Senior medical laboratory scientist vs principal scientist

The differences between senior medical laboratory scientists and principal 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 medical laboratory scientist and a principal scientist. Additionally, a principal scientist has an average salary of $119,982, which is higher than the $70,833 average annual salary of a senior medical laboratory scientist.

The top three skills for a senior medical laboratory scientist include ASCP, blood bank and QC. The most important skills for a principal scientist are oncology, data analysis, and drug discovery.

Senior medical laboratory scientist vs principal scientist overview

	Senior Medical Laboratory Scientist	Principal Scientist
Yearly salary	$70,833	$119,982
Hourly rate	$34.05	$57.68
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	117,450	80,899
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

Senior medical laboratory scientist vs principal scientist salary

Senior medical laboratory scientists and principal scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Medical Laboratory Scientist	Principal Scientist
Average salary	$70,833	$119,982
Salary range	Between $47,000 And $105,000	Between $84,000 And $169,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	PayPal
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between senior medical laboratory scientist and principal scientist education

There are a few differences between a senior medical laboratory scientist and a principal scientist in terms of educational background:

	Senior Medical Laboratory Scientist	Principal Scientist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Most common major	Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	Chemistry
Most common college	Duke University	Duke University

Senior medical laboratory scientist vs principal scientist demographics

Here are the differences between senior medical laboratory scientists' and principal scientists' demographics:

	Senior Medical Laboratory Scientist	Principal Scientist
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 52.6% Female, 47.4%	Male, 76.8% Female, 23.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.6% Unknown, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.4% Asian, 27.9% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	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%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between senior medical laboratory scientist and principal scientist duties and responsibilities

Senior medical laboratory scientist example responsibilities.

Attain extensive phlebotomy experience with a challenging pediatric patient population.
Review and analyze daily quality control data and takes the appropriate steps to insure quality results associate with microbiology procedures.
Perform CMV, CMV IgM, CMV IgG, and RPR testing.

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.

Senior medical laboratory scientist vs principal scientist skills

Common senior medical laboratory scientist skills

ASCP, 87%
Blood Bank, 7%
QC, 6%

Common principal scientist skills

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

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Senior Medical Laboratory Scientist
Senior Medical Laboratory Scientist vs Principal Scientist

Updated January 8, 2025

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