Senior Research Specialist Overview
Senior Research Specialist Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior research specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.29 an hour? That's $54,686 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 20% and produce 139,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Senior Research Specialist Do
There are certain skills that many senior research specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, detail oriented and communication skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior research specialist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 15.4% of senior research specialists included research projects, while 10.9% of resumes included data collection, and 7.1% of resumes included data analysis. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the senior research specialist job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior research specialists actually find jobs in the finance and education industries.
How To Become a Senior Research Specialist
If you're interested in becoming a senior research specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 31.1% of senior research specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 31.4% of senior research specialists have master's degrees. Even though most senior research specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior research specialist. When we researched the most common majors for a senior research specialist, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior research specialist resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior research specialist. In fact, many senior research specialist jobs require experience in a role such as research assistant. Meanwhile, many senior research specialists also have previous career experience in roles such as research specialist or research associate.
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Senior Research Specialist Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of senior scientist you might progress to a role such as manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title service manager.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Senior Research Specialist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Invitae Senior Research Quality Analytics Specialist Senior Research Quality Analytics Specialist | Invitae Invitae | 03/31/2021 03/31/2021 | $129,00003/31/2021 $129,000 |
State of Oklahoma Statistical Research Spec. III, SR. Undergraduate Statistical Research Spec. III, SR. Undergraduate | State of Oklahoma State of Oklahoma | 03/24/2021 03/24/2021 | $34,42003/24/2021 $34,420 |
Johns Hopkins University SR. Research Specialist SR. Research Specialist | Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University | 03/03/2021 03/03/2021 | $45,19503/03/2021 $45,195 |
Johns Hopkins University SR. Research Specialist SR. Research Specialist | Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $45,19501/29/2021 $45,195 |
University of Michigan Research Area Specialist Senior Research Area Specialist Senior | University of Michigan University of Michigan | 01/21/2021 01/21/2021 | $66,32201/21/2021 $66,322 |
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Top Colleges for Senior Research Specialists
1. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Public
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI • Public
4. University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD • Public
5. Ball State University
Muncie, IN • Public
6. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
7. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Public
8. University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE • Public
9. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
10. Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN • Public
Top Skills For a Senior Research Specialist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 15.4% of senior research specialists listed research projects on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and detail oriented are important as well.
- Research Projects, 15.4%
- Data Collection, 10.9%
- Data Analysis, 7.1%
- Laboratory Equipment, 4.4%
- Cell Culture, 3.8%
- Other Skills, 58.4% See All Senior Research Specialist Skills
Best States For a Senior Research Specialist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior research specialist. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Alaska, Delaware, and California. Senior research specialists make the most in Washington with an average salary of $88,028. Whereas in Alaska and Delaware, they would average $87,485 and $84,304, respectively. While senior research specialists would only make an average of $80,915 in California, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$86,822
Avg. Salary
2. Delaware
$84,304
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$80,028
Avg. Salary
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