Free Access No Registration Updated: 2026-06-01

Applied Scientist Career Market Report 2026

1,123 active jobs. 310 companies. Median salary $142K. Data from Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby, SmartRecruiters, Workable, and 14 additional ATS sources. Last computed: 2026-06-01.

1,123
Active Job Openings
310
Companies Hiring
$142K
Median Salary (US)
88%
With Salary Data

About This Report

The Applied Scientist market data on this page is updated daily from 800,000+ active job postings across 20 ATS platforms.

Greenhouse Lever Workday Ashby SmartRecruiters Workable + 14 more ATS sources

Salary: Extracted via NLP. Only USD $5K-$3M included. Skills: Named entity recognition, noise-filtered (generic soft skills excluded). Experience: Inferred from title + description. Coverage: 88% of positions include salary data.

Key Findings

Median salary: $142K in the US

Middle 50% of salaries range from $114K to $200K.

Remote roles pay 14% above the US national median

Remote-first employers competing nationally for talent. The premium reflects company quality (remote-first firms tend to be well-funded), not a work-mode bonus.

AI/LLM is the most-demanded skill at 66%

R demand rose +9.0pp — fastest-growing skill

Amazon leads hiring with 163 open positions

Biggest salary jump: Entry-Level → Mid-Level (+$41K, +38%)

Salary increase: +$41K · Sample: Entry-Level → Mid-Level

AI automation risk: low (score 30/100)

Score: 30/100 · AI/LLM demand: 121% of postings

Salary by Experience Level

LevelJobsP25MedianP90
Senior65$128K$164K$200K
Staff45$124K$142K$219K
Mid-Level17$130K$149K$230K
Junior14$104K$106K$150K
Entry-Level5$104K$108K$111K
Lead4$142K$160K$174K

What jumps out

Entry-Level → Mid-Level: +$41K (38%) — the biggest single-step increase. The salary curve is back-loaded: the largest raises come at transitions where scope changes from executing tasks to owning outcomes, or from owning outcomes to shaping architecture across teams.

Salary by Country

CountryJobsMedianCurrency
United States153$142KUSD
Remote19$161KUSD

Work Mode

ModeShare
On-Site4.7%
Remote12.8%
Hybrid2.1%

~80% of postings do not specify work mode. Figures show only positions where it is explicitly stated.

Top Skills in Demand

AI/LLM
66%
Python
55%
Java
27%
PyTorch
23%
TensorFlow
14%
Robotics
12%
AWS
12%
Data Analysis
11%
Linux
10%
Spark
9%
Unix
9%
R
9%

Skills on the Rise

R ↑+9.0ppNumPy ↑+6.4ppscikit-learn ↑+6.3ppJava ↑+6.0ppSQL ↑+5.5pp

Declining in Demand

Mental Health ↓-22.0ppJournalism ↓-7.8ppCustomer Service ↓-7.7ppElectrical ↓-7.5pp

Top Companies Hiring

CompanyOpeningsShare
Amazon16314.5%
Adobe232.0%
Toloka Ai232.0%
Boschgroup191.7%
Abbvie191.7%
Ntu151.3%
Vrtx141.2%
Zillow121.1%

Top Countries by Job Volume

CountryJobs
United States547
Remote65
United Kingdom35
Singapore21
Canada20
India18
Costa Rica16
China16

Education Requirements

LevelSharePositions
PhD / Doctorate41.3%406
Associate Degree36.1%355
Master's Degree8.6%85
Bachelor's Degree1.2%12

Certifications

All certifications below 1% threshold. Certifications carry minimal weight in this profession's hiring decisions.

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