Data scientist career path at tech companies · 416 roles · 90 days to Oct 16, 2026
Updated
In short
Of the 416 data scientist roles at tech companies in the 90 days to Oct 16, 2026, 148 are senior, more than at any other level. The median stated pay for senior roles is $190k a year. Causal Inference rises most. Among the roles whose requirements we could read, it is required in 29 of 148 (20%) senior roles and 21 of 55 (38%) staff roles. Machine learning engineer roles share 8 of the 12 required skills listed for data scientist roles; no other role shares more.
Levels in order
Each level counts its own roles. A median shows only where 50 or more of that level’s roles state pay, and each is taken over a different set of roles.
| Level | Roles | Median stated pay | At least half ask for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior data scientist | 41 roles | Not shown | 2+ years, 22 of 35 |
| Mid-level data scientist | 75 roles | Not shown | 3+ years, 66 of 69 (96%) |
| Senior data scientist | 148 roles | $190k a year | 5+ years, 97 of 128 (76%) |
| Staff data scientist | 55 roles | Not shown | 5+ years, 47 of 49 |
| Principal data scientist | 21 roles | Not shown | 8+ years, 15 of 18 |
| Lead data scientist | 22 roles | Not shown | 5+ years, 17 of 18 |
Lead titles say who leads a team, not a step above principal, so lead is listed last and not compared with the level before it.
What rises at the next level
Required skills asked for in a larger share of roles at the next level, by 5 points or more. Each count is out of that level’s roles whose requirements we could read.
Mid-level to senior
Out of 75 mid-level and 148 senior roles whose requirements we read.
| Skill | Mid-level | Senior |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Learning | 36 of 75 (48%) | 83 of 148 (56%) |
| Experimentation | 21 of 75 (28%) | 54 of 148 (36%) |
In the senior top 15, not in the mid-level top 15: AI, Causal Inference, scikit-learn, A/B Testing
Senior to staff
Out of 148 senior and 55 staff roles whose requirements we read.
| Skill | Senior | Staff |
|---|---|---|
| Causal Inference | 29 of 148 (20%) | 21 of 55 (38%) |
| LLMs | 25 of 148 (17%) | 14 of 55 (25%) |
| Statistical Modeling | 31 of 148 (21%) | 15 of 55 (27%) |
| AI | 30 of 148 (20%) | 14 of 55 (25%) |
In the staff top 15, not in the senior top 15: PyTorch, MLOps
Not compared, fewer than 50 roles read at one of the two levels: junior to mid-level and staff to principal.
Roles closest to data scientist, by shared skills
Compared over each role’s most-required skills, umbrella labels such as “Programming” left out. The more skills two roles share, the shorter the move between them.
Machine learning engineer323 roles
8 shared: Python, SQL, Statistics, Machine Learning, Experimentation, AI, LLMs, PyTorch
Median stated pay: $218.9k a year
Research scientist122 roles
7 shared: Python, Statistics, Machine Learning, Experimentation, AI, LLMs, PyTorch
Median stated pay: $242.5k a year
AI engineer220 roles
4 shared: Python, Machine Learning, AI, LLMs
Median stated pay: $198.8k a year
Data analyst217 roles
4 shared: Python, SQL, Statistics, R
Median stated pay: $115k a year
More on data scientist roles
How we count: 416 roles from 300 employers in the 90 days to Oct 16, 2026, each role counted once however many boards post it. Methodology