Hiring Data Scientists

What do data scientists do?

• Analyze, manipulate, or process large sets of data using statistical software.
• Apply feature selection algorithms to models predicting outcomes of interest, such as sales, attrition, and healthcare use.
• Apply sampling techniques to determine groups to be surveyed or use complete enumeration methods.
• Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software.
• Compare models using statistical performance metrics, such as loss functions or proportion of explained variance.
• Create graphs, charts, or other visualizations to convey the results of data analysis using specialized software.

Core tasks, O*NET OnLine, 15-2051.00.

What does it take to become one?

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

O*NET Job Zone 4, SVP (7.0 to < 8.0). O*NET OnLine.

Employers commonly list experience with Amazon Web Services AWS software, Apache Hadoop, Apache Spark, C, C++, Docker for this role.

What do data scientists get paid?

BLS OEWS, May 2025 publishes a wage for data scientists in 90 of the metro areas in this build. The median ranges from $78,100 to $185,080 a year depending on the metro, with a midpoint of $103,020. This is what employers pay, place of work, not a single national figure and not what any one person takes home.

BLS OEWS, BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 15-2051.

What does hiring one cost?

The same as any role: tier, not location or salary, sets the fee. Across all six tiers the published range is $6,240 to $54,340 per search. For scale, the highest published median for data scientists in this build is $185,080. A contingency firm hiring at that level would bill roughly $37,016 to $55,524 on the first year salary alone, 20 to 30%.

Frequently asked

How fast can a data scientists search fill?

23 to 35 days, 2 to 3x faster than a typical contingency search, per the recruiting provider's published figures.

What if the hire does not work out?

A 45-day replacement guarantee, at 50% off a repeat search for the same role.