Pharmacy technician job description template

What a pharmacy technician does

Pharmacy technicians handle most of what happens behind the counter: entering prescriptions, counting and filling, running insurance claims, and keeping inventory straight. Pharmacists check their work, so accuracy matters more than speed. Retail and hospital technician jobs look quite different, and most states require registration or licensure, so a clear job description saves you from interviewing people who can't legally start.

Pharmacy technician job description template

Copy the description, replace everything in [brackets], and cut any line that isn't true for your job. The duties and requirements are a starting point written by HR practitioners, not a legal standard, so edit them to match the real work.

Pharmacy technician

Details
- Department: [Department]
- Reports to: [Manager title]
- Location: [City, State, or remote]
- Employment type: [Full-time, part-time, or seasonal]
- FLSA status: Nonexempt
- Pay range: [$X to $Y per hour]

About [Company]
[Two or three sentences about what your company does, who it serves, and why people like working here.]

Job summary
We're hiring a pharmacy technician to help our pharmacists fill prescriptions accurately, resolve insurance questions, and keep patients moving through the pharmacy with care.

What you'll do
- Receive and enter prescriptions and verify patient information.
- Count, measure, package, and label medications for pharmacist verification.
- Process insurance claims and resolve rejections and prior authorization needs.
- Manage inventory, place orders, and check for expired or recalled products.
- Answer customer questions and refer clinical questions to the pharmacist.
- Prepare sterile or compounded products where trained and permitted.
- Keep the pharmacy clean, organized, and compliant with regulations.
- Protect patient privacy under HIPAA.

What you'll need
- Registration, certification, or licensure as a pharmacy technician in [State], as required.
- High school diploma or equivalent.
- Accuracy with numbers and medication names.
- Ability to stand for long periods.

Nice to have
- National certification from PTCB (CPhT) or NHA (ExCPT).
- Experience with [pharmacy system].
- Sterile compounding training for hospital roles.

Skills
Accuracy and attention to detail, Insurance billing, Customer service, Inventory control, Pharmacy math, Confidentiality.

Physical demands and work environment
Retail or hospital pharmacy. Requires standing for most of the shift, repetitive hand motion, and lifting up to 25 pounds.

Pay and benefits
[$X to $Y per hour], based on experience and location. [List benefits, such as health insurance, retirement plan match, paid time off, and training.]

Equal opportunity
[Company] is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by law. If you need a reasonable accommodation to apply or interview, contact [name] at [email or phone].

How to customize it for your job

• State whether the role is retail, hospital, specialty, or mail order.
• Spell out the state registration requirement.
• Say whether you pay for certification or training.
• Mention prescription volume per day.

Then check it against the HRTally job description standard, our 10-point checklist, and run it through the inclusive language swap list. Both take about five minutes.

How much to pay a pharmacy technician

Half of US pharmacy technicians earned more than $22.00 an hour in May 2025, and half earned less, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That national figure is a starting point, not a pay range. Pay for the same job can differ by 30 percent or more between metro areas, so check the BLS occupation profile for state and metro data before you set your range.

For hourly roles, the legal floor matters as much as the market rate. Check the current rate where the job is based in our minimum wage by state table, and the state's overtime and break rules in our state labor law library.

To convert between hourly and annual pay, use our salary to hourly calculator. If you hire in a state or city with a pay transparency law, the range must appear in the posting itself. Our pay transparency laws guide lists where, and our guide to salary bands explains how to set ranges you can defend.

Exempt status, licenses, and legal notes

FLSA status: Nonexempt (overtime eligible). Job titles don't decide overtime eligibility. Duties and pay do. Our guide to exempt vs non-exempt employees walks through each test, and the overtime calculator shows what a nonexempt employee is owed.

Most states require pharmacy technicians to register with or be licensed by the state board of pharmacy, and many require or encourage national certification. Rules on what technicians may do, and the technician-to-pharmacist ratio, vary by state. Technicians handling controlled substances work under DEA rules, and many employers run background and drug screening, which must follow the Fair Credit Reporting Act when done by a screening company.

This is general information for US employers, not legal advice. Laws change and vary by state and city, so confirm the current rules or talk to employment counsel before you rely on them.

Interview questions to ask

Ask every candidate the same core questions and score answers against the same criteria. Structured interviews are fairer and predict job performance better than open conversation.

1. Walk me through how you double-check a prescription before it goes to the pharmacist.
2. How do you handle an insurance rejection while a patient is waiting?
3. Tell me about a time you caught a medication error.
4. How do you calm a frustrated customer?

When you're ready to schedule, use our interview invitation email template. For a full hiring process, read the recruitment process guide.

Frequently asked questions