Biologist (General)
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Biologist studies plant and animal life and conducts research in one of many specialized areas. May observe and study different types of animals or plants and their habitats or ecosystems, or study cell biology or microorganisms, or research questions relating to human biology and health.
Job Outlook
There were 99 Biologist (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 6705 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Biologist industry, which includes the Biologist (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Biologist (General) 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 $102,733.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $81,102.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Biologist (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $77,887.
Education and Experience
Posted Biologist (General) 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 | 53.35% |
| Master's Degree | 41.28% |
| Doctoral Degree | 48.72% |
| Other | 2.57% |
Posted Biologist (General) 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 | 38.01% |
| 3 to 5 years | 38.47% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.37% |
| 9+ years | 10.15% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Biologist (General) 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 (76.88%)
- Communication (41.31%)
- Writing (21.82%)
- Presentations (20.89%)
- Innovation (19.84%)
- Detail Oriented (19.08%)
- Management (18.55%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (17.45%)
- Problem Solving (17.09%)
- Operations (15.14%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Project Management (8.85%)
- Molecular Biology (44.2%)
- Biology (74.26%)
- Cell Cultures (23.69%)
- Cell Biology (32.56%)
- Biochemical Assays (30.94%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Mammalian Cell Cultures (7.65%)
- Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (14.62%)
- Statistics (7.51%)
- Research Experiences (9.41%)
- Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reactions (11.37%)
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (14.42%)
- Pharmaceuticals (12.79%)
- Microbiology (12.34%)
- Machine Learning (7.2%)
- Python (Programming Language) (8.9%)
- Western Blot (10.27%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (7.34%)
- Genetics (12.23%)
- Genomics (7.85%)
- R (Programming Language) (10.41%)
- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent (ELISA) Assay (12.45%)
- Drug Discovery (13.25%)
- Experimental Design (8.7%)
- Flow Cytometry (12%)
- Data Collection (7.37%)
- Data Management (5.06%)
- Computational Biology (8.42%)
- Immunology (15.61%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (7.5%)
- Automation (7.8%)
- DNA Sequencing (7.26%)
- Biochemistry (35.13%)
- Bioinformatics (9.67%)
- Biotechnology (13.85%)
- Biopharmaceuticals (15.55%)
- Data Analysis (26.84%)
- Antibodies (8.13%)
- Chemistry (19.29%)
- Geographic Information Systems (0.37%)
- Workflow Management (9.08%)
- Laboratory Equipment (8.31%)
- Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) (6.92%)
- Statistical Analysis (5.04%)
- Laboratory Experience (10.19%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Structural Biology (3.95%)
- Systems Biology (4.44%)
- GraphPad Prism (3.75%)
- Transfection (4.7%)
- Molecular Cloning (4.38%)
- Protein Expression (4.92%)
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.
- Protein Expression (11.37%)
- Cell Cultures (54.74%)
- Molecular Cloning (10.12%)
- Transfection (10.87%)
- GraphPad Prism (8.66%)
- Project Management (20.46%)
- Systems Biology (10.26%)
- Structural Biology (9.12%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Biologist (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Biological Scientist
- Scientist
- Research Scientist
- Research Associate
- Associate Scientist
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Molecular Biologist
- Principal Scientist
- Molecular Biology Research Assistant
- Operations Biological Scientist
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.
- Molecular Biologist
- Assay Development Scientist
- Cell Biologist
- Biochemist
- Biological Technician
- Infectious Disease Scientist
- Medical Research Scientist
- Research Associate (General)
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Biologist (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- State of Florida (216)
- Merck & Co. (167)
- AbbVie (131)
- Gilead Sciences (106)
- Bausch Health (106)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (101)
- University of Pennsylvania (98)
- University of Florida (84)
- Eurofins (82)
- Pfizer (75)
North Carolina
- Atrium Health (11)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (10)
- North Carolina State University (7)
- University of North Carolina (5)
- Greenlight Biosciences (3)
- Wake Forest (3)
- University of Florida (3)
- Piper Companies (3)
- U.S Environmental Protection Agency (2)
- TRC Companies (2)
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.