How to hire a staff scientist

How to hire a staff scientist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step staff scientist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a staff scientist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new staff scientist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a staff scientist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The staff scientist hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a staff scientist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a staff scientist that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of staff scientist salaries for various roles:

   Type of Staff Scientist	Description	Hourly rate
   Staff Scientist	Medical scientists conduct research aimed at improving overall human health. They often use clinical trials and other investigative methods to reach their findings.	$30-65
   Research Fellow	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... Show more	$18-34
   Laboratory Analyst	A Laboratory Analyst helps conduct experiments, run laboratory tests, and analyze results. They compile and record data for the documentation needed for testing and report preparation.	$14-29

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Data Analysis
   • Research Projects
   • Molecular Biology
   • Next-Generation Sequencing
   • Statistical Analysis
   • RNA
   • Cell Culture
   • C++
   • CRISPR
   • Data Collection
   • Flow Cytometry
   • R
   • Project Management
   • Product Development

   Check all skills

   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.

   More staff scientist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the staff scientist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A staff scientist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a staff scientist in Oklahoma may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level staff scientist. Additionally, a staff scientist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average staff scientist salary

   $93,941yearly

   $45.16 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level staff scientist salary

   $63,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 20, 2026

   Average staff scientist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$119,251	$57
   2	Maryland	$101,059	$49
   3	Massachusetts	$89,687	$43
   4	New York	$86,040	$41
   5	Indiana	$85,252	$41
   6	Arizona	$84,932	$41
   7	Virginia	$83,645	$40
   8	Wisconsin	$83,318	$40
   9	Pennsylvania	$81,969	$39
   10	District of Columbia	$78,773	$38
   11	Washington	$76,293	$37
   12	Illinois	$75,670	$36
   13	Tennessee	$74,833	$36
   14	Oregon	$74,814	$36
   15	West Virginia	$65,267	$31
   16	South Dakota	$59,019	$28
   17	Texas	$55,704	$27
   18	Florida	$55,427	$27
   19	Missouri	$53,742	$26
   20	Oklahoma	$52,624	$25

   Average staff scientist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Etsy	$152,064	$73.11	6
   2	Luxim	$148,782	$71.53
   3	Rubrik	$147,602	$70.96
   4	Apple	$145,089	$69.75	74
   5	Walmart	$144,722	$69.58	1,254
   6	venn	$144,315	$69.38
   7	LinkedIn	$142,591	$68.55	16
   8	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory	$136,543	$65.65	25
   9	Los Alamos National Laboratory	$136,282	$65.52	43
   10	Oak Ridge National Laboratory	$135,435	$65.11	32
   11	Jefferson Lab	$135,232	$65.02	12
   12	10x Genomics	$134,666	$64.74	1
   13	Broadcom	$131,953	$63.44	3
   14	Indeed	$131,940	$63.43	1
   15	Kopin	$131,879	$63.40
   16	BP America Inc	$131,447	$63.20	1
   17	Lumileds	$129,250	$62.14
   18	SAS Institute	$128,346	$61.70
   19	ConocoPhillips	$127,311	$61.21
   20	Earthjustice	$123,507	$59.38

4. Writing a staff scientist job description

   A staff scientist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a staff scientist job description:

   Staff scientist job description example

   Our success is reliant on building teams that include people from different backgrounds and experiences who can elevate assumptions and ideas with fresh perspectives. We're dedicated to hiring the whole human, not just a resume. To that end, we look for a diverse pool of applicants-including those from historically marginalized groups. We would like to invite you to apply even if you don't think you meet all of the requirements listed below. We don't want a few lines in a job description to get between us and the opportunity to meet you.
   About the Team
   
   Data is at the core of Outreach's strategy. It drives ourselves and our customers to the highest levels of success. We use it for everything from customer health scores and revenue dashboards, to operational metrics of our AWS infrastructure, to helping increase product engagement and user productivity through natural language understanding, to predictive analytics and causal inference via experimentation. As our customer base continues to grow, we are looking towards new ways of leveraging our data to deeper understand our customers' needs and deliver new products and features to help continuously improve their customer engagement workflows.
   
   The mission of the Data Science team is to enable such continuous optimization by reconstructing customer engagement workflows from data, developing metrics to measure success and efficiency of these workflows, and providing insights and tools to support execution and optimization of these workflows. As a member of the team, you will be on the ground floor working with other Data Scientists, Machine Learning Engineers, and Application Engineers to define and implement our strategy for delivering on this mission.
   
   As an expert in A/B testing, Causal Inference, Reinforcement Learning and Optimization you will be responsible for defining and implementing algorithms and platforms for automated optimization of sales workflows, aka sales playbooks. For most companies, their playbooks are highly suboptimal, defined based on intuition and experience of sales leaders, without much data analysis involved. Your goal will be to change that. You will be a part of a cross-functional team consisting of data scientists, machine learning engineers and application engineers working on transforming static intuition-based sales playbooks into dynamically optimized sales processes. This work will forever revolutionize how sales works.
   Your Daily Adventures Will IncludeDefining metrics to measure effectiveness of sales processes Designing and implementing algorithms to provide A/B testing capabilities for Outreach customers, with the focus on guided user experience for experiment design and analysis of results Developing a system for automated optimization of sales processes, via A/B testing, Reinforcement Learning, or other means Designing recommendation algorithms and user experience to inform initial creation and setup of sales processes for new Outreach customers Serving as an expert in the areas of A/B testing, Causal Inference, Reinforcement Learning, Optimization. Collaborating with and mentoring other data scientists and engineers in these areas.
   Our Vision of YouYou have strong statistical background and practical experience with applying experimentation (A/B testing) in real-world settings. Experience developing A/B testing platforms is a plus.You have practical experience with observational causal inference (e.g., regression adjustment, matching, propensity score stratification), or quasi-experimental methods (e.g., instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, interrupted time series). Knowledge of causal graphical models is a plus.You have a strong background with Reinforcement Learning or Dynamic Programming. Experience with applying Reinforcement Learning in production scenarios is a plus.You have experience working with distributed data processing frameworks such as Spark. Experience with Spark's MLlib, AWS, Databricks, MLFlow are a plus You have strong programming skills in at least one object oriented programming language (Java, Scala, C++, Python, etc.) You understand the entire lifecycle of machine learning product development, from inception to production You are hands on, able to quickly pick up new tools and languages, and excited about building things and experimenting You go above and beyond to help your team You are honest, admit mistakes, and own fixing them You are a motivated and talented craftsperson: always looking to sharpen and adapt your skills You have a MS or PhD degree in Computer Science, Statistics, or a related field, and 5+ years of industry or equivalent experience
   Why You'll Love It Here
   
   • Generous medical, dental, and vision coverage for full-time employees and their dependents
   • Flexible time off
   • 401k to help you save for the future
   • Company-organized and personal paid volunteer days to support the community that supports us
   • Fun company and team outings (or virtual events these days!) because we play just as hard as we work
   • Diversity and inclusion programs that promote employee resource groups like OWN (Outreach Women's Network), AAPI, Rainbow (LGBTQIA+), Gender+, LatinX, Black Excellence, Disability Community, and Veterans
   • A parental leave program that includes not just extended time off but options for a paid night nurse, food delivery, gradual return to work, and the Gottman Institute's Bringing Home Baby course for new parents
   • Employee referral bonuses to encourage the addition of great new people to the team
   • Plus, unlimited snacks and beverages in our kitchen
   • We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find staff scientists for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your staff scientist job on Zippia to find and recruit staff scientist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with staff scientist candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new staff scientist

   Once you've decided on a perfect staff scientist candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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