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Senior associate scientist vs assistant research scientist

The differences between senior associate scientists and assistant research scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior associate scientist, becoming an assistant research scientist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior associate scientist has an average salary of $90,208, which is higher than the $62,780 average annual salary of an assistant research scientist.

The top three skills for a senior associate scientist include data analysis, chemistry and cell culture. The most important skills for an assistant research scientist are research projects, data collection, and data analysis.

Senior associate scientist vs assistant research scientist overview

Senior Associate ScientistAssistant Research Scientist
Yearly salary$90,208$62,780
Hourly rate$43.37$30.18
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs47,74288,786
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age4138
Years of experience42

What does a senior associate scientist do?

A Senior Associate Scientist supervises the work of associate scientists. They manage the design and implementation process of a research project, which includes analyzing information for that project.

What does an assistant research scientist do?

An Assistant Research Scientist assists in planning, conducting, and analyzing various research projects. They also order and manage lab inventory, materials, and equipment.

Senior associate scientist vs assistant research scientist salary

Senior associate scientists and assistant research scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Associate ScientistAssistant Research Scientist
Average salary$90,208$62,780
Salary rangeBetween $57,000 And $141,000Between $43,000 And $89,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaMassachusetts
Best paying companyWorkdayUniversity of California
Best paying industryHealth CareEducation

Differences between senior associate scientist and assistant research scientist education

There are a few differences between a senior associate scientist and an assistant research scientist in terms of educational background:

Senior Associate ScientistAssistant Research Scientist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common majorChemistryBiology
Most common collegeUniversity of Southern CaliforniaHarvard University

Senior associate scientist vs assistant research scientist demographics

Here are the differences between senior associate scientists' and assistant research scientists' demographics:

Senior Associate ScientistAssistant Research Scientist
Average age4138
Gender ratioMale, 52.7% Female, 47.3%Male, 55.6% Female, 44.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 25.8% White, 53.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% Asian, 16.7% White, 52.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between senior associate scientist and assistant research scientist duties and responsibilities

Senior associate scientist example responsibilities.

  • Collaborate with automation engineers to automate creation of sequencing templates and to automate emulsion PCR reaction setup.
  • Manage study protocols and study conduct, intimately involve in the toxicology and pharmacokinetic study protocol development process.
  • Develop and validate quantitative HPLC and LC/MS methods for the measurement of parent drug and their metabolites according to GLP guidelines.
  • Optimize binding ELISA for use during phage screening.
  • Optimize procedures to extract RNA from bone taken from surgical procedures.
  • Culture primary (rat) and stem cell-derive neurons and extract RNA.
  • Show more

Assistant research scientist example responsibilities.

  • Lead a group of four employees in optimizing DNA purification technologies for production DNA sequencing.
  • Evaluate patients' study eligibility via medical history, obtain informed consent, enroll patients, and achieve enrollment quotas.
  • Experience in SAS programming in biomedical research.
  • Prepare salivary samples for Cortisol ELISA assays.
  • Gather and code quantitative and qualitative data using SPSS and Atlas.ti.
  • Standardize assays to elucidate the mechanism of action of lead molecules.
  • Show more

Senior associate scientist vs assistant research scientist skills

Common senior associate scientist skills
  • Data Analysis, 8%
  • Chemistry, 7%
  • Cell Culture, 5%
  • CRISPR, 5%
  • Flow Cytometry, 4%
  • Oncology, 4%
Common assistant research scientist skills
  • Research Projects, 8%
  • Data Collection, 7%
  • Data Analysis, 6%
  • Lab Equipment, 4%
  • Cell Culture, 4%
  • Chemistry, 4%

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