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 20 Computational Biologist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 1193 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 2015:
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 $115,880.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $115,880.
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 $85,920.
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 | 0.67% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 23.97% |
| Master's Degree | 33.19% |
| Doctoral Degree | 66.3% |
| Other | 1.17% |
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 | 30.26% |
| 3 to 5 years | 38.41% |
| 6 to 8 years | 20.6% |
| 9+ years | 10.73% |
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 (72%)
- Communication (41.99%)
- Innovation (27.41%)
- Presentations (21.88%)
- Leadership (18.36%)
- Writing (16.43%)
- Self-Motivation (13.91%)
- Mathematics (11.74%)
- Mentorship (10.56%)
- Management (10.31%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Biology (65.06%)
- Computer Science (45.67%)
- Bioinformatics (60.95%)
- Genomics (39.05%)
- Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (29.85%)
- R (Programming Language) (54.78%)
- Molecular Biology (22.25%)
- Python (Programming Language) (63.27%)
- Computational Biology (84.18%)
- Machine Learning (41.29%)
- Data Analysis (40.75%)
- Algorithms (24.13%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Biological Systems (6.7%)
- Informatics (8.49%)
- Systems Biology (15.64%)
- MATLAB (8.22%)
- New Product Development (4.29%)
- Github (5.99%)
- Next-Generation Sequencing (14.57%)
- Proteomics (19.57%)
- Physics (12.15%)
- Biophysics (7.42%)
- Statistical Methods (11.35%)
- Unsupervised Learning (3.4%)
- Software Development (13.23%)
- Linux (15.46%)
- Version Control (5.81%)
- Deep Learning (15.37%)
- Genetics (24.04%)
- Data Integration (9.2%)
- Software Engineering (11.35%)
- Drug Discovery (14.12%)
- Research Experiences (9.38%)
- Unix (10.19%)
- PyTorch (Machine Learning Library) (10.81%)
- Cell Biology (11.08%)
- Biomarkers (17.07%)
- Statistical Analysis (8.85%)
- High Performance Computing (7.77%)
- TensorFlow (10.28%)
- Git (Version Control System) (8.58%)
- Biotechnology (7.6%)
- Machine Learning Methods (9.92%)
- Oncology (16.89%)
- Mathematical Modeling (2.95%)
- DNA Sequencing (17.25%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (11.62%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (5%)
- Workflow Management (12.33%)
- Statistics (12.33%)
- Epigenetics (9.65%)
- Drug Development (5.81%)
- Biostatistics (16.8%)
- Biochemistry (10.63%)
- Computational Tools (8.67%)
- Cancer Biology (11.62%)
- Scripting (8.49%)
- Java (Programming Language) (7.6%)
- C (Programming Language) (7.69%)
- Data Visualization (7.77%)
- Bash (Scripting Language) (2.95%)
- Amazon Web Services (6.97%)
- Scientific Literature (5.63%)
- Life Sciences (7.6%)
- Immunology (12.87%)
- Data Management (6.61%)
- Biochemical Assays (9.56%)
- Docker (Software) (3.22%)
- Artificial Intelligence (14.57%)
- Data Science (22.07%)
- Perl (Programming Language) (6.52%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Genome-Wide Association Study (4.02%)
- Computational Genomics (2.5%)
- SAMtools (1.07%)
- Biological Database (0.98%)
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.
- Computer Science (48.07%)
- Computational Biology (88.62%)
- R (Programming Language) (57.67%)
- Machine Learning (43.46%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Computational Biologist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Principal Scientist
- Postdoctoral Associate
- Computational Scientist
- Scientist
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Staff Scientist
- Molecular Biology Intern
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
- Bioinformatics Engineer
- Computer Scientist
- Research Scientist
- Biologist (General)
- Biomedical Scientist
- Data Scientist
- Research Associate (General)
- Statistician
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
- Genentech (123)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (42)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (33)
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (24)
- Mass General Brigham (22)
- UT Southwestern Medical Center (21)
- Broad Institute (21)
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (19)
- Freenome (17)
- Oregon Health & Science University (17)
North Carolina
- North Carolina State University (5)
- National Institutes of Health (3)
- UCB (2)
- University of North Carolina (1)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (1)
- AbbVie (1)
- Agricultural Research Service (1)
- Duke University (1)
- Oak Ridge Associated Universities (1)
- Flagship Biosciences (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.