Senior Staff Scientist Overview
Working as a Senior Staff Scientist
Senior staff scientists oversee the activities of a scientific project. They may be employed by a private company or the government to lead or manage a team of scientists. Senior staff scientists handle everything from technical and budgetary responsibilities to the day-to-day activities of other scientists.
Depending on the team's size, senior staff scientists may also conduct research, collate data, and test hypotheses. They may also supervise equipment care and clean up. Senior staff scientists perform an experiment or a group of experiments in their area of specialization. These contribute to their life's work and often complement each other.
To be a senior staff scientist, you need years of experience in your chosen field. But first, you'll need a bachelor's and advanced degrees in your specialization. The job also requires skills like observation and critical thinking.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior staff scientist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $56.57 an hour? That's $117,659 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 10,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Senior Staff Scientist Do
There are certain skills that many senior staff scientists 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 observation skills, critical-thinking skills and communication skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior staff scientist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 15.1% of senior staff scientists included r, while 10.6% of resumes included phd, and 10.3% 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 staff scientist job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior staff scientists actually find jobs in the technology and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Senior Staff Scientist
If you're interested in becoming a senior staff scientist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 20.1% of senior staff scientists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 19.6% of senior staff scientists have master's degrees. Even though most senior staff scientists have a college degree, it's impossible 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 staff scientist. When we researched the most common majors for a senior staff scientist, we found that they most commonly earn doctoral degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior staff scientist resumes include master's degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior staff scientist. In fact, many senior staff scientist jobs require experience in a role such as staff scientist. Meanwhile, many senior staff scientists also have previous career experience in roles such as senior scientist or research assistant.
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Senior Staff Scientist Jobs
Senior Staff Scientist 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 principal scientist you might progress to a role such as director eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title vice president product development.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Senior Staff Scientist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Vanderbilt University Senior Staff Scientist Senior Staff Scientist | Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University | 07/10/2019 07/10/2019 | $61,00007/10/2019 $61,000 |
Ashland Specialty Ingredients GP. Senior Staff Scientist Senior Staff Scientist | Ashland Specialty Ingredients GP. Ashland Specialty Ingredients GP. | 06/14/2019 06/14/2019 | $112,94406/14/2019 $112,944 |
Ashland Specialty Ingredients GP. Senior Staff Scientist Senior Staff Scientist | Ashland Specialty Ingredients GP. Ashland Specialty Ingredients GP. | 06/14/2019 06/14/2019 | $112,94406/14/2019 $112,944 |
The New York Stem Cell Foundation, Inc. Senior Staff Scientist Senior Staff Scientist | The New York Stem Cell Foundation, Inc. The New York Stem Cell Foundation, Inc. | 06/05/2019 06/05/2019 | $75,00006/05/2019 $75,000 |
Bey Senior Staff Scientist Senior Staff Scientist | Bey Bey | 06/05/2019 06/05/2019 | $220,00006/05/2019 $220,000 |
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Top Colleges for Senior Staff Scientists
1. Duke University
Durham, NC
2. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
3. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
4. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI
5. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY
6. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
8. Yale University
New Haven, CT
9. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
10. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Entry Level Jobs For Becoming A Senior Staff Scientist
Top Skills For a Senior Staff Scientist
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, 15.1% of senior staff scientists listed r on their resume, but soft skills such as observation skills and critical-thinking skills are important as well.
- R, 16.0%
- Data Analysis, 13.2%
- PHD, 12.2%
- FDA, 5.9%
- Regulatory Submissions, 4.7%
- Other Skills, 48.0% See All Senior Staff Scientist Skills
Best States For a Senior Staff Scientist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior staff scientist. The best states for people in this position are Nevada, California, Maine, and Connecticut. Senior staff scientists make the most in Nevada with an average salary of $141,570. Whereas in California and Maine, they would average $140,053 and $131,194, respectively. While senior staff scientists would only make an average of $129,717 in Connecticut, 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. California
$140,054
Avg. Salary
2. Connecticut
$129,717
Avg. Salary
3. Pennsylvania
$122,933
Avg. Salary
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