How to hire a principal research scientist

How to hire a principal research scientist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step principal research scientist hiring guide:

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

What does a principal research scientist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the principal research scientist you need to hire. Certain principal research scientist roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   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 principal research 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.

   This list presents principal research scientist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Principal Research Scientist	Description	Hourly rate
   Principal Research Scientist	Medical scientists conduct research aimed at improving overall human health. They often use clinical trials and other investigative methods to reach their findings.	$41-88
   Chemist	Chemists are generally responsible for observing and investigating chemical substances to create new and safe compounds essential for practical applications. They are often grouped depending on a particular area of specialization to focus and understand the complexities of the matter... Show more	$22-43
   Laboratory Analyst	A Laboratory Analyst helps conduct experiments, run laboratory tests, and analyze results. They compile and record data for the documentation needed for testing and report preparation.	$14-29

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Research Projects
   • Principal Research
   • Data Analysis
   • Project Management
   • Drug Discovery
   • Clinical Trials
   • Clinical Development
   • Product Development
   • R
   • Biomarkers
   • Visualization
   • Statistical Analysis
   • Early Development
   • Regulatory Submissions

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Coordinate and lead participation in NMR scientific projects.
   • Lead a team to develop Java modules to display protein sequences and structures.
   • Manage the departmental DNA sequencing facility.
   • Forge and manage collaborative relationships with DoD and academia.
   • Manage stability coordination activities for market drug products in accordance to company and ICH guidelines.
   • Manage pediatric dose development project, technology transfer project and alternate API supplier qualification project on budget and on schedule

   More principal research scientist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the principal research scientist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A principal research 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 a principal research scientist in Kentucky may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level principal research scientist. Additionally, a principal research scientist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average principal research scientist salary

   $127,191yearly

   $61.15 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level principal research scientist salary

   $87,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 21, 2025

   Average principal research scientist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$166,488	$80
   2	Washington	$125,938	$61
   3	Oregon	$122,901	$59
   4	Minnesota	$112,853	$54
   5	Pennsylvania	$112,054	$54
   6	Indiana	$111,908	$54
   7	Massachusetts	$111,607	$54
   8	Florida	$107,930	$52
   9	Virginia	$104,100	$50
   10	Vermont	$103,457	$50
   11	Illinois	$102,927	$49
   12	Maryland	$99,021	$48
   13	New York	$97,847	$47
   14	Colorado	$96,285	$46
   15	Texas	$95,686	$46
   16	Michigan	$91,417	$44
   17	Ohio	$86,121	$41
   18	Georgia	$74,555	$36
   19	Iowa	$67,486	$32

   Average principal research scientist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Google	$196,546	$94.49	239
   2	ByteDance	$188,233	$90.50	7
   3	Houzz	$179,562	$86.33	1
   4	NVIDIA	$178,218	$85.68	95
   5	Palo Alto Networks	$174,295	$83.80	147
   6	Microsoft	$169,621	$81.55	843
   7	Adobe	$164,622	$79.15	73
   8	Yahoo	$160,507	$77.17
   9	Riot Games	$158,245	$76.08	10
   10	HowStuffWorks	$151,926	$73.04	2
   11	Crunchyroll	$151,608	$72.89	3
   12	Tencent	$151,425	$72.80	20
   13	Allergan plc	$149,265	$71.76
   14	Nike	$147,022	$70.68	22
   15	Amazon	$147,020	$70.68	1,130
   16	Vertex Pharmaceuticals	$146,314	$70.34	17
   17	Nokia	$145,837	$70.11	32
   18	Chewy	$144,158	$69.31	1
   19	FireEye	$144,056	$69.26
   20	Hitachi U.S.A.	$142,169	$68.35	19

4. Writing a principal research scientist job description

   A good principal research scientist job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a principal research scientist job description:

   Principal research scientist job description example

   • Requires 8 to 10 years with BS/BA or 6 to 8 years with MS/MA or 3 to 5 years with PhD.

   • Strong digital signal processing skills and RF domain knowledge

   • Familiarity with common software defined radio platforms (e.g. Ettus USRPs) and software (e.g. GNU Radio) is beneficial.

   • Expertise with modern machine learning development frameworks (e.g. Keras, TensorFlow, PyTorch) is expected.

   • Must work well collaboratively and individually.

   • Strong written and spoken communications/presentation skills
   • US Citizen with an active TS/SCI clearance w/ Poly

   Peraton Labs generates transformative applied research to fuel solutions for our customers unique challenges. We are a self-sustaining research center within Peraton that provides applied research and engineering to enable government agencies, utilities and commercial enterprises to fully exploit the future of communications, analytics and cyber security.

   #LI-MS5

   Peraton Overview

   Peraton drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world's leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted and highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies that keep people safe and secure. Peraton serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, civilian, health, and state and local markets. Every day, our employees do the can't be done, solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers.

   An Equal Opportunity Employer including Disability/Veteran.

   For Colorado Residents Colorado Salary Minimum: $82,617.60
   Colorado Salary Maximum:$176,612.80
   
   The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position, and is just one component of Peraton's total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. In addition, Peraton provides a variety of benefits to employees.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find principal research 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 principal research scientist job on Zippia to find and recruit principal research scientist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit principal research scientists, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you 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 principal research scientist

   Once you've selected the best principal research 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 principal research 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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