Chemist Family
Career series with 6 positions across 4 levels
Chemist is a career-ladder family in New Jersey civil service, with 6 titles spanning 4 levels.
Entry is typically through Chemist 1, advancing through the ladder toward Chemist 4. Pay across the family spans $60,876 to $134,900, around the 64th percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 12 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Health and Senior Services.
Positions in This Family
What the Chemist family covers
New Jersey classifies Chemist as a 4-level series holding 6 separate title codes. The family straddles jurisdictions: 4 both state and local and 2 state, so parts of it are hired by state departments and parts by local civil service employers.
The state runs working laboratories rather than research institutes, so scientific titles are tied to a statutory job: testing water and air, screening newborns, analysing evidence, monitoring pesticides, mapping geology. Degrees in a named field do the qualifying, and the exam is often an evaluation of education and experience rather than a written test. Because each laboratory is small, these families tend to be short ladders inside one agency instead of broad classifications spread across government.
The ladder, ordered by pay
Sorted by pay instead of by title number, the Chemist family stacks up as follows. Here the numbering happens to agree with the pay order, which is not guaranteed elsewhere in New Jersey's plan.
- Chemist 4 — $91,628 to $134,900 (a bachelor's degree and 0.5 years of experience)
- Chemist 3 — $87,507 to $128,719 (a bachelor's degree and 0.5 years of experience)
- Chemist 3 — $79,844 to $117,228 (a bachelor's degree and 0.5 years of experience)
- Chemist 2 — $69,668 to $101,951 (a bachelor's degree and 0.5 years of experience)
- Chemist 1 — $66,592 to $97,354 (a bachelor's degree and 0.5 years of experience)
- Chemist 1 — $60,876 to $88,743 (a bachelor's degree and 0.5 years of experience)
The distance from the bottom of Chemist 1 to the top of Chemist 4 is $74,024, an increase of about 122% over the entry minimum.
What each title does
The specifications themselves are the clearest guide to what separates these titles. Here is how each one opens.
- Chemist 1: Under the close supervision of a supervisory official in a State department or agency, or local jurisdiction, performs basic and routine chemical analyses and tests in the…
- Chemist 2: Under the limited supervision of a supervisory official in a State department or agency, or local jurisdiction, performs various complex and specialized chemical analyses and…
- Chemist 3: Under the general supervision of a higher level supervisory official or manager in a State department or agency, or local jurisdiction, performs various complex and specialized…
- Chemist 4: Under the direction of a manager in a State department, institution or agency, or local jurisdiction, has responsibility for overseeing the staff, research, and testing…
Getting in: the stated requirements
Across the 6 titles we have parsed, the education requirements read as a bachelor's degree on 6 of them. Experience requirements sit at 0.5 years wherever they are stated.
On how the jobs are filled: 6 are competitive, filled from an eligible list after an open competitive or promotional examination.
Who actually employs these titles
State payroll records show 12 people working under 3 of this family's titles, spread across 3 agencies. Health and Senior Services alone accounts for about 83% of them.
- Health and Senior Services — 10 employees
- Agriculture — 1 employee
- Treasury — 1 employee
Median actual pay varies across the family, from $61,510 for Chemist 1 up to $87,980 for Chemist 3. Those are medians of what people are really paid, not schedule minimums and maximums.
State payroll only, deduplicated by payroll title; local employers file separately, so a family with local codes looks smaller here than it is. How this is counted.
How the pay is set
Titles in this family are paid on the A-P-R-S salary schedule. See every step in that schedule. Bargaining is handled by CWA. Union contracts and rights are collected here.
Where these jobs exist
Because the family mixes jurisdictions, the answer to "who hires this" depends on the specific code. State codes run through the Civil Service Commission's announcement and eligible list process; local codes are hired by the counties, municipalities and authorities that adopted civil service under Title 11A. Check an employer's status before assuming a title is available where you live.
Related titles elsewhere in the plan
Nearby in the plan, ranked by how distinctive the shared terms are rather than by how many words happen to match.
- Chemist Trainee ($55,691 to $58,222, both state and local jurisdiction)
- Forensic Chemist (local jurisdiction)
- Assistant Chemist (local jurisdiction)
- Chief Forensic Chemist (local jurisdiction) — in the Chief family
- Senior Forensic Chemist (local jurisdiction)
Common questions about Chemist jobs
How many Chemist titles are there in New Jersey civil service?
The Chemist family holds 6 title codes arranged across 4 levels. Each code is a separate classification with its own published specification, requirements and salary treatment.
What does a Chemist earn in New Jersey?
Published salary data for this family runs from $60,876 at the bottom of Chemist 1 to $134,900 at the top of Chemist 4. Those are schedule figures. Where the title appears on the state payroll, actual median pay is listed on the page above.
Do you need to take an exam to become a Chemist?
Yes for most of the family. 6 of the 6 titles are in the competitive division, which means appointment comes from an eligible list built by an open competitive or promotional examination.
What qualifications does a Chemist need?
The most common education requirement in this family is a bachelor's degree, named on 6 of the 6 titles. Stated experience ranges from 0.5 years depending on the rung. Read the individual specification for the exact wording, including any experience substitution.
Which agencies employ Chemist staff?
State payroll records show 12 people in this family across 3 agencies, with Health and Senior Services the largest at 10. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.