Senior formulation scientist vs staff scientist

The differences between senior formulation scientists and staff scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior formulation scientist and a staff scientist. Additionally, a senior formulation scientist has an average salary of $102,574, which is higher than the $93,941 average annual salary of a staff scientist.

The top three skills for a senior formulation scientist include dosage forms, scale-up and formulation development. The most important skills for a staff scientist are data analysis, research projects, and molecular biology.

Senior formulation scientist vs staff scientist overview

	Senior Formulation Scientist	Staff Scientist
Yearly salary	$102,574	$93,941
Hourly rate	$49.31	$45.16
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	48,668	121,054
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

What does a senior formulation scientist do?

As a senior formulation scientist, your main aim is to have clinical trials as well as to conduct some tests to compare the reaction of potential customers to that of your previous formulations. You need to design pre-formulation studies. By doing this, you can understand the formulation of different types of medical trials performed. You also need to assist in the pharmaceutical formulation to form a great report for the company.

The main skills which are required to become a senior formulation scientist are observational as well as critical thinking skills. You need to have proper report-making skills so that you can research and analyze the data from your formulations and then condense them into important medical documents. You should be able to communicate clearly to your team members so that they can help and assist you in the formulations as well as develop different ideas.

What does a staff scientist do?

The primary role of a Staff Scientist is to develop and manage scientific research projects with minimal supervision. They are also responsible for the technical and budgetary aspects of scientific research projects.

Senior formulation scientist vs staff scientist salary

Senior formulation scientists and staff scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Formulation Scientist	Staff Scientist
Average salary	$102,574	$93,941
Salary range	Between $74,000 And $141,000	Between $63,000 And $137,000
Highest paying City	South San Francisco, CA	Redwood City, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Exelixis	Etsy
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	Technology

Differences between senior formulation scientist and staff scientist education

There are a few differences between a senior formulation scientist and a staff scientist in terms of educational background:

	Senior Formulation Scientist	Staff Scientist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Pharmacy	Chemistry
Most common college	Duke University	Duke University

Senior formulation scientist vs staff scientist demographics

Here are the differences between senior formulation scientists' and staff scientists' demographics:

	Senior Formulation Scientist	Staff Scientist
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 81.2% Female, 18.8%	Male, 67.8% Female, 32.2%
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, 6.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 26.5% White, 53.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between senior formulation scientist and staff scientist duties and responsibilities

Senior formulation scientist example responsibilities.

Identify 10 leads with IC50 o MOA study reveal non-genomic effect though PPAR.
Forge and manage collaborative relationships with DoD and academia.
Manufacture of supplies for animal bio-studies and GMP supplies for clinical trials.
Provide scale-up and tech transfer support to commercial manufacturing facilities through process validation and subsequent manufacturing activities.
Generate monthly GMP reports and schedule of GMP training for scientists.
Lead feather keratin peptides for cosmetic, leather tanning, bio-adhesive application.

Staff scientist example responsibilities.

Lead efforts to replace a critical radioactive immunoassay with a non-radioactive format to measure clinical samples.
Manage clinical sample testing using MSD and ELISA in LIMS, including data review and approval using LIMS.
Assist in managing and maintenance of HPLC and Prep-HPLC systems to ensure maximum productivity for the process development group.
Manage pediatric dose development project, technology transfer project and alternate API supplier qualification project on budget and on schedule
Assist with RNA and DNA extractions from FFPE tissue and blood.
Supervise temps performing HPLC assays and validations during development and production campaigns under GMP conditions.

Senior formulation scientist vs staff scientist skills

Common senior formulation scientist skills

Dosage Forms, 15%
Scale-Up, 10%
Formulation Development, 10%
GMP, 7%
CMC, 4%
Data Analysis, 4%

Common staff scientist skills

Data Analysis, 9%
Research Projects, 7%
Molecular Biology, 5%
Next-Generation Sequencing, 4%
Statistical Analysis, 4%
RNA, 4%

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Senior Formulation Scientist
Senior Formulation Scientist vs Staff Scientist

Updated January 8, 2025

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