Computational Biologist

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Computational Biologist uses biological data to develop models to better understand biological systems. Conducts analysis using computational and mathematical methods and large data sets.

Job Outlook

There were 39 Computational Biologist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2674 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Biologist industry, which includes the Computational Biologist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Computational Biologist jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $117,447.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $85,564.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Computational Biologist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $83,788.

Education and Experience

Posted Computational Biologist jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	21.09%
Master's Degree	27.3%
Doctoral Degree	77.86%
Other	1.12%

Posted Computational Biologist jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	31.88%
3 to 5 years	43.69%
6 to 8 years	12.63%
9+ years	11.8%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Computational Biologist positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Research (80.37%)
Communication (40.5%)
Innovation (23.56%)
Writing (17.5%)
Mentorship (17.02%)
Presentations (16.94%)
Leadership (15.63%)
Mathematics (13.13%)
Problem Solving (12.64%)
Self-Motivation (12.49%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Biology (58.93%)
Python (Programming Language) (54.82%)
Computational Biology (57.4%)
Bioinformatics (52%)
R (Programming Language) (47.35%)
Data Analysis (38.52%)
Genomics (29.01%)
Machine Learning (46.02%)
Computer Science (41.53%)
Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (23.49%)
Molecular Biology (24.44%)
Genetics (24.67%)
Proteomics (17.4%)
Statistics (21.93%)
Epigenetics (7.46%)
Systems Biology (11.8%)
Cancer Genomics (3.73%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

DNA Sequencing (10.62%)
Data Science (18.84%)
Next-Generation Sequencing (8.64%)
Artificial Intelligence (28.47%)
Cancer Biology (10.7%)
Algorithms (16.79%)
Immunology (20.56%)
Postdoctoral Research (8.49%)
Workflow Management (15.38%)
Biomarkers (14.47%)
Linux (10.28%)
Cell Biology (13.32%)
Drug Development (6.89%)
Biostatistics (13.29%)
Oncology (13.74%)
Drug Discovery (14.92%)
Cell Cultures (3.69%)
Biochemistry (11.31%)
Project Management (4.95%)
Deep Learning (13.89%)
Physics (9.17%)
Genome Editing (4.23%)
Neuroscience (10.77%)
C++ (Programming Language) (7.77%)
Programming Languages (11.5%)
Command-Line Interface (1.48%)
Research Experiences (9.29%)
Software Development (6.93%)
MATLAB (6.97%)
Scientific Writing (2.17%)
Biochemical Assays (8.45%)
MRNAs (0.53%)
Laboratory Techniques (1.26%)
Biotechnology (10.35%)
Governance Risk Management And Compliance (0.11%)
Software Engineering (6.59%)
Scripting (7.16%)
Cloud Computing (7.19%)
Unix (5.71%)
Splicing (0.15%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

RNA Splicing (0.04%)
Transduction (0.11%)
Functional Genomics (5.94%)
Computational Genomics (3.46%)
Genome-Wide Association Study (2.06%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Disease Biology (9.75%)
Computational Biology (94.25%)
Protein Structures (6.25%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Computational Biologist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Postdoctoral Fellow
Computational Scientist
Postdoctoral Associate
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Principal Scientist
Postdoctoral Researcher
Research Scientist
Biotechnician

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Computational Biologist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Merck & Co. (99)
Genentech (89)
Broad Institute (54)
Bristol-Myers Squibb (51)
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (41)
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (38)
Beacon Hill Staffing Group (38)
MD Anderson Cancer Center (36)
Harvard University (32)
University of Chicago (32)

North Carolina

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (10)
University of North Carolina Wilmington (7)
University of North Carolina (5)
North Carolina State University (2)
Eurofins (1)
TeMPus (1)
Atrium Health (1)
Agricultural Research Service (1)
United States Department of Agriculture (1)
Trucking People (1)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Science and Research