How to hire an associate scientist

How to hire an associate scientist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step associate scientist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an associate scientist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new associate scientist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an associate scientist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The associate scientist hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect associate scientist also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of associate scientist salaries for various roles:

   Type of Associate Scientist	Description	Hourly rate
   Associate Scientist	Medical scientists conduct research aimed at improving overall human health. They often use clinical trials and other investigative methods to reach their findings.	$25-52
   Research Fellow	A research fellow is an academic researcher who conducts research and analysis of comprehensive literature, data, and results and provides literature reviews. He/She supervises research assistants and recruits study participants to interview them for a particular study... Show more	$18-34
   Chemical Technician	A chemical technician is responsible for supporting chemists and laboratory technicians in performing laboratory investigations and examining chemical components and structures. Chemical technicians ensure the stability of laboratory tools and equipment, performing proper sterilization and segregation of disposable materials, and maintaining the adequacy of inventory... Show more	$14-27

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Chemistry
   • Patients
   • Cell Culture
   • Data Analysis
   • GMP
   • Lab Equipment
   • HPLC
   • Elisa
   • Flow Cytometry
   • GLP
   • Analytical Methods
   • Cell-Based Assays
   • Chromatography
   • Technical Reports

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage study protocols and study conduct, intimately involve in the toxicology and pharmacokinetic study protocol development process.
   • Generate crispr knockout STAT1, STAT3 and STAT1 & 3double knockout cell lines.
   • Use CRISPR technology to create target knockout cell line.
   • Direct ISO 9000 4.10 team registration activities and perform internal audits.
   • Prepare stock reagents and buffers for use in manufacturing assay kits.
   • Confirm the quality of product meet specifications according to cGMP and ICH guidelines.

   More associate scientist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the associate scientist job description is a good way to get more applicants. An associate scientist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for an associate scientist in Mississippi may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level associate scientist. Additionally, an associate scientist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average associate scientist salary

   $76,461yearly

   $36.76 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level associate scientist salary

   $53,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 20, 2025

   Average associate scientist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$113,839	$55
   2	New Jersey	$82,166	$40
   3	Connecticut	$81,252	$39
   4	Washington	$80,191	$39
   5	Delaware	$77,660	$37
   6	Indiana	$77,405	$37
   7	Maryland	$77,347	$37
   8	Massachusetts	$76,510	$37
   9	Illinois	$74,853	$36
   10	Oklahoma	$72,118	$35
   11	New York	$71,430	$34
   12	Wisconsin	$70,520	$34
   13	Pennsylvania	$67,450	$32
   14	Colorado	$66,089	$32
   15	North Carolina	$64,597	$31
   16	Iowa	$62,850	$30
   17	Florida	$61,998	$30
   18	Georgia	$60,677	$29
   19	Texas	$56,365	$27
   20	South Carolina	$54,343	$26

   Average associate scientist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Phillips 66	$131,676	$63.31	1
   2	ConocoPhillips	$115,585	$55.57
   3	The Art Institute of Chicago	$110,037	$52.90
   4	10x Genomics	$104,756	$50.36	2
   5	Theranos	$103,441	$49.73	1
   6	Parsons	$102,907	$49.47	34
   7	Genentech	$101,944	$49.01	44
   8	PRO Unlimited	$101,785	$48.94
   9	Koch Industries	$99,583	$47.88
   10	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$98,475	$47.34	108
   11	Brookhaven National Laboratory	$98,347	$47.28
   12	The Kraft Group	$96,035	$46.17
   13	Natera	$95,972	$46.14	25
   14	OMNOVA Solutions	$94,049	$45.22
   15	The Dow Chemical Company	$93,536	$44.97	8
   16	Editas Medicine	$93,248	$44.83
   17	Sony Electronics	$93,230	$44.82	2
   18	Quidel	$93,151	$44.78
   19	Biogen	$92,032	$44.25
   20	Sutro Biopharma	$91,948	$44.21

4. Writing an associate scientist job description

   A job description for an associate scientist role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's an associate scientist job description:

   Associate scientist job description example

   Job DescriptionUSRA is an independent, nonprofit research corporation where the combined efforts of in-house talent and university-based expertise merge to advance space science and technology. USRA works across disciplines including biomedicine, planetary science, astrophysics, and engineering and integrates those competencies into applications ranging from fundamental research to facility management and operations. USRA engages the creativity and authoritative expertise of the research community to develop and deliver sophisticated, forward-looking solutions to Federal agencies and other customers - on schedule and within budget.
   
   USRA’s Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) operates a Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center that conducts strategic multi-disciplinary, integrative research and science that supports NASA’s long-term mission requirements. Research focuses on testing and evaluating emerging quantum hardware, investigations of quantum mechanisms that may be used to provide a quantum advantage, development of new algorithms and software for quantum computing, and application of quantum computing to a range of real-world problems involving planning and scheduling, machine learning, and fault diagnostics. The team works in partnership with a number of organizations from academia, industry and the U.S. Government.
   
   The Interdisciplinary Scientist will develop and examine state-of-the-art quantum and classical machine learning models for Environmental Sustainability and Governance (ESG) applications The scientist will investigate hybrid quantum image-to-image translation methods for satellite images and hybrid quantum physics informed neural networks or similar architectures (e.g. DeepONets, Fourier Neural Operators) for solving direct and inverse problems in ordinary or partial differential equations. They will develop and train machine learning models and perform experiments and analysis using open-satellite data sets leveraging experimental and commercial quantum computing devices and simulators. In addition, they will explore robustness of quantum or quantum-inspired hardware (e.g. Coherent Ising Machines, Digital Annealers) for best practice programming and illuminate inner workings within these algorithms to better understand mechanisms used to provide quantum computational advantage. Example research problems include:
   
   Develop, test, and analyze performance of sampling strategies based on generative and related algorithms.
   
   Development of new analytical, experimental, or numerical techniques to better analyze realistic quantum computational paradigms in ESG applications. Designs of appropriate benchmarking approaches with application related problem sets.
   
   Test applications of quantum or quantum-inspired computing ESG problems in forecasting and uncertainty
   Essential Duties/Responsibilities: Write internal reports describing methods, and summaries of experimental results. Write code that implements algorithms and scripts to run code, collect and analyze data. Perform a variety of duties in support of the research goals and objectives. Perform data analysis, for research projects and maintains databases of scientific information. Conduct research under the direction of a scientist. Assist in the preparation of technical documents and scientific papers. Assist in the development of oral presentations, including preparation of slides. Supervise interns on technical projects. Contribute technical content to research proposals, research publications, technical briefings, training and dissemination actions, and white papers. Other job related duties as assigned. Required Qualifications: 0-2 years in the field of Quantum Physics, Applied Mathematics, or Applied Computer Science. Strong research success contributing and leading publications. Good organizational and communication skills. Strong software development skills and knowledge of relevant generic data science and numeric packages in python as well as in other programming languages, as appropriate. Note that also more senior candidates will be considered and the position could be escalated up to Senior Scientist. Education: Ph.D. in Physics, Computer Science, Computer Engineering or Mathematics. If Ph.D. has not been achieved then an equivalent track record of publications and coding is acceptable. Desired Experience: Experience developing numerical models and algorithms. Experience using AWS cloud computing systems. Experience using HPC systems. Experience designing, running and analyzing algorithms on quantum hardware. Experience building tools that enable effective use of near-term quantum hardware. Experience with optimization and/or machine learning methods. Knowledge, Skills & Abilities: Ability to work independently and effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team. Ability to prioritize tasks, coordinate work of others, and meet multiple deadlines. Technology: Proficiency in Microsoft Office, LaTeX or similar applications. Understanding of the near-term hardware platforms of quantum computing, specifically. superconducting-qubit based chips. Working Conditions: This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, etc. This is largely a sedentary role. Travel: Up to 25% including international travel to London or Singapore. Applicants should apply to the posting at USRA Careers and include a letter of interest, resume, or curriculum vita. Additional information on USRA can be found at www.usra.edu . If you are not vaccinated, please consider getting your COVID-19 vaccination as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please contact your HR Recruiter for further information. USRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer: Minorities / Females / Protected Veterans / Disabled / Sexual Orientation / Gender Identity.

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5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find associate scientists for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your associate scientist job on Zippia to find and recruit associate scientist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with associate scientist candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new associate scientist

   Once you've selected the best associate scientist candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new associate scientist. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire an associate scientist?