Principal scientist vs principal investigator

The differences between principal scientists and principal investigators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a principal scientist and a principal investigator. Additionally, a principal scientist has an average salary of $119,982, which is higher than the $84,635 average annual salary of a principal investigator.

The top three skills for a principal scientist include oncology, data analysis and drug discovery. The most important skills for a principal investigator are patients, data collection, and project management.

Principal scientist vs principal investigator overview

	Principal Scientist	Principal Investigator
Yearly salary	$119,982	$84,635
Hourly rate	$57.68	$40.69
Growth rate	17%	5%
Number of jobs	80,899	44,475
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Average age	41	47
Years of experience	4	4

What does a principal scientist do?

A Principal Scientist is focused on leading scientific teams and conducting research. They ensure that their teams have the resources to properly perform research tasks.

What does a principal investigator do?

A Principal Investigator is the primary person who is responsible for designing, conducting, and reporting a research project. They report to a designated official such as the department head or division chief.

Principal scientist vs principal investigator salary

Principal scientists and principal investigators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Principal Scientist	Principal Investigator
Average salary	$119,982	$84,635
Salary range	Between $84,000 And $169,000	Between $59,000 And $120,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	PayPal	Incyte
Best paying industry	Finance	Technology

Differences between principal scientist and principal investigator education

There are a few differences between a principal scientist and a principal investigator in terms of educational background:

	Principal Scientist	Principal Investigator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Most common major	Chemistry	Psychology
Most common college	Duke University	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Principal scientist vs principal investigator demographics

Here are the differences between principal scientists' and principal investigators' demographics:

	Principal Scientist	Principal Investigator
Average age	41	47
Gender ratio	Male, 76.8% Female, 23.2%	Male, 52.2% Female, 47.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 26.4% White, 53.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 4.3% White, 66.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	8%	16%

Differences between principal scientist and principal investigator duties and responsibilities

Principal scientist example responsibilities.

Manage pediatric dose development project, technology transfer project and alternate API supplier qualification project on budget and on schedule
Provide development of and line support for assign immunoassay reagents, calibrators and controls.
Transfer controls to manufacturing for product launch and include all require studies, testing and documentation under GMP guidelines.
Maintain several lab documents for ISO certification.
Understand drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics and design stable molecules.
Image visualization and manipulation of background plates for animation and post-processing.

Principal investigator example responsibilities.

Serve chemistry project leads for two early-stage drug discovery projects.
Design, build and manage CADD, NMR and MRI facilities.
Attain IRB approval, recruit participants, analyze the data and present results
Manage outsource projects, and interact with vendors for API sourcing, and device components base on project needs.
Conduct research using industry standards: GCP, GLP, SORP and compliance with IRB.
Receive IRB approval and clearance for research

Principal scientist vs principal investigator skills

Common principal scientist skills

Oncology, 7%
Data Analysis, 6%
Drug Discovery, 5%
GMP, 3%
Experimental Design, 3%
Clinical Trials, 3%

Common principal investigator skills

Patients, 10%
Data Collection, 9%
Project Management, 8%
Technical Reports, 6%
FDA, 4%
Data Analysis, 4%

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Principal Scientist vs Principal Investigator

Updated January 8, 2025

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