Research scientist lead vs doctoral fellow

The differences between research scientist leads and doctoral fellows can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a research scientist lead and a doctoral fellow. Additionally, a research scientist lead has an average salary of $102,713, which is higher than the $53,366 average annual salary of a doctoral fellow.

The top three skills for a research scientist lead include research projects, R and artificial intelligence. The most important skills for a doctoral fellow are patients, cell culture, and data analysis.

Research scientist lead vs doctoral fellow overview

	Research Scientist Lead	Doctoral Fellow
Yearly salary	$102,713	$53,366
Hourly rate	$49.38	$25.66
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	86,792	22,661
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Doctoral Degree, 46%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

Research scientist lead vs doctoral fellow salary

Research scientist leads and doctoral fellows have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Research Scientist Lead	Doctoral Fellow
Average salary	$102,713	$53,366
Salary range	Between $68,000 And $155,000	Between $39,000 And $72,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Hawaii
Best paying company	Google	IBM
Best paying industry	Professional	Pharmaceutical

Differences between research scientist lead and doctoral fellow education

There are a few differences between a research scientist lead and a doctoral fellow in terms of educational background:

	Research Scientist Lead	Doctoral Fellow
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Doctoral Degree, 46%
Most common major	Chemistry	Chemistry
Most common college	Duke University	Duke University

Research scientist lead vs doctoral fellow demographics

Here are the differences between research scientist leads' and doctoral fellows' demographics:

	Research Scientist Lead	Doctoral Fellow
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 68.8% Female, 31.2%	Male, 55.3% Female, 44.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.4% 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, 6.1% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 32.9% White, 47.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between research scientist lead and doctoral fellow duties and responsibilities

Research scientist lead example responsibilities.

Manage pediatric dose development project, technology transfer project and alternate API supplier qualification project on budget and on schedule
Develop, validate and implement robust methods for pharmacokinetic, immunogenicity (ADA) and immunodepletion ELISAs, and cell based-bioassays.
Develop, validate and implement robust methods for pharmacokinetic, immunogenicity (ADA) and immunodepletion ELISAs, and cell based-bioassays.

Doctoral fellow example responsibilities.

Lead the in-vitro biophysical and biochemical characterization of homologous recombination and investigate structure-function effects of mutant enzymes.
Attend courses in drug discovery, python programming, and next-generation sequencing analyses.
Coordinate the validation of data aquisition algorithms (C++, python) for all real and simulate data.
Conduct custom synthesis of organic molecules, key intermediates and building blocks for medicinal chemistry applications.
Design PCL/PLCL drug delivery system for DC immunotherapy.
Succeed in using CRISPR to genetically correct diseas iPSCs.

Research scientist lead vs doctoral fellow skills

Common research scientist lead skills

Research Projects, 18%
R, 8%
Artificial Intelligence, 8%
Data Analysis, 8%
Statistical Analysis, 6%
Business Development, 5%

Common doctoral fellow skills

Patients, 8%
Cell Culture, 6%
Data Analysis, 5%
Research Projects, 5%
Cell Biology, 5%
Immunology, 5%

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Research Scientist Lead
Research Scientist Lead vs Doctoral Fellow

Updated January 8, 2025

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