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The differences between senior environmental scientists and scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a senior environmental scientist, becoming a scientist takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a scientist has an average salary of $97,344, which is higher than the $82,812 average annual salary of a senior environmental scientist.
The top three skills for a senior environmental scientist include environmental compliance, oversight and project management. The most important skills for a scientist are chemistry, data analysis, and patients.
| Senior Environmental Scientist | Scientist | |
| Yearly salary | $82,812 | $97,344 |
| Hourly rate | $39.81 | $46.80 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 17% |
| Number of jobs | 56,184 | 62,467 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Average age | 39 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
A senior environmental scientist specializes in conducting studies to identify environmental problems and develop solutions to improve its condition. The daily responsibilities of a senior environmental scientist often depend on their place of employment. Still, they typically include performing research and analysis, conducting observations and interviews, gathering samples, preparing documentation, and spearheading laboratory experiments and procedures. Through their research findings, they must produce reports and presentations along with appropriate recommendations. Furthermore, as a senior scientist, it is essential to lead and serve as a mentor to junior scientists while enforcing the company's policies and regulations.
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. They collect the sample for their research, record findings, create research proposals, and release publications. A scientist must know how to utilize laboratory equipment to support the study and drive results efficiently and accurately.
Senior environmental scientists and scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Environmental Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average salary | $82,812 | $97,344 |
| Salary range | Between $60,000 And $113,000 | Between $67,000 And $140,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Redwood City, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Technip USA Corporation | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior environmental scientist and a scientist in terms of educational background:
| Senior Environmental Scientist | Scientist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Most common major | Environmental Science | Chemistry |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between senior environmental scientists' and scientists' demographics:
| Senior Environmental Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average age | 39 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.4% Female, 30.6% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 6.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 81.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 26.3% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 16% | 8% |