Also called: Flavor Chemist
Creates the flavors used in drinks, candy, snacks, and medicines by blending aroma chemicals.
You sit at a lab bench surrounded by hundreds of small bottles, blending molecules to recreate the taste of a perfectly ripe strawberry. Training takes about seven years of apprenticeship before you can join the Society of Flavor Chemists. There are only a few hundred certified flavorists in the U.S.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in chemistry or food science plus a 5-7 year apprenticeship.
Ways in: 4-year college, Apprenticeship, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Chemistry, Food Science, Biochemistry.
Growing about average.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. Big flavor houses use AI to suggest formulas; a trained flavorist's nose and judgment still decide.
Classes: AP Chemistry, Biology, Algebra II/Precalculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-2031.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.