Also called: Consumer Sensory Scientist
Studies how people taste, smell, and feel products, and runs taste-test panels.
Sensory scientists design blind taste tests, train panels of tasters, and use statistics to find out if a new chip recipe is really better than the old one.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 6 years after high school. Master's or PhD in food science or sensory science.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Food Science, Psychology, Statistics.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years).
Medium risk for 10 years. Software designs tests and crunches panel stats, and AI predicts liking from data; training panels and interpreting results stay human.
Classes: AP Statistics, AP Biology, Chemistry, Psychology.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-1012.
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.