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The differences between senior principal scientists and 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 principal scientist and a scientist. Additionally, a senior principal scientist has an average salary of $119,042, which is higher than the $97,344 average annual salary of a scientist.
The top three skills for a senior principal scientist include chemistry, drug discovery and java. The most important skills for a scientist are chemistry, data analysis, and patients.
| Senior Principal Scientist | Scientist | |
| Yearly salary | $119,042 | $97,344 |
| Hourly rate | $57.23 | $46.80 |
| Growth rate | 17% | 17% |
| Number of jobs | 85,334 | 62,467 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A Senior Principal Scientist is focused on providing technical and scientific expertise in a specific field. They conduct quantitative and qualitative research to enhance existing products or develop new ones.
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 principal scientists and scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Principal Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average salary | $119,042 | $97,344 |
| Salary range | Between $83,000 And $169,000 | Between $67,000 And $140,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Redwood City, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Amazon | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior principal scientist and a scientist in terms of educational background:
| Senior Principal Scientist | Scientist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Most common major | Chemistry | Chemistry |
| Most common college | Duke University | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between senior principal scientists' and scientists' demographics:
| Senior Principal Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.3% Female, 19.7% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 26.5% White, 53.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | 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 | 8% | 8% |