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The differences between senior staff 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 staff scientist and a scientist. Additionally, a senior staff scientist has an average salary of $123,740, which is higher than the $97,344 average annual salary of a scientist.
The top three skills for a senior staff scientist include data analysis, FDA and next-generation sequencing. The most important skills for a scientist are chemistry, data analysis, and patients.
| Senior Staff Scientist | Scientist | |
| Yearly salary | $123,740 | $97,344 |
| Hourly rate | $59.49 | $46.80 |
| Growth rate | 17% | 17% |
| Number of jobs | 113,265 | 62,467 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
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.
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 staff scientists and scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Staff Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average salary | $123,740 | $97,344 |
| Salary range | Between $86,000 And $177,000 | Between $67,000 And $140,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Redwood City, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Airbnb | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior staff scientist and a scientist in terms of educational background:
| Senior Staff Scientist | Scientist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Most common major | Chemistry | Chemistry |
| Most common college | Duke University | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between senior staff scientists' and scientists' demographics:
| Senior Staff Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 74.7% Female, 25.3% | 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% |