Computer Scientist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Computer Scientist conducts research and studies complex problems in computing. Develops computer algorithms that provide the foundation for advances in technology. May study computer hardware architecture, robotics or software, and collaborate with electrical engineers and other computer professionals.
Job Outlook
There were 100 Computer Scientist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 6619 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Computer Scientist industry, which includes the Computer Scientist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Computer Scientist 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 $119,812.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $95,071.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Computer Scientist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $85,187.
Education and Experience
Posted Computer Scientist 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 | 4.67% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 47.12% |
| Master's Degree | 38.27% |
| Doctoral Degree | 43.38% |
| Other | 2.76% |
Posted Computer Scientist 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 | 31.49% |
| 3 to 5 years | 39.33% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.63% |
| 9+ years | 15.54% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Computer Scientist 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 (57.26%)
- Communication (30.2%)
- Mathematics (23.86%)
- Writing (18.69%)
- Innovation (18.57%)
- Management (16.62%)
- Problem Solving (14.67%)
- Operations (12.43%)
- Leadership (11.33%)
- Presentations (10.98%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Artificial Intelligence (38.44%)
- Algorithms (25.37%)
- Computer Science (60.79%)
- Python (Programming Language) (47.62%)
- Machine Learning (48.29%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Java (Programming Language) (16.99%)
- Chemistry (8.6%)
- Workflow Management (12.81%)
- Applied Research (8.23%)
- C (Programming Language) (9.08%)
- Microsoft Azure (9.66%)
- Computer Vision (10.22%)
- Software Development (16.78%)
- Automation (7.97%)
- Data Analysis (16.52%)
- Applied Mathematics (9.36%)
- Biology (11.38%)
- Amazon Web Services (13.44%)
- Electrical Engineering (11.14%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (21.39%)
- Data Processing (3.99%)
- Computer Engineering (19.4%)
- Linux (9.62%)
- Scalability (9.17%)
- Project Management (11.92%)
- R (Programming Language) (17.44%)
- TensorFlow (11.89%)
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) (21.11%)
- Software Engineering (23.63%)
- Systems Design (9.36%)
- Statistics (10.13%)
- Programming Languages (15.04%)
- Deep Learning (18.31%)
- Scientific Computing (8.11%)
- Physics (13.61%)
- PyTorch (Machine Learning Library) (15.42%)
- Large Language Modeling (11.61%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (11.07%)
- High Performance Computing (7.07%)
- Generative Artificial Intelligence (12.15%)
- Data Science (19.53%)
- Transformer (Machine Learning Model) (3.38%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Network Science (1.17%)
- Conversational AI (4.37%)
- Natural Language Understanding (3.81%)
- BERT (NLP Model) (3.62%)
- Hugging Face (NLP Framework) (4.47%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Computer Scientist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Computational Scientist
- Research Computer Scientist
- Scientist
- Applied Scientist
- Applied Researcher
- Principal Scientist
- Cryptologist
- NLP Engineer
- Associate 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.
- Data Scientist
- Research Scientist
- Bioinformatics Engineer
- Computational Biologist
- Software Developer / Engineer
- Bioinformatician
- Programmer / Analyst
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Computer Scientist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (353)
- Southwest Research Institute (275)
- Amazon (203)
- Capital One (154)
- United States Department of the Treasury (137)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers (112)
- Genentech (93)
- Jobs For Humanity (78)
- Microsoft (78)
- Johnson & Johnson (76)
North Carolina
- Southwest Research Institute (7)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (6)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers (4)
- Duke University (4)
- North Carolina State University (4)
- United States Department of the Treasury (3)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (2)
- Opallios (2)
- North Carolina Central University (2)
- National Institutes of Health (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.