Post job

Staff biologist vs staff scientist

The differences between staff biologists and staff scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-8 years to become a staff biologist, becoming a staff scientist takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a staff scientist has an average salary of $93,941, which is higher than the $65,292 average annual salary of a staff biologist.

The top three skills for a staff biologist include FDA, wetland and species act. The most important skills for a staff scientist are data analysis, research projects, and molecular biology.

Staff biologist vs staff scientist overview

Staff BiologistStaff Scientist
Yearly salary$65,292$93,941
Hourly rate$31.39$45.16
Growth rate1%17%
Number of jobs69,516121,054
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 77%Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age4041
Years of experience84

Staff biologist vs staff scientist salary

Staff biologists and staff scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Staff BiologistStaff Scientist
Average salary$65,292$93,941
Salary rangeBetween $45,000 And $93,000Between $63,000 And $137,000
Highest paying CityRahway, NJRedwood City, CA
Highest paying stateAlaskaCalifornia
Best paying companyMerckEtsy
Best paying industryPharmaceuticalTechnology

Differences between staff biologist and staff scientist education

There are a few differences between a staff biologist and a staff scientist in terms of educational background:

Staff BiologistStaff Scientist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 77%Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common majorBiologyChemistry
Most common collegeStanford UniversityDuke University

Staff biologist vs staff scientist demographics

Here are the differences between staff biologists' and staff scientists' demographics:

Staff BiologistStaff Scientist
Average age4041
Gender ratioMale, 52.2% Female, 47.8%Male, 67.8% Female, 32.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 10.3% White, 71.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 26.5% White, 53.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage10%8%

Differences between staff biologist and staff scientist duties and responsibilities

Staff biologist example responsibilities.

  • Manage detailed GLP laboratory manual daily.
  • Navigate to remote project sites using GPS, topo maps, aerial photographs, and GIS layers.
  • Conduct multi-layer GIS analysis for projects.
  • Collect survey measurements using survey grade GPS and laser survey equipment.
  • Full service management to private landowners and their fisheries, water-foul and whitetail deer breeder programs.
  • Develop a working knowledge of ArcPad 8.0, ArcMap GIS 9.3 and operation of Trimble Yuma PDAs.
  • Show more

Staff scientist example responsibilities.

  • Lead efforts to replace a critical radioactive immunoassay with a non-radioactive format to measure clinical samples.
  • Manage clinical sample testing using MSD and ELISA in LIMS, including data review and approval using LIMS.
  • Assist in managing and maintenance of HPLC and Prep-HPLC systems to ensure maximum productivity for the process development group.
  • Manage pediatric dose development project, technology transfer project and alternate API supplier qualification project on budget and on schedule
  • Assist with RNA and DNA extractions from FFPE tissue and blood.
  • Supervise temps performing HPLC assays and validations during development and production campaigns under GMP conditions.
  • Show more

Staff biologist vs staff scientist skills

Common staff biologist skills
  • FDA, 8%
  • Wetland, 8%
  • Species ACT, 8%
  • Molecular Biology, 8%
  • GLP, 7%
  • Water ACT, 6%
Common staff scientist skills
  • Data Analysis, 9%
  • Research Projects, 7%
  • Molecular Biology, 5%
  • Next-Generation Sequencing, 4%
  • Statistical Analysis, 4%
  • RNA, 4%

Browse life, physical, and social science jobs