscopy
NMR reveals molecular structure and dynamics by probing nuclei in a magnetic field. Proton, carbon, and multidimensional experiments unravel connectivity, conformation, and purity without destroying the sample.
Why It's Important
From structure confirmation to impurity identification, NMR is the final word when a mass or IR band isn’t enough. It’s the map and the compass.
How to Improve NMR Spectroscopy Skills
Small improvements stack into sharper, more informative spectra:
Sample quality: Use dry, clean solvents. Aim for the right concentration. Filter if needed. Minimize paramagnetic junk.
Shimming and locking: Take time to lock properly and shim carefully. Good line shape is half the battle.
Pulse sequences: Choose experiments suited to the question—COSY, HSQC, HMBC, NOESY/ROESY. Don’t overcollect; collect smart.
Temperature control: Temperature can sharpen lines or reveal dynamics. Stabilize before acquisition.
Acquisition parameters: Optimize relaxation delays, number of scans, and spectral width. For quantitation, respect relaxation times.
Calibration and maintenance: Regular calibrations, probe care, and consistent reference standards keep data trustworthy.
Data processing: Phase and baseline properly. Use appropriate window functions. Deconvolute only with care.
How to Display NMR Spectroscopy Skills on Your Resume
4. IR Spectroscopy
IR measures molecular vibrations. Functional groups sing at characteristic frequencies, letting you confirm identities, track reactions, and check batch consistency in minutes.
Why It's Important
Fast. Non-destructive. Reliable for fingerprinting and functional group checks. In development, it’s a quick decision tool you reach for often.
How to Improve IR Spectroscopy Skills
Make the spectrum tell a clearer story:
Right sampling mode: ATR for most solids/liquids, transmission for thin films, and gas cells when appropriate.
Clean interfaces: Keep ATR crystals clean and intact. Good contact, better spectra.
Resolution and scans: Use higher resolution for crowded regions. Average enough scans for a steady baseline without wasting time.
Baseline and atmospheric correction: Remove water and CO2 artifacts. Correct baselines before peak picking.
Calibration and verification: Periodically verify wavelength and photometric accuracy with standards.
Library use with caution: Match spectra, then confirm with context—sample history and complementary data.
How to Display IR Spectroscopy Skills on Your Resume
5. UV/Vis Spectrophotometry
UV/Vis spectrophotometry is an analytical technique that tracks how a sample absorbs ultraviolet or visible light. From concentration by Beer–Lambert to reaction kinetics, it’s simple and surprisingly powerful.
Why It's Important
It enables quick quantitation, stability tracking, and impurity checks. Perfect for method development triage and everyday QC.
How to Improve UV/Vis Spectrophotometry Skills
Make measurements crisp and dependable:
Clean cuvettes and correct path length: Choose materials compatible with your wavelength range. Inspect for scratches and residue.
Appropriate solvent and blanking: Use solvents that don’t interfere. Baseline with the true matrix.
Concentration window: Keep absorbance in the linear range. Adjust path length or dilute to avoid saturation.
Wavelength accuracy: Verify with standards at intervals. Drifts happen.
Baseline and stray light control: Let the lamp warm up. Close covers. Reduce scatter and bubbles.
Data processing: Smooth sparingly. Use appropriate peak detection and consistent integration rules.
How to Display UV/Vis Spectrophotometry Skills on Your Resume
6. PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)
PCR amplifies specific DNA regions with startling sensitivity. In development contexts that intersect with biotech, diagnostics, or enzyme assays, it underpins identity testing, contamination checks, and genetic construct verification.
Why It's Important
When your chemistry program touches biological systems or diagnostic products, PCR offers exacting detection and confirmation—fast answers when you can’t wait on culture or slower assays.
How to Improve PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) Skills
Specificity first, yield second, speed third:
Primer design: Target unique regions, avoid hairpins and dimers, and balance GC content.
Template quality: Purify cleanly and quantify accurately. Inhibitors wreck amplification.
Annealing temperature: Use gradients to lock in specificity. A few degrees matter.
Mg2+ and additives: Tune magnesium, and for GC-rich templates consider DMSO or betaine.
Hot-start enzymes: Reduce nonspecific bands and primer artifacts.
Cycle number and extension time: Avoid overamplification. Optimize for amplicon length and polymerase speed.
Clean workflow: Separate pre- and post-PCR spaces. Use controls every time.
Verification: Confirm size and purity with gel or capillary electrophoresis; sequence if critical.
How to Display PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) Skills on Your Resume
7. GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice)
GMP is a quality framework that ensures products are made consistently and meet predefined standards. In development, it means building processes that can scale, withstand audits, and protect patients and customers.
Why It's Important
It reduces risk—contamination, deviations, data gaps—and smooths the path from lab bench to commercial production. Compliance isn’t optional; it’s foundational.
How to Improve GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) Skills
Think systems, not shortcuts:
Know the regulations: Stay current with regional and international expectations. Translate requirements into practical procedures.
Rock-solid documentation: Write clear SOPs. Record contemporaneously. Control versions. Audit trails matter.
Quality by design: Define critical quality attributes and process parameters early. Build robustness on purpose.
Training and competency: Train routinely, assess effectiveness, and refresh when processes change.
Change control: Evaluate impact before implementation. Verify after. Document the whole arc.
Risk management: Use structured tools to identify, mitigate, and monitor risks through the lifecycle.
Audit readiness: Conduct internal audits, close gaps quickly, and cultivate a culture that surfaces issues early.
How to Display GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) Skills on Your Resume
8. GLP (Good Laboratory Practice)
GLP is a discipline for planning, performing, monitoring, recording, and reporting non-clinical studies with integrity. In R&D, it keeps data credible and repeatable.
Why It's Important
Strong GLP elevates trust in results, smooths regulatory interactions, and prevents costly rework. When decisions hinge on data, integrity is the currency.
How to Improve GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) Skills
Build habits that make quality automatic:
Current procedures: Keep SOPs clear, accessible, and aligned with practice. Retire outdated documents.
Data integrity (ALCOA+): Ensure records are attributable, legible, contemporaneous, original, accurate—plus complete, consistent, enduring, and available.
Calibration and maintenance: Schedule, track, and verify. Label status. No guesswork.
Training and roles: Define responsibilities. Qualify people for tasks. Requalify when needed.
Study plans and reports: Predefine objectives and methods. Report truthfully, deviations included.
Archiving: Store raw data and reports securely with traceable retrieval.
Internal audits: Inspect, learn, improve. Treat findings as fuel, not friction.
How to Display GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) Skills on Your Resume
9. ChemDraw
ChemDraw lets you sketch clean structures, mechanisms, and reaction schemes that communicate instantly. It’s the visual language of chemistry, polished and reproducible.
Why It's Important
Clear drawings speed reviews, reduce misunderstandings, and make methods and IP filings airtight. Good figures win time and trust.
How to Improve ChemDraw Skills
Draw faster, cleaner, smarter:
Shortcuts and hotkeys: Learn bonds, rings, charges, and cleanup commands until they’re muscle memory.
Templates and styles: Build libraries for common scaffolds, reagents, and arrow conventions. Standardize fonts and line weights.
Stereo and mapping: Use wedge/dash accurately. Map atoms in mechanisms to avoid ambiguity.
Reaction schemes: Align reagents, conditions, and yields consistently. Label steps clearly.
Import/export: Keep resolution high for documents. Export vector formats for publishers and slide decks.
Property tools: Leverage formula, molecular weight, and basic predictor tools for quick checks.
Quality control: Run structure cleanup and check valences before sharing.
How to Display ChemDraw Skills on Your Resume
10. MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment for modeling, signal processing, curve fitting, and visualization. When datasets get unwieldy or models turn stiff, MATLAB brings order.
Why It's Important
It accelerates development—design of experiments, kinetic modeling, calibration curves, and simulation live in one place. Repeatable scripts beat manual fiddling.
How to Improve MATLAB Skills
Level up with purpose:
Core fluency: Master arrays, tables, plotting, and function files. Write clean, commented code.
Toolboxes that matter: Curve Fitting, Optimization, Statistics, and Signal Processing cover most development needs.
Automate workflows: Batch-process files, build reusable functions, and parameterize analyses.
Model building: Fit kinetic models and validate with residuals, cross-validation, and uncertainty estimates.
Visualization: Create publication-ready plots with consistent styles and annotations.
Version control: Track changes with Git. Branch for experiments, merge what works.
Performance: Preallocate, vectorize, and profile code to cut runtimes.
How to Display MATLAB Skills on Your Resume
11. Python (for data analysis)
Python is a flexible language with rich scientific libraries. From data wrangling to visualization to machine learning, it scales from quick checks to production pipelines.
Why It's Important
Development chemistry throws off data—lots of it. Python turns messy tables into insight: cleaner models, faster decisions, fewer surprises.
How to Improve Python (for data analysis) Skills
Build a toolkit that sticks:
Core stack: Get comfortable with NumPy, pandas, and plotting libraries like Matplotlib or Seaborn.
Scientific add-ons: Use SciPy for stats and signal processing. For cheminformatics, explore RDKit. For modeling, scikit-learn covers a lot.
Reproducible analysis: Work in notebooks for exploration, then refactor to scripts or modules. Set seeds. Save environments.
Data hygiene: Validate inputs, handle missingness intentionally, and test edge cases.
Visualization craft: Design clear, honest plots with readable labels and units.
Packaging and version control: Use virtual environments and Git. Pin dependencies. Document how to run.
Performance: Profile bottlenecks, vectorize operations, and cache expensive steps.
How to Display Python (for data analysis) Skills on Your Resume
12. ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay)
ELISA detects and quantifies proteins, antibodies, and other biomolecules with enzyme-linked readouts. Color changes tell a quantitative story—clear, sensitive, and scalable.
Why It's Important
In development tied to biologics, diagnostics, or enzyme products, ELISA supports stability studies, potency assays, and impurity tracking with reassuring specificity.
How to Improve ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) Skills
Tame background, amplify signal, and protect reproducibility:
Antibody selection: Use high-affinity, well-matched pairs for sandwich formats. Verify epitope non-overlap.
Coating control: Optimize coating buffer, pH, and antigen concentration. Allow sufficient incubation time.
Blocking strategy: Choose blockers (BSA, casein, specialized mixes) based on matrix. Avoid over- or under-blocking.
Wash rigor: Tune buffer composition and number of washes. Consistency beats everything here.
Incubation conditions: Standardize time and temperature. Gentle agitation improves binding.
Detection chemistry: Select enzyme–substrate pairs that fit sensitivity needs. Stop reactions consistently.
Curve fitting: Use appropriate models (e.g., 4PL). Include replicates and controls on every plate.
Matrix effects: Spike-and-recover in the real sample matrix. Dilute smartly to tame interference.
Plate and reagent handling: Avoid edge effects, equilibrate reagents, and minimize freeze–thaws.
Validation: Establish precision, accuracy, range, LOD/LOQ, and robustness before routine use.
How to Display ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) Skills on Your Resume
