Side-by-side distribution
Chief of Staff
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.8%
- Live roles
- 284
Research Scientist
$219,375
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 53.5%
- Live roles
- 389
Highest-paying jobs
Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
Sr. Staff Program Manager & Chief of Staff, Operations
Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff (Executive Office) and VP of Strategy & Operations
Chief of Staff to the CEO
Chief of Staff to the COO & GM of Marketplace
Chief of Staff Director, Product
Chief of Staff, Product
Chief of Staff, CEO
Highest-paying jobs
Research Scientist, Interpretability
Research Scientist, Takeoff Intel
Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Pre-training
Research Engineer / Research Scientist - Personal AGI, Personality and Model Behavior
Research Engineer/Research Scientist - Personal AGI, North Stars
Research Engineer / Research Scientist- Personal AGI (Post Training)
Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Personal AGI-Model Experience
Research Engineer / Research Scientist -Personal AGI, Proactivity
Research Engineer / Research Scientist, Tokens
Staff / Principal Research Scientist - USA
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Flex
|
$301,500 | 2 |
|
Checkr
|
$282,250 | 2 |
Sonatus
|
$244,000 | 2 |
Nuro
|
$231,520 | 2 |
EliseAI
|
$212,500 | 2 |
Coursera
|
$212,040 | 2 |
Coursera Sourcing
|
$212,040 | 2 |
CHAOS Industries
|
$198,750 | 2 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anthropic
|
$412,045 | 12 |
Anduril Industries
|
$206,250 | 10 |
Astera Institute
|
$225,000 | 7 |
|
OpenAI
|
$425,000 | 6 |
| SA Scale AI | $243,000 | 6 |
Waabi
|
$212,750 | 6 |
|
Nuro
|
$229,900 | 5 |
World Labs
|
$300,000 | 4 |
Chief of Staff salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $300,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $220,000 | 19 |
| New York | $200,000 | 34 |
| Los Angeles | $192,500 | 4 |
| Toronto | $128,342 | 3 |
Research Scientist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $291,650 | 11 |
| Boston | $275,000 | 8 |
| San Francisco | $271,250 | 68 |
| New York | $246,500 | 40 |
| Toronto | $212,000 | 8 |
| London | $204,149 | 10 |
| Los Angeles | $80,000 | 3 |
Chief of Staff vs Research Scientist: which pays more?
The median for Chief of Staff is $200,000 per year (typically $161,250–$232,725), versus $219,375 for Research Scientist ($174,975–$275,000). That puts Research Scientist about 10% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Chief of Staff and Research Scientist are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.