Biotech Compensation Analysis

Companies

90 Contributed their data

Data Points

3,715

Roles across 90 companies

1-25 employees

58 Early-stage

25-50 employees

18 Mid-stage

50+ employees

24 Later-stage

About this project

During the 2022 Founder-led Biotech Summit, Pillar VC and Pave partnered to produce a community-generated biotech compensation dataset for benchmarking across the entire industry.

Together we collected over 3,700 data point from 90 biotech companies. Below is our analysis.

Didn’t have a chance to submit your data? You can still contribute here.

Biotech Salary Benchmarks by Function

Show roles

$50k

$100k

$150k

$200k

$250k

$300k

$350k

$400k

Role

25th

Median

75th

C-Suite + 4 sub items

$180k

$256k

$400k
CMO

$225k

$450k

$459k
CSO

$160k

$250k

$393k
CTO

$182k

$225k

$275k
CEO

$145k

$195k

$350k
Legal

$107k

$201k

$250k
Principal Scientist

$190k

$208k
Sales

$121k

$160k

$180k
Product

$131k

$155k

$180k
Marketing

$97k

$141k

$180k
Regulatory

$70k

$140k

$185k
Talent/HR

$100k

$140k

$185k
Engineering + 4 sub items

$109k

$138k

$165k
Software/Comp.

$110k

$141k

$165k
Process/Clinical Dev

$100k

$130k

$175k
Robotics/Automation

$115k

$123k

$150k
Mechanical/Electrical

$75k

$100k

$136k
Operations

$90k

$135k

$205k
Finance

$95k

$130k

$190k
Scientist + 13 sub items

$105k

$131k

$158k
Medical Director

$311k

$333k
R&D

$113k

$250k

$300k
Genetics/Sequencing

$184k

$237k

$242k
Biology

$147k

$183k

$225k
Chemistry

$110k

$160k

$197k
Protein

$140k

$160k

$180k
Vaccine/Immunology

$130k

$157k

$172k
Software/Comp

$121k

$145k

$182k
Process/Clinical Dev

$107k

$140k

$202k
Discovery

$120k

$131k

$171k
In Vivo

$77k

$115k

$165k
Pharmacology

$65k

$78k

$84k
Molecular/Cell

$64k

$69k

$121k
IT

$75k

$126k

$182k
Other

$80k

$120k

$170k
Lab/Clinical + 3 sub items

$56k

$95k

$148k
Genetics/Sequencing

$70k

$71k
R&D

$65k

$117k
Molecular/Cell

$48k

$49k
Research Assoc. + 3 sub items

$68k

$80k

$90k
Biology

$110k

$120k
Chemistry

$72k

$73k
Process/Clinical Dev

$42k

$43k

$65k

Company Composition

Employees

1-10

C-Suite 31.9%

Scientist 31.3%

Other 9%

Research Associate 7.6%

Engineering 6.9%

Operations 3.5%

Lab/Clinical 2.8%

Sales 2.8%

Marketing 2.1%

Product 1.4%

Principal Scientist 0.7%

10-25

Scientist 34.9%

C-Suite 14.1%

Research Associate/Analyst 11.8%

Lab/Clinical 9.5%

Other 9.5%

Engineering 6.3%

Operations 2.6%

Regulatory 2.3%

Sales 2.3%

Principal Scientist 2%

Product 1.7%

Recruiting/Talent/HR 1.2%

Marketing 0.9%

Finance 0.6%

IT 0.3%

25-50

Scientist 36%

Engineering 15.3%

Research Associate/Analyst 13.5%

Other 11.3%

C-Suite 6.7%

Product 3%

Lab/Clinical 2.6%

Marketing 2%

Sales 2%

Operations 1.7%

Principal Scientist 1.7%

Recruiting/Talent/HR 1.5%

Regulatory 1.5%

Finance 0.9%

IT 0.2%

Legal 0.2%

50-100

Scientist 25.7%

Other 15.7%

Lab/Clinical 14.2%

Regulatory 11.9%

Engineering 9.7%

C-Suite 6%

Research Associate/Analyst 3.4%

Finance 3%

Sales 3%

Operations 2.2%

Product 1.9%

Recruiting/Talent/HR 1.5%

IT 0.7%

Legal 0.4%

Marketing 0.4%

Principal Scientist 0.4%

101-200

Scientist 26.6%

Other 16.7%

Engineering 10.4%

Lab/Clinical 8.1%

Research Associate/Analyst 7.9%

Regulatory 4.5%

Sales 4.3%

C-Suite 4.2%

Finance 3.7%

Product 2.8%

Recruiting/Talent/HR 2.8%

Marketing 2.1%

Operations 1.7%

Principal Scientist 1.5%

IT 1.3%

Legal 1.3%

200+

Scientist 28.3%

Other 18.4%

Engineering 11.6%

Regulatory 6.5%

Lab/Clinical 5.3%

Finance 4.7%

Marketing 4.6%

Research Associate/Analyst 3.8%

Recruiting/Talent/HR 3.1%

Principal Scientist 2.5%

Product 2.3%

C-Suite 2.2%

Legal 1.9%

IT 1.8%

Sales 1.5%

Operations 1.4%

Scientist Salary by Level

By Capital Raised

$50k

$100k

$150k

$200k

$250k

$300k

$350k

$400k

Role

25th

Median

75th

Executive Director

$328k

$363k
Senior Director

$220k

$238k

$260k
Director

$165k

$195k

$212k
Principal Scientist

$100k

$171k

$190k
Assoc. Director

$150k

$173k

$187k
Senior Scientist

$115k

$146k

$160k
Scientist II

$130k

$138k

$143k
Scientist I

$101k

$120k

$130k
Scientist

$87k

$120k

$140k
Assoc. Scientist

$95k

$104k

$123k
Executive Director

Awaiting more data
Senior Director

Awaiting more data
Director

Awaiting more data
Principal Scientist

$165k

$168k
Associate Director

Awaiting more data
Senior Scientist

$142k

$150k

$156k
Scientist II

$103k

$135k

$140k
Scientist I

$86k

$95k

$125k
Scientist

$94k

$120k

$140k
Associate Scientist

$61k

$70k
Executive Director

Awaiting more data
Senior Director

$220k

$230k

$240k
Director

Awaiting more data
Principal Scientist

$145k

$155k

$155k
Associate Director

Awaiting more data
Senior Scientist

$105k

$135k

$150k
Scientist II

$105k

$115k

$140k
Scientist I

$105k

$110k
Scientist

$100k

$125k

$130k
Associate Scientist

$61k

$70k
Executive Director

Awaiting more data
Senior Director

Awaiting more data
Director

$165k

$195k

$210k
Principal Scientist

$83k

$97k

$190k
Associate Director

$97k

$118k

$182k
Senior Scientist

$73k

$103k

$146k
Scientist II

$140k

$158k
Scientist I

$120k

$123k
Scientist

$70k

$130k

$160k
Associate Scientist

$120k

$120k
Executive Director

$k

Awaiting more data
Senior Director

$234k

$242k
Director

$197k

$210k

$231k
Principal Scientist

$171k

$165k

$175k
Associate Director

$158k

$182k

$190k
Senior Scientist

$139k

$153k

$160k
Scientist II

$130k

$138k

$145k
Scientist I

$105k

$113k

$120k
Scientist

$69k

$107k

$143k
Associate Scientist

$95k

$100k

$102k
Executive Director

$k

Awaiting more data
Senior Director

$218k

$260k

$340k
Director

$200k

$212k

$220k
Principal Scientist

$164k

$200k

$235k
Associate Director

$187k

$191k

$202k
Senior Scientist

$129k

$151k

$161k
Scientist II

$105k

$110k

$120k
Scientist I

$92k

$107k

$115k
Scientist

$132k

$143k

$163k
Associate Scientist

$85k

$89k
Executive Director

Awaiting more data
Senior Director

Awaiting more data
Director

Awaiting more data
Principal Scientist

Awaiting more data
Associate Director

Awaiting more data
Senior Scientist

$155k

$175k

$200k
Scientist II

$138k

$140k

$145k
Scientist I

$125k

$130k

$135k
Scientist

$115k

Awaiting more data
Associate Scientist

$80k

$94k

$95k

Dive even deeper on

The leading data-driven compensation platform.

Pave delivers an end-to-end compensation management platform that allows you to build a world-class team. Make better compensation decisions that keep you ahead of the market using real-time salary and equity benchmarks from the largest private company data set available.

Biotech hiring checklist & resources

The Founder-led Biotech community put together a hiring checklist specifically focused around biotech companies. Additionally, we’ve curated a set of resources

Biotech Compensation Analysis

Companies

90

Contributed their data

Data Points

3,715

Roles across 90 companies

1-25 employees

58

Early-stage

25-50 employees

18

Mid-stage

50+ employees

24

Later-stage

Biotech Salary Benchmarks by Function

C-Suite + 4 sub items

CMO

CSO

CTO

CEO

Legal

Principal Scientist

Sales

Product

Marketing

Regulatory

Talent/HR

Engineering + 4 sub items

Software/Comp.

Process/Clinical Dev

Robotics/Automation

Mechanical/Electrical

Operations

Finance

Scientist + 13 sub items

Medical Director

R&D

Genetics/Sequencing

Biology

Chemistry

Protein

Vaccine/Immunology

Software/Comp

Process/Clinical Dev

Discovery

In Vivo

Pharmacology

Molecular/Cell

IT

Other

Lab/Clinical + 3 sub items

Genetics/Sequencing

R&D

Molecular/Cell

Research Assoc. + 3 sub items

Biology

Chemistry

Process/Clinical Dev

Company Composition

1-10

10-25

25-50

50-100

101-200

200+

Scientist Salary by Level

Executive Director

Senior Director

Director

Principal Scientist

Assoc. Director

Senior Scientist

Scientist II

Scientist I

Scientist

Assoc. Scientist

Executive Director

Senior Director

2024 Tour
Stops

Get
Involved

About
Pillar VC