Side-by-side distribution
Research Scientist
$179,075
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 49.9%
- Live roles
- 823
Researcher
$110,142
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.9%
- Live roles
- 3,307
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Pre-training
Research Scientist, Interpretability
Principal Research Scientist, Robot Foundation Model
[Expression of Interest] Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment - London
Research Scientist, APEX Benchmarks
Research Engineer / Research Scientist -Personal AGI, Proactivity
Research Engineer / Research Scientist - Personal AGI, Memory
Research Engineer / Research Scientist - Personal AGI, Personalization
Research Scientist
Research Engineer/Research Scientist- Personal AGI, Model Experience
Highest-paying jobs
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Research Fellow
Researcher, Training
Researcher, Training - London
Vice President, Quantitative Researcher, Infrastructure & Real Assets
Researcher, Alignment Interpretability
Researcher, Frontier Risk Mitigations
Researcher, Robustness & Safety Training
Researcher, Multimodal Safety
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
The University of Texas at Austin
|
$55,000 | 16 |
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
|
$155,300 | 15 |
|
OpenAI
|
$440,000 | 14 |
MSD
|
$245,550 | 13 |
| SA Scale AI | $244,350 | 12 |
Anduril Industries
|
$221,000 | 12 |
|
Anthropic
|
$388,750 | 10 |
Astera Institute
|
$173,750 | 10 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
The University of Texas at Austin
|
$47,500 | 39 |
| NU Northeastern University | $72,754 | 34 |
| WC Worldwide Clinical Trials | $145,000 | 28 |
IQVIA
|
$128,250 | 27 |
ICON plc
|
$124,335 | 26 |
USC
|
$71,892 | 25 |
| MG Mass General Brigham | $70,875 | 21 |
| BN Brookhaven National Laboratory | $81,175 | 18 |
Research Scientist vs Researcher: which pays more?
The median for Research Scientist is $179,075 per year (typically $120,640–$245,550), versus $110,142 for Researcher ($74,500–$175,000). That puts Research Scientist about 63% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Research Scientist and Researcher 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.