Inorganic Analyst

1What you'd actually do

• Preparing samples for analysis — weighing out soils, filtering waters, or digesting solid samples in strong acids (often nitric or hydrochloric) using a hotblock or microwave digester so the metals go into solution and can be measured.
• Running batches on analytical instruments. The common ones are ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry) and ICP-MS (mass spectrometry) for multi-element metal analysis, plus ion chromatography for anions like nitrate and chloride, and discrete or flow-injection analysers for nutrients. You load the autosampler, monitor the run and deal with it when the plasma won't light or the nebuliser blocks.
• Quality control checking — every batch includes blanks, spiked samples, duplicates and certified reference materials (samples with a known concentration). You compare your results against expected values and control charts, and decide whether a batch passes or needs rerunning.
• Calibrating instruments and preparing standards by diluting stock solutions accurately — a lot of careful pipetting and volumetric work, because a bad standard invalidates everything downstream.
• Reviewing and reporting data through a LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System — the database that tracks each sample from arrival to final report), flagging results that breach regulatory limits, and writing up anything unusual.
• Routine instrument maintenance and troubleshooting: changing tubing and torches, cleaning cones on the ICP-MS, running performance checks, and logging what you did.
• Paperwork tied to accreditation — labs working to ISO/IEC 17025 (the international standard for testing laboratory competence) require documented method steps, traceable records and deviation reports, and you'll be audited on them.

2How graduates get in

• Direct entry as a laboratory analyst or analytical chemist from a chemistry, environmental science, geology, biochemistry or general science degree. This is by far the most common route — many commercial labs recruit continuously rather than running a September graduate intake, so vacancies appear year-round.
• Starting as a laboratory technician or sample preparation assistant and moving onto instruments after a few months. Common in high-throughput commercial testing labs, and a realistic entry point if your degree classification is lower than the advertised requirement.
• A structured graduate scheme — these exist in water utilities, some large testing and inspection groups, and pharmaceutical or metals manufacturers, but they are much rarer than direct entry and usually rotate you across several lab or operational areas.
• A sandwich-year industrial placement or summer lab work during your degree. This matters more than in most graduate fields, because employers want to know you've handled real samples and understand why quality control exists.
• Temporary or agency contracts, which many commercial labs use to cover seasonal peaks (water and environmental testing is busier in warmer months). These frequently convert to permanent roles and are a legitimate way in.
• An MSc in analytical chemistry, environmental analysis or forensic science. Helpful but not required for entry-level work; it matters more if you want to move into method development or a specialist instrument role.

3What employers ask for

• A degree in chemistry or a closely related science. The subject genuinely matters here more than in many graduate careers — employers want to see practical wet chemistry, solution preparation and instrumental analysis in your module list. Environmental science, geology, forensic science and biochemistry are usually accepted; unrelated degrees rarely are.
• A 2:2 or a 2:1 is the typical asked-for classification, and this varies a lot — technician-level and high-volume commercial labs will often take a 2:2 or an HND/foundation degree, while pharmaceutical QC and method-development roles more often specify a 2:1.
• Demonstrable hands-on lab experience. A final-year project involving instrumental analysis, a placement year, or previous lab work all count. Purely theoretical chemistry with little bench time is a weak application.
• Familiarity with any of ICP-OES, ICP-MS, atomic absorption spectroscopy or ion chromatography is a strong advantage but usually not essential — most employers train on their own methods and instruments.
• Comfort with routine, procedure-driven work and detailed record-keeping, because accredited labs require you to follow written methods exactly rather than improvise.
• Some roles need a driving licence (if sampling in the field forms part of the job) or the ability to pass security or DBS checks (public health, forensic and some utility work). Shift work availability is required in some labs and not others.

4Skills that matter

5Where it leads

1. Analyst or technician: learning the lab's methods, becoming signed off as competent on specific instruments and techniques. Getting fully signed off across a suite of methods commonly takes somewhere between several months and a couple of years depending on how many techniques the role covers.

2. Senior or experienced analyst: authorising other people's data, training new starters, owning a particular instrument or method, and handling the harder or non-routine samples.

3. A branch point. Some people move into method development and validation (designing and proving new tests), some into quality — becoming a quality officer or technical signatory for ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation and dealing with auditors — and some into lab supervision and management. Timelines here vary widely and depend heavily on turnover and lab size.

4. Laboratory manager, technical manager or quality manager, running a team, budgets, scheduling and accreditation. Alternatively, sideways moves into instrument sales and applications support (working for the companies that make ICP instruments), consultancy, environmental or regulatory roles, or client-facing technical account management.

5. Chartered Chemist (CChem) status through the Royal Society of Chemistry is a recognised marker of professional standing and is often pursued alongside senior technical or managerial progression, though many analysts have long careers without it.

6Where this varies

The sector you land in changes the job considerably. In environmental and water testing labs the work is high-volume and deadline-driven, with hundreds of similar samples and possible shift patterns or seasonal peaks. In pharmaceutical or medical device QC, volumes are lower but documentation is far heavier because of GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) requirements, and any deviation from procedure triggers a formal investigation. In metals, mining and materials labs you may work more with solid samples, XRF or spark emission spectrometry and be closer to a production process, sometimes on continuous shifts. Public health and forensic laboratories add security clearance and evidential-standard record-keeping. Some roles include field sampling and travel; many are entirely bench-based. Job titles are inconsistent — the same work is advertised as inorganic analyst, analytical chemist, laboratory analyst, trace metals analyst or ICP analyst, so search on several terms.