Laboratory technicians
Laboratory technicians carry out routine laboratory tests and checks and perform a variety of technical support functions requiring the application of established or prescribed procedures and techniques to assist scientists with their research, development, analysis and testing, and to verify the physical, chemical and other characteristics of materials and products.
- Employees (UK)
- 64k
- Median annual pay
- £26,861
- Exposure score ?
- 1.6/10 Minimal 7.7/10 High strict reading, with tools is 7.7/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.6/10
- Wage exposure
- £275m £1.32bn
Higher exposure than 72% 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.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Complete documentation needed to support testing procedures, including data capture forms, equipment logbooks, or inventory forms.
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Write technical reports or documentation, such as deviation reports, testing protocols, and trend analyses.
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Write or revise standard quality control operating procedures.
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 routine and non-routine analyses of in-process materials, raw materials, environmental samples, finished goods, or stability samples.
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Interpret test results, compare them to established specifications and control limits, and make recommendations on appropriateness of data for release.
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Perform visual inspections of finished products.
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 "Quality Control Analysts" (19-4099.01).
What AI can already do
6 of 26 tasks, unaided
Complete documentation needed to support testing procedures, including data capture forms, equipment logbooks, or inventory forms.
Write technical reports or documentation, such as deviation reports, testing protocols, and trend analyses.
Write or revise standard quality control operating procedures.
Perform validations or transfers of analytical methods in accordance with applicable policies or guidelines.
Prepare or review required method transfer documentation including technical transfer protocols or reports.
Develop and qualify new testing methods.
What still needs a person
20 of 26 tasks
Conduct routine and non-routine analyses of in-process materials, raw materials, environmental samples, finished goods, or stability samples.
Interpret test results, compare them to established specifications and control limits, and make recommendations on appropriateness of data for release.
Calibrate, validate, or maintain laboratory equipment.
Ensure that lab cleanliness and safety standards are maintained.
Perform visual inspections of finished products.
Compile laboratory test data and perform appropriate analyses.
Identify and troubleshoot equipment problems.
Investigate or report questionable test results.
Monitor testing procedures to ensure that all tests are performed according to established item specifications, standard test methods, or protocols.
Identify quality problems and recommend solutions.
Participate in out-of-specification and failure investigations and recommend corrective actions.
Receive and inspect raw materials.
Train other analysts to perform laboratory procedures and assays.
Supply quality control data necessary for regulatory submissions.
Serve as a technical liaison between quality control and other departments, vendors, or contractors.
Participate in internal assessments and audits as required.
Review data from contract laboratories to ensure accuracy and regulatory compliance.
Evaluate analytical methods and procedures to determine how they might be improved.
Coordinate testing with contract laboratories and vendors.
Evaluate new technologies and methods to make recommendations regarding their use.
Tasks via O*NET "Quality Control Analysts" (19-4099.01).
What AI can already do
22 of 26 tasks, with tools
Conduct routine and non-routine analyses of in-process materials, raw materials, environmental samples, finished goods, or stability samples.
Interpret test results, compare them to established specifications and control limits, and make recommendations on appropriateness of data for release.
Perform visual inspections of finished products.
Complete documentation needed to support testing procedures, including data capture forms, equipment logbooks, or inventory forms.
Compile laboratory test data and perform appropriate analyses.
Identify and troubleshoot equipment problems.
Write technical reports or documentation, such as deviation reports, testing protocols, and trend analyses.
Investigate or report questionable test results.
Monitor testing procedures to ensure that all tests are performed according to established item specifications, standard test methods, or protocols.
Identify quality problems and recommend solutions.
Participate in out-of-specification and failure investigations and recommend corrective actions.
Supply quality control data necessary for regulatory submissions.
Serve as a technical liaison between quality control and other departments, vendors, or contractors.
Write or revise standard quality control operating procedures.
Participate in internal assessments and audits as required.
Perform validations or transfers of analytical methods in accordance with applicable policies or guidelines.
Prepare or review required method transfer documentation including technical transfer protocols or reports.
Review data from contract laboratories to ensure accuracy and regulatory compliance.
Develop and qualify new testing methods.
Evaluate analytical methods and procedures to determine how they might be improved.
Coordinate testing with contract laboratories and vendors.
Evaluate new technologies and methods to make recommendations regarding their use.
What still needs a person
4 of 26 tasks
Calibrate, validate, or maintain laboratory equipment.
Ensure that lab cleanliness and safety standards are maintained.
Receive and inspect raw materials.
Train other analysts to perform laboratory procedures and assays.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Associate 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