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 40 Computational Biologist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2590 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 $105,139.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $105,139.
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 $77,221.
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 | 19.88% |
| Master's Degree | 26.41% |
| Doctoral Degree | 77.95% |
| Other | 2.59% |
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 | 30.54% |
| 3 to 5 years | 47.43% |
| 6 to 8 years | 11.74% |
| 9+ years | 10.29% |
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 (79.15%)
- Communication (40.42%)
- Innovation (21.89%)
- Presentations (17.72%)
- Writing (17.57%)
- Mentorship (16.95%)
- Leadership (14.09%)
- Mathematics (13.67%)
- Interpersonal Communications (11.97%)
- Self-Motivation (11.85%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Artificial Intelligence (23.71%)
- Data Analysis (35.98%)
- Biology (59.06%)
- Computational Biology (56.04%)
- Computer Science (37.71%)
- Bioinformatics (50.14%)
- R (Programming Language) (45.03%)
- Genetics (23.79%)
- Python (Programming Language) (53.83%)
- Machine Learning (41.05%)
- Genomics (28%)
- Systems Biology (11.48%)
- Statistics (21.75%)
- Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (24.22%)
- Data Science (18.48%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Laboratory Experience (3.22%)
- Statistical Analysis (6.41%)
- Cancer Biology (10.58%)
- Computational Tools (7.43%)
- Biomarkers (13.06%)
- Cell Biology (13.13%)
- Applied Mathematics (6.21%)
- DNA Sequencing (11.48%)
- Bash (Scripting Language) (2.63%)
- Workflow Management (13.61%)
- Molecular Biology (22.73%)
- Biophysics (4.48%)
- Git (Version Control System) (8.22%)
- Proteomics (15.57%)
- Phenotyping (7.24%)
- C (Programming Language) (5.03%)
- Small Molecules (1.65%)
- Algorithms (19.11%)
- Biochemistry (11.09%)
- Java (Programming Language) (4.21%)
- Biostatistics (12.39%)
- Automation (2.91%)
- Amazon Web Services (4.72%)
- Immunology (19.23%)
- Cloud Computing (6.69%)
- Version Control (4.25%)
- Biotechnology (9.99%)
- Unix (6.33%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (7.12%)
- Chemistry (6.61%)
- Data Processing (4.64%)
- Image Analysis (4.48%)
- Data Integration (4.68%)
- Data Visualization (4.17%)
- Clinical Trials (6.37%)
- Pathology (4.68%)
- Linux (11.44%)
- Life Sciences (4.6%)
- Oncology (13.06%)
- Drug Development (5.78%)
- Github (3.42%)
- Functional Genomics (5.66%)
- Whole Genome Sequencing (4.8%)
- Drug Discovery (13.72%)
- Neuroscience (10.58%)
- Physics (9.01%)
- Scalability (4.6%)
- TensorFlow (7.75%)
- Postdoctoral Research (8.45%)
- Project Management (4.4%)
- Pharmaceuticals (7.83%)
- Informatics (4.09%)
- Software Engineering (7.39%)
- Research Experiences (9.24%)
- Deep Learning (14.16%)
- Large Language Modeling (2.16%)
- PyTorch (Machine Learning Library) (9.04%)
- Next-Generation Sequencing (9.59%)
- Programming Languages (12.54%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Cancer Genomics (3.38%)
- Chromatin (2.63%)
- Genome-Wide Association Study (2.63%)
- Computational Genomics (3.11%)
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.
- Computational Biology (98.75%)
- Computational Genomics (5.47%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Computational Biologist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Postdoctoral Associate
- Computational Scientist
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Principal Scientist
- Doctoral Research Fellow
- Bioinformatics Intern
- Research Fellow
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.
- Bioinformatician
- Research Scientist
- Biologist (General)
- Data Scientist
- Research Associate (General)
- Molecular Biologist
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. (106)
- Genentech (80)
- Broad Institute (58)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (51)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (49)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb (45)
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (43)
- Beacon Hill Staffing Group (37)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (30)
- TeMPus (28)
North Carolina
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (9)
- University of North Carolina (4)
- TeMPus (3)
- Duke University (3)
- University of North Carolina Wilmington (2)
- North Carolina State University (2)
- Ramona Optics (2)
- Atrium Health Floyd (1)
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte (1)
- Grail (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.