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 13 Computational Biologist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 886 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 $127,339.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $127,339.
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 $96,306.
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 | 23.14% |
| Master's Degree | 33.3% |
| Doctoral Degree | 68.51% |
| Other | 5.42% |
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 | 26.02% |
| 3 to 5 years | 46.43% |
| 6 to 8 years | 18.88% |
| 9+ years | 8.67% |
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 (77.2%)
- Communication (45.6%)
- Innovation (33.3%)
- Presentations (26.86%)
- Leadership (18.96%)
- Writing (14.22%)
- Mentorship (14.11%)
- Management (13.32%)
- Self-Motivation (12.87%)
- Problem Solving (12.3%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Workflow Management (14.37%)
- Algorithms (27.71%)
- Data Analysis (41.97%)
- Bioinformatics (68.33%)
- Biology (69.12%)
- Computer Science (43.78%)
- Computational Biology (84.73%)
- Genomics (33.82%)
- Machine Learning (47.06%)
- Statistics (28.39%)
- Drug Discovery (16.74%)
- R (Programming Language) (54.64%)
- Python (Programming Language) (64.14%)
- Data Science (22.4%)
- Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (26.81%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Computational Tools (10.63%)
- Cancer Biology (10.07%)
- Proteomics (19.91%)
- Biomarkers (16.52%)
- Statistical Analysis (9.28%)
- Phenotyping (5.09%)
- Applied Mathematics (7.92%)
- DNA Sequencing (14.37%)
- Git (Version Control System) (13.57%)
- Biostatistics (16.06%)
- Bash (Scripting Language) (2.04%)
- Biophysics (4.07%)
- Computer Simulation (3.39%)
- Molecular Biology (19.8%)
- Immunology (14.59%)
- Cloud Computing (5.32%)
- Computational Chemistry (6.79%)
- Image Analysis (9.5%)
- Data Processing (4.41%)
- Linux (15.84%)
- Data Visualization (6.11%)
- Experimentation (3.05%)
- Genetics (21.83%)
- Systems Biology (14.37%)
- Scalability (4.98%)
- Automation (5.43%)
- Cell Biology (10.63%)
- Machine Learning Algorithms (8.6%)
- Artificial Intelligence (22.29%)
- Amazon Web Services (7.13%)
- Java (Programming Language) (5.77%)
- Chemistry (7.35%)
- Biochemistry (8.14%)
- Management Of Cancer (2.94%)
- Physics (8.03%)
- Software Development (8.48%)
- Research Experiences (9.73%)
- Biotechnology (8.6%)
- Unix (7.13%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (8.71%)
- Postdoctoral Research (6.33%)
- Pharmaceuticals (7.47%)
- Data Warehousing (7.35%)
- Informatics (4.19%)
- Github (5.2%)
- Whole Genome Sequencing (3.85%)
- Gene Expression (3.73%)
- Deep Learning (17.99%)
- Data Integration (7.69%)
- Docker (Software) (4.07%)
- Next-Generation Sequencing (12.56%)
- PyTorch (Machine Learning Library) (15.05%)
- Project Management (4.41%)
- Life Sciences (7.92%)
- TensorFlow (13.8%)
- Oncology (16.97%)
- Statistical Methods (7.47%)
- Scientific Literature (4.98%)
- Software Engineering (10.52%)
- Disease Biology (6.45%)
- Structural Biology (3.96%)
- High Performance Computing (8.14%)
- Programming Languages (17.99%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Dendritic Cell (2.71%)
- Genome-Wide Association Study (4.07%)
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 (90.13%)
- Drug Discovery (17.81%)
- Python (Programming Language) (68.23%)
- Data Science (23.83%)
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 Research Fellow
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Summer Intern
- Associate Professor of Biology
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
- Research Scientist
- Computer Scientist
- Data Scientist
- Biomedical Scientist
- Biologist (General)
- Research Associate (General)
- Computational Chemist
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 (105)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (46)
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (22)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (20)
- Oregon Health & Science University (16)
- UT Southwestern Medical Center (15)
- University of California (15)
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (14)
- Recursion (11)
- Johnson & Johnson (11)
North Carolina
- University of North Carolina (3)
- TeMPus (1)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (1)
- Agricultural Research Service (1)
- National Institutes of Health (1)
- United States Department of Agriculture (1)
- Trucking People (1)
- Arganteal Corporation (1)
- Oak Ridge Associated Universities (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.