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Senior staff scientist vs research fellow

The differences between senior staff scientists and research fellows 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 staff scientist and a research fellow. Additionally, a senior staff scientist has an average salary of $123,740, which is higher than the $53,823 average annual salary of a research fellow.

The top three skills for a senior staff scientist include data analysis, FDA and next-generation sequencing. The most important skills for a research fellow are patients, research projects, and data analysis.

Senior staff scientist vs research fellow overview

Senior Staff ScientistResearch Fellow
Yearly salary$123,740$53,823
Hourly rate$59.49$25.88
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs113,26559,746
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 59%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age4141
Years of experience44

What does a senior staff scientist do?

A Senior Staff Scientist is responsible for supervising projects and activities of a company. They manage the technical, budgetary, and scheduling aspects of scientific research projects.

What does a research fellow do?

A research fellow is an academic researcher who conducts research and analysis of comprehensive literature, data, and results and provides literature reviews. He/She supervises research assistants and recruits study participants to interview them for a particular study. To become a research fellow, a candidate should have a doctorate in a relevant discipline and publish peer-reviewed papers. Also, a research fellow can be an independent investigator or be supervised by a principal investigator.

Senior staff scientist vs research fellow salary

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

Senior Staff ScientistResearch Fellow
Average salary$123,740$53,823
Salary rangeBetween $86,000 And $177,000Between $39,000 And $72,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASouth San Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaHawaii
Best paying companyAirbnbMcKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industryTechnologyNon Profits

Differences between senior staff scientist and research fellow education

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

Senior Staff ScientistResearch Fellow
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 59%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common majorChemistryChemistry
Most common collegeDuke UniversityDuke University

Senior staff scientist vs research fellow demographics

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

Senior Staff ScientistResearch Fellow
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 74.7% Female, 25.3%Male, 55.3% Female, 44.7%
Race ratioBlack 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, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 27.1% White, 52.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between senior staff scientist and research fellow duties and responsibilities

Senior staff scientist example responsibilities.

  • Manage pediatric dose development project, technology transfer project and alternate API supplier qualification project on budget and on schedule
  • Conduct research and analyze data to identify potential biomarkers and provide input for selection of candidates for non-clinical studies development.
  • Establish methods for OTFT parameters extraction, physics-base device modeling, and circuit elements simulation.
  • Interpret metabolism data and review reports to support strategies forward thinking with a specialization in drug metabolism and metabolic enzymes.

Research fellow example responsibilities.

  • Collaborate with software engineers to automate identification of 15N- and 13C- labele LC-MS features.
  • Process and manage GIS databases to contribute towards research in human transportation behavior.
  • Manage investigator initiate and cooperative group correlative studies to identify biomarkers to ascertain tumor burden and clinical outcomes in lymphoma.
  • Analyze quantitative and qualitative data through statistical software SAS and SPSS.
  • Conduct sampling, PCR, data analysis and oral presentations of the work
  • Implement python and C++ codes for numerical computation of transport properties in models and materials.
  • Show more

Senior staff scientist vs research fellow skills

Common senior staff scientist skills
  • Data Analysis, 10%
  • FDA, 7%
  • Next-Generation Sequencing, 6%
  • Statistical Analysis, 5%
  • Regulatory Submissions, 5%
  • PK, 5%
Common research fellow skills
  • Patients, 10%
  • Research Projects, 6%
  • Data Analysis, 5%
  • Cell Culture, 5%
  • Immunology, 4%
  • CRISPR, 4%

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