How to hire an information scientist

How to hire an information scientist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step information 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 information scientist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new information scientist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an information scientist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring an information scientist, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   An information scientist's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, information scientists from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   The following list breaks down different types of information scientists and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Information Scientist	Description	Hourly rate
   Information Scientist	Computer and information research scientists invent and design new approaches to computing technology and find innovative uses for existing technology. They study and solve complex problems in computing for business, medicine, science, and other fields.	$26-73
   Research And Development Internship	When it comes to Research and Development Internship, the duties will vary according to the organization or company. Most of the time, the responsibilities will revolve around observing the industry, taking part in the research and analysis, lend a helping hand in experiments and surveys, explore theories and attempt to create a model of out it, present findings for evaluation, and develop more innovative designs and systems... Show more	$14-22
   Scientist	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... Show more	$32-67

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Data Analysis
   • Literature Searches
   • R
   • Clinical Data
   • FDA
   • Pharmaceutical Industry
   • Technical Reports
   • Competitive Intelligence
   • Sops
   • Data Entry
   • Visualization
   • Clinical Trials
   • User Acceptance
   • Internal Stakeholders

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage pediatric dose development project, technology transfer project and alternate API supplier qualification project on budget and on schedule
   • Improve copyright compliance process for regulatory submissions ahead of FDA eCTD requirement for electronic submissions.
   • Participate in FDA and in-house QA/QC audits.
   • Provide support relating to EDG metadata content and ingest, including maintenance and update of PERL ingest scripts.
   • Maintain and modify all Perl ingest scripts used in support of the web-based interface for EDG metadata submission.
   • Evaluate emerging technologies to enhance capabilities for cross repository search, knowledge discovery, data mining and visualization.

   More information scientist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your information scientist job description helps attract top candidates to the position. An information scientist salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for an information scientist in Kansas may be lower than in Oregon, and an entry-level information scientist usually earns less than a senior-level information scientist. Additionally, an information scientist with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average information scientist salary

   $92,789yearly

   $44.61 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level information scientist salary

   $56,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 19, 2025

   Average information scientist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$106,067	$51
   2	Oregon	$105,303	$51
   3	Washington	$99,951	$48
   4	New Jersey	$91,681	$44
   5	Massachusetts	$91,663	$44
   6	New York	$90,104	$43
   7	Virginia	$85,395	$41
   8	Pennsylvania	$82,297	$40
   9	North Carolina	$81,883	$39
   10	District of Columbia	$80,227	$39
   11	Maryland	$76,763	$37
   12	New Mexico	$76,310	$37
   13	Tennessee	$75,995	$37
   14	Texas	$74,574	$36
   15	Illinois	$69,985	$34
   16	Missouri	$68,730	$33
   17	Wisconsin	$66,249	$32
   18	Indiana	$66,241	$32
   19	Colorado	$63,819	$31
   20	Georgia	$63,086	$30

   Average information scientist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	eBay	$144,714	$69.57	5
   2	Google	$138,514	$66.59	443
   3	Intel	$133,729	$64.29	5
   4	Pandora	$130,664	$62.82
   5	Goldman Sachs	$129,050	$62.04
   6	Benefitfocus	$128,046	$61.56
   7	Yahoo	$127,815	$61.45
   8	Nuance Communications	$120,941	$58.14
   9	Amazon	$120,493	$57.93	962
   10	Sarnoff	$119,786	$57.59
   11	McAfee	$118,453	$56.95
   12	Booz Allen Hamilton	$118,422	$56.93	126
   13	Bank of America	$117,222	$56.36	35
   14	Amgen	$113,076	$54.36	55
   15	DuPont	$112,551	$54.11	5
   16	Regeneron	$112,297	$53.99	43
   17	General Electric	$112,074	$53.88	84
   18	Teradata	$111,986	$53.84	49
   19	Telcordia Technologies	$111,548	$53.63
   20	Brookhaven National Laboratory	$110,508	$53.13

4. Writing an information scientist job description

   An information scientist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of an information scientist job description:

   Information scientist job description example

   + Perform literature searches relating to veterinary subject matters and animal welfare, using appropriate medical and veterinary terminology, concepts, and MeSH/Emtree indexing
   
   + Advise researchers on 3Rs concepts and promote animal welfare resources, such as the USDA Animal Welfare Information Center and NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare
   
   + Stay current on regulations affecting animal research, particularly the animal welfare literature search requirements of the Animal Welfare Act
   + Lead small scale projects and initiatives within Research Coordination as assigned
   
   + Responsible for other administrative tasks as assigned
   
   Qualifications and Education Requirements:
   
   + Bachelor's Degree, with major study in a basic or applied science
   
   + OR equivalent combination of education with research, training, or laboratory operations experience (such as an Associate's Degree in Veterinary Technology or specialty certification or experience in laboratory animal sciences)
   
   Preferred Skills:
   
   + Experience with electronic databases, scientific literature searching, and reporting search results.
   
   + Preferred: experience with searching using the Ovid platform
   
   + Knowledge and understanding of regulations affecting animal research and animal welfare in laboratory animals.
   
   + Preferred: completed "Meeting the Requirements of the Animal Welfare Act" training
   
   + Strong customer service skills.
   
   + Ability to work well in a team and independently, as needed.
   
   + Experience with Microsoft Office suite and online meeting applications
   
   \#P2
   
   **You should know:** Your safety matters! Vaccination against COVID-19 may be a requirement for this job in compliance with current client and governmental policies. A Kelly recruiter will confirm and share more details with you during the interview process.
   
   **Why Kelly** ** ** **Science & Clinical?**
   
   Kelly Science & Clinical is your connection to premier scientific and clinical companies looking to hire industry experts just like you. Our team creates expert talent solutions to solve the world's most critical challenges. Every day, we match science professionals with dream jobs that fit their skills, interests, and career goals-it's the way we think job searching should be. Nearly 100 percent of our science recruiters have a professional background and education in science, so we know a thing or two about the science market and how to get your expertise noticed.
   
   **About Kelly** ** **
   
   At Kelly, we're always thinking about what's next and advising job seekers on new ways of working to reach their full potential. In fact, we're a leading advocate for temporary/nontraditional workstyles, because we believe they allow flexibility and tremendous growth opportunities that enable a better way to work and live (plus, did we mention we provide a ton of benefits ?). Connecting great people with great companies is what we do best, and our employment opportunities span a wide variety of workstyles, skill levels, and industries around the world.
   
   Kelly Services is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We welcome, value, and embrace diversity at all levels and are committed to building a team that is inclusive of a variety of backgrounds, communities, perspectives, and abilities. At Kelly, we believe that the more inclusive we are, the better services we can provide. Requests for accommodation related to our application process can be directed to Kelly's Human Resource Knowledge Center.
   Kelly complies with the requirements of California's state and local Fair Chance laws. A conviction does not automatically bar individuals from employment.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right information scientist for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your information scientist job on Zippia to find and attract quality information scientist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting information scientists requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   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.

   If your interviews with information scientist applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   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 information scientist

   Once you've found the information scientist candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new information 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 information scientist?