Chemical scientists
Chemical scientists analyse and research physical aspects of chemical structure and change within substances and develop chemical techniques used in the manufacture or modification of natural substances and processed products.
- Employees (UK)
- 15k
- Median annual pay
- £39,668
- Exposure score ?
- 1.0/10 Minimal 7.4/10 High strict reading, with tools is 7.4/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.0/10
- Wage exposure
- £60m £440m
Higher exposure than 53% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Most of the routine work in this role can already be done by a capable model. The role does not disappear, but its shape changes, and one person can credibly cover the work of several.
If you are in this role
Stop spending time on what a model can do well. Your value is judgement, relationships and the parts of the work that need you in the room. Redesign the workflow around that before someone else does it for you.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Conduct research on the structures and properties of materials, such as metals, alloys, polymers, and ceramics, to obtain information that could be used to develop new products or enhance existing ones.
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Test metals to determine conformance to specifications of mechanical strength, strength-weight ratio, ductility, magnetic and electrical properties, and resistance to abrasion, corrosion, heat, and cold.
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Test material samples for tolerance under tension, compression, and shear to determine the cause of metal failures.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Conduct research on the structures and properties of materials, such as metals, alloys, polymers, and ceramics, to obtain information that could be used to develop new products or enhance existing ones.
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Test material samples for tolerance under tension, compression, and shear to determine the cause of metal failures.
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Determine ways to strengthen or combine materials or develop new materials with new or specific properties for use in a variety of products and applications.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Materials Scientists" (19-2032.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 16 tasks, unaided
Prepare reports, manuscripts, proposals, and technical manuals for use by other scientists and requestors, such as sponsors and customers.
Write research papers for publication in scientific journals.
What still needs a person
14 of 16 tasks
Conduct research on the structures and properties of materials, such as metals, alloys, polymers, and ceramics, to obtain information that could be used to develop new products or enhance existing ones.
Test metals to determine conformance to specifications of mechanical strength, strength-weight ratio, ductility, magnetic and electrical properties, and resistance to abrasion, corrosion, heat, and cold.
Test material samples for tolerance under tension, compression, and shear to determine the cause of metal failures.
Determine ways to strengthen or combine materials or develop new materials with new or specific properties for use in a variety of products and applications.
Plan laboratory experiments to confirm feasibility of processes and techniques used in the production of materials with special characteristics.
Recommend materials for reliable performance in various environments.
Supervise and monitor production processes to ensure efficient use of equipment, timely changes to specifications, and project completion within time frame and budget.
Research methods of processing, forming, and firing materials to develop such products as ceramic dental fillings, unbreakable dinner plates, and telescope lenses.
Perform experiments and computer modeling to study the nature, structure, and physical and chemical properties of metals and their alloys, and their responses to applied forces.
Devise testing methods to evaluate the effects of various conditions on particular materials.
Test individual parts and products to ensure that manufacturer and governmental quality and safety standards are met.
Confer with customers to determine how to tailor materials to their needs.
Teach in colleges and universities.
Visit suppliers of materials or users of products to gather specific information.
Tasks via O*NET "Materials Scientists" (19-2032.00).
What AI can already do
13 of 16 tasks, with tools
Conduct research on the structures and properties of materials, such as metals, alloys, polymers, and ceramics, to obtain information that could be used to develop new products or enhance existing ones.
Test material samples for tolerance under tension, compression, and shear to determine the cause of metal failures.
Determine ways to strengthen or combine materials or develop new materials with new or specific properties for use in a variety of products and applications.
Prepare reports, manuscripts, proposals, and technical manuals for use by other scientists and requestors, such as sponsors and customers.
Plan laboratory experiments to confirm feasibility of processes and techniques used in the production of materials with special characteristics.
Recommend materials for reliable performance in various environments.
Supervise and monitor production processes to ensure efficient use of equipment, timely changes to specifications, and project completion within time frame and budget.
Research methods of processing, forming, and firing materials to develop such products as ceramic dental fillings, unbreakable dinner plates, and telescope lenses.
Perform experiments and computer modeling to study the nature, structure, and physical and chemical properties of metals and their alloys, and their responses to applied forces.
Devise testing methods to evaluate the effects of various conditions on particular materials.
Test individual parts and products to ensure that manufacturer and governmental quality and safety standards are met.
Confer with customers to determine how to tailor materials to their needs.
Write research papers for publication in scientific journals.
What still needs a person
3 of 16 tasks
Test metals to determine conformance to specifications of mechanical strength, strength-weight ratio, ductility, magnetic and electrical properties, and resistance to abrasion, corrosion, heat, and cold.
Teach in colleges and universities.
Visit suppliers of materials or users of products to gather specific information.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons