A Look at Salary Data for Research Scientists in Biotechnology
Posted March 3rd, 2015
The website Payscale is a great resource to use for researching salary information based on career field and geographic location. Both hiring managers and job seekers can use it to better align their offers/expectations with the real world. Today we’ve decided to dive into the salary data for research scientists in biotechnology and explore what it reveals about the state of employment in this field in 2015.
The Basics
First of all, the data reported is based on a survey of 1,463 scientists working in the field. While that number is not gigantic, it is large enough to be significant and revealing.
The median salary of the respondents was $75,492, with the lowest reported salary being $44,963 and the highest being $110,393. Many of these scientists also received some sort of bonus or other monetary benefit, but these did not have a huge impact on total pay.
The two best cities to be working in were Boston and San Francisco which respectively offered salaries 16 percent and 12 percent higher than the national average.
The Advanced
The Payscale data also revealed some interesting and probably unexpected insights about the career trajectory for research scientists in biotechnology.
For instance, the median salary for entry-level professionals with less than five years of experience was $72,000 (just slightly less than the national median) but for late career professionals with 20+ years of experience it rose to only $89,000. The number of respondents from each of the two groups also reveals a huge disparity. What this suggests is that most of these professionals move into other positions with different titles, and that companies aren’t willing to pay a premium for experience.
That seems to be the case when you look at salary data for related professions. Research scientists from inside and outside biotechnology, and in both entry-level and senior positions, all have roughly the same salary range. It’s only when these professionals make the leap to chief scientific officer that salaries really climb to the next level.
Following the common career path is also revealing. We already pointed out that few professionals stick with this role for more than a decade. The vast majority move into some kind of project management position, basically trading in their research responsibilities for leadership responsibilities.
The Observations
Based on this data, it would appear that research scientists in biotechnology face a similar dilemma to many in the field of science: Turning the skills that got you into the field into the skills that will earn you more money and responsibility as your career progresses.
To produce that difficult evolution takes careful and proactive career planning. If you are looking for your first job, a new job, or a promotion, there are resources that can help you get what you want faster. Contact the career experts at Bayside Solutions and learn how to take control of your future.
