United States
–United States mid–senior clinical data role, 2024–25.
Work–life
60
Workload depends on study milestones, data releases and care priorities.
Data science pay sits solidly in technology's upper tier without matching the very top: national labor-market data shows comfortable six-figure US salaries, well behind the extremes reported for the most senior AI-research roles at frontier labs, but well ahead of most office jobs.
Demand told two different stories across the 2010s and 2020s: a decade-long hiring boom following the 2012 'sexiest job' framing, followed by a real cooling in junior hiring after the 2022–2023 technology-sector layoffs, even as demand for senior, judgment-heavy clinical data science and machine-learning roles has stayed strong.
The pay ladder
Junior clinical data scientist / analyst (US)EntryData scientist, all experience levels (US)National medianData scientist, 5–9 yrs experience (US)Mid-careerSenior / staff clinical data scientist, major tech company (US)SeniorPrincipal clinical data scientist / Director of Clinical Data Science, top tech firms (US)Peak
Junior clinical data scientist / analyst (US)
Typical starting base-salary band for new graduates entering junior clinical data science or analytics roles at US technology and finance companies, 2024–25 estimates.
Data scientist, all experience levels (US)
US Bureau of Labor Statistics median annual wage for the Clinical Data Scientists occupation (SOC 15-2051), May 2023, the most recent published figure at time of writing.
Data scientist, 5–9 yrs experience (US)
Typical base-salary band reported in 2024–25 industry compensation surveys for experienced individual-contributor clinical data scientists at US technology and finance companies.
Senior / staff clinical data scientist, major tech company (US)
Total compensation — base, bonus and equity — commonly reported at large US technology companies' senior clinical data science roles, 2024–25.
Principal clinical data scientist / Director of Clinical Data Science, top tech firms (US)
Total compensation with equity for the most senior individual-contributor or early management track at major technology companies, 2024–25 industry reports.
Pay and life by country
Typical mid-to-senior packages, hours and leave — not entry stipends. Figures are rounded bands with a year and market in the notes.
South Korea
₩70M–₩120MSouth Korea mid–senior clinical data role, 2024–25.
Work–life
48
Workload depends on study milestones, data releases and care priorities.
Japan
¥7M–¥12MJapan mid–senior clinical data role, 2024–25.
Work–life
55
Workload depends on study milestones, data releases and care priorities.
Germany
€70k–€105kGermany mid–senior clinical data role, 2024–25.
Work–life
68
Workload depends on study milestones, data releases and care priorities.
United Kingdom
£60k–£100kUnited Kingdom mid–senior clinical data role, 2024–25.
Work–life
62
Workload depends on study milestones, data releases and care priorities.
Singapore
S–Singapore mid–senior clinical data role, 2024–25.
Work–life
58
Workload depends on study milestones, data releases and care priorities.
What it pays around the world
United States~$108k median; $280k+ senior
United Kingdom£45k–£85k
Germany€55k–€90k
SingaporeS$70k–S$130k
India₹8–25 lakh
BrazilR$80k–R$180k
United States
US Bureau of Labor Statistics median annual wage for the Clinical Data Scientists occupation, May 2023; total compensation at major technology companies runs several times higher for senior roles.
United Kingdom
Typical data-scientist salary band across UK finance, technology and consulting employers, 2024–25 estimates.
Germany
Typical band at German technology, automotive and industrial employers, 2024–25 estimates.
Singapore
Typical band at Singapore-based banking and technology employers, 2024–25 estimates; the country is a regional data-science hiring hub for Southeast Asia.
India
Typical band for data-science roles at Indian technology firms and global companies' India-based data teams, 2024–25 industry salary surveys.
Brazil
Typical band at Brazilian technology and financial-services employers, 2024–25 estimates; Brazil is Latin America's largest data-science job market.
Key numbers
Time spent on data cleaning/prep (est.)
US job growth, clinical data scientists, 2023–33 (BLS forecast)
Women among US clinical data scientists (est.)
Global data created annually by 2025 (IDC forecast)
Who employs them
Where DJ Patil's data team settled on the job title 'clinical data scientist' around 2008, since grown into a core recruiting and hiring signal for the whole field.
Netflix
Ran the 2006–2009 Netflix Prize, a $1 million open competition to improve its recommendation algorithm, an early landmark in crowdsourced clinical data science and a forerunner of Kaggle-style competitions.
Employs large clinical data science and analytics teams across search, ads and cloud products, and publishes widely used open-source data tools including TensorFlow and BigQuery.
McKinsey & Company (QuantumBlack)
The consulting firm's AI and analytics arm, QuantumBlack, builds clinical data science practices for large corporate clients across industries and countries.
Capital One
An early US bank to build its business model around large-scale data analysis for credit decisions, employing large in-house clinical data science teams since the 1990s.
Alibaba Group
China's e-commerce giant runs one of Asia's largest clinical data science and machine-learning organizations, powering recommendation, logistics and fraud-detection systems at massive scale.
Where the demand is going
Hiring for clinical data science roles grew almost continuously from the mid-2010s through 2021, then cooled sharply as major technology companies cut headcount broadly in 2022–2023 — a correction that hit generalist and junior data-scientist postings harder than specialized machine-learning and analytics-engineering roles.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to project much-faster-than-average growth for the occupation through the early 2030s, and demand outside the US — particularly in Western Europe, India and Southeast Asia's banking and technology sectors — has grown as more companies build out their own data infrastructure rather than relying on a handful of hubs.
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