What does a human factors scientist do?

Updated January 8, 2025

8 min read

A human factors scientist conducts analysis and research on human behavior. Depending on which industry they are in, they analyze human behavior relevant settings and apply that data. They also review technical data and scientific literature. They may serve as a technical consultant on some scientific boards or committees in the behavioral science field. They develop new methods and techniques to solve existential problems.

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Human factors scientist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real human factors scientist resumes:

Develop and manage third party claim investigations and contractor remedial oversight for various insurance companies.
Recommend revision to policies in the handling and documentation of the FDA regulate investigational products.
Research methods include surveys, questionnaires, laboratory experiments, usability testing, task analyses, prototyping, and human-in-the-loop simulations.
Work with external vendor to ensure quality changes to GUI used by CSRs and agents.
Project manager for environmental assessments, geotechnical soils inspection, and materials testing contracts.

Human factors scientist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 16% of Human Factors Scientists are proficient in Human Subjects, Consumer Products, and Data Collection. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Listening skills, and Math skills.

We break down the percentage of Human Factors Scientists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

Human Subjects, 16%
Coordinated and administered data collection from human subjects for four research efforts.
Consumer Products, 8%
Analyze adult and child behavior and decision making with consumer products.
Data Collection, 7%
Managed data collection for a joint research project on vigilance between Exxon and NASA-Langley for the Abnormal Situation Management consortium.
Statistical Analysis, 7%
Characterized commercial blood DNA extraction protocols, assay component performance and manufacturing process variation using DOE methodology and statistical analysis.
User Experience, 7%
Developed quality standards for user experience documentation.
Data Analysis, 6%
Conducted research, data analysis, database implementation, and management of historical records for numerous projects directly improving corporate efficiency.

"human subjects," "consumer products," and "data collection" are among the most common skills that human factors scientists use at work. You can find even more human factors scientist responsibilities below, including:

Creativity. One of the key soft skills for a human factors scientist to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what human factors scientists do because "industrial engineers use creativity and ingenuity to design new production processes in many kinds of settings in order to reduce the use of material resources, time, or labor while accomplishing the same goal." Additionally, a human factors scientist resume shows how human factors scientists use creativity: "provided oversight for purchase and inventory of study equipment and supplies. "

Listening skills. Many human factors scientist duties rely on listening skills. "these engineers often operate in teams, but they also must solicit feedback from customers, vendors, and production staff," so a human factors scientist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways human factors scientist responsibilities rely on listening skills: "planned and effectively communicated research goals and objective to junior scientific staff for the timely completion of research projects. "

Math skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of human factors scientists is math skills. This skill is critical to many everyday human factors scientist duties, as "industrial engineers use the principles of calculus, trigonometry, and other advanced topics in mathematics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting in their work." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "formulated design rationales based on qualitative and quantitative findings from usability studies. "

Problem-solving skills. For certain human factors scientist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "problem-solving skills." The day-to-day duties of a human factors scientist rely on this skill, as "in designing facilities for manufacturing and processes for providing services, these engineers deal with several issues at once, from workers’ safety to quality assurance." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what human factors scientists do: "formulate and recommend unique solutions to complex problems that would help bring protocols into human subjects' protection regulatory compliance. "

Speaking skills. A commonly-found skill in human factors scientist job descriptions, "speaking skills" is essential to what human factors scientists do. Human factors scientist responsibilities rely on this skill because "industrial engineers sometimes have to explain their instructions to production staff or technicians before they can make written instructions available." You can also see how human factors scientist duties rely on speaking skills in this resume example: "conducted usability testing using the same decision support information mentioned above, but presented in a re-designed user interface. "

Writing skills. While "writing skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to human factors scientist responsibilities. Much of what a human factors scientist does relies on this skill, seeing as "industrial engineers must prepare documentation for other engineers or scientists, or for future reference." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of human factors scientists: "collected soil and groundwater samples supervised monitoring well installations responsible for writing and submitting reports"

All human factors scientist skills

The three companies that hire the most human factors scientists are:

Compare different human factors scientists

Human factors scientist vs. President ergonomic consulting

A scientist is responsible for researching and analyzing the nature and complexities of the physical world to identify discoveries that would improve people's lives and ignite scientific knowledge for society. Scientists' duties differ in their different areas of expertise, but all of them must have a broad comprehension of scientific disciplines and methods to support their experiments and investigations. They collect the sample for their research, record findings, create research proposals, and release publications. A scientist must know how to utilize laboratory equipment to support the study and drive results efficiently and accurately.

We looked at the average human factors scientist salary and compared it with the wages of a president ergonomic consulting. Generally speaking, president ergonomic consultings are paid $51,606 higher than human factors scientists per year.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both human factors scientist and president ergonomic consulting positions are skilled in data collection, data analysis, and fda.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a human factors scientist are more likely to require skills like "human subjects," "consumer products," "statistical analysis," and "user experience." On the other hand, a job as a president ergonomic consulting requires skills like "english language," "financial services," "project management," and "organizational development." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

President ergonomic consultings tend to reach similar levels of education than human factors scientists. In fact, president ergonomic consultings are 1.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 5.7% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Learn more about human factors scientists vs scientists.

Human factors scientist vs. Usability specialist

The primary role of a Staff Scientist is to develop and manage scientific research projects with minimal supervision. They are also responsible for the technical and budgetary aspects of scientific research projects.

On average, usability specialists earn a $1,467 lower salary than human factors scientists a year.A few skills overlap for human factors scientists and usability specialists. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "statistical analysis," "user experience," and "user interface. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, human factors scientist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "human subjects," "consumer products," "data collection," and "data analysis." Meanwhile, a usability specialist has duties that require skills in areas such as "web application," "usability studies," "design principles," and "interaction design." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

Average education levels between the two professions vary. Usability specialists tend to reach higher levels of education than human factors scientists. In fact, they're 5.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 5.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Learn more about human factors scientists vs staff scientists.

Human factors scientist vs. Scientist

An average scientist eans a higher salary compared to the average salary of human factors scientists. The difference in salaries amounts to scientists earning a $9,624 higher average salary than human factors scientists.human factors scientists and scientists both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "data collection," "statistical analysis," and "data analysis," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a human factors scientist is likely to be skilled in "human subjects," "consumer products," "user experience," and "irb," while a typical scientist is skilled in "chemistry," "patients," "molecular biology," and "cell culture."

Scientists typically earn similar educational levels compared to human factors scientists. Specifically, they're 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 7.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Human factors scientist vs. Staff scientist

Staff scientists typically earn higher pay than human factors scientists. On average, staff scientists earn a $6,221 higher salary per year.While both human factors scientists and staff scientists complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like data collection, statistical analysis, and data analysis, the two careers vary in some skills.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A human factors scientist uses "human subjects," "consumer products," "user experience," and "irb." Staff scientists are more likely to have duties that require skills in "molecular biology," "next-generation sequencing," "rna," and "cell culture. "The average resume of staff scientists showed that they earn lower levels of education compared to human factors scientists. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 8.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 14.7%.

Types of human factors scientist

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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