Elusive Data Scientists Driving High Salaries

First-Ever Study Tracks Experience, Salary, Industry and Location of Big Data's Elite Breed

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Apr 15, 2014, 05:20 ET

EVANSTON, Ill., April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Data scientists, the elusive kingpins in the Big Data movement, can earn base salaries well over $200,000, are younger, overwhelmingly male, have at least a master's degree and probably a Ph.D., and one in three are foreign born, according to the first-ever study looking at salaries, education levels, gender and geographical location of this new profession. Almost half of all data scientists are on the West Coast working for technology and gaming companies.

"Data scientists are an elite breed, a true four-leaf clover of talent, capable of merging and structuring huge amounts of data from various sources," says Linda Burtch, managing partner of Burtch Works, the executive search firm which conducted the study. "It is only in recent years that data storage has become sufficiently inexpensive that many firms have begun to save enormous sets of unstructured data, and many firms have begun to employ data scientists. Businesses will need to use unique strategies to find and keep the talent necessary to truly tap the potential of Big Data."

The Burtch Works study found data scientists are:

Generally young (with a median of only nine years of experience), overwhelmingly male (88 percent), highly educated (88 percent have at least a master's degree, 46 percent have a Ph.D.), and a disproportionately large number are foreign-born (more than 35 percent).
Almost half are employed on the West Coast (43 percent) and almost half work for firms in the technology and gaming industries (46 percent).
The median compensation of data scientists varies primarily with years of experience, depth of expertise, and management responsibility but can range from $80,000 with three years of experience up to $232,500 for managers leading teams of ten or more analysts.

The study of 171 data scientists was conducted by Burtch Works, an Evanston, Ill.-based executive recruiting firm which specializes in the placement of quantitative business professionals, now one of America's hottest job segments due to demand for Big Data professionals. Phone interviews were held with each participant during the past 30 months.

Burtch will lead a webinar on the study findings on Thursday, April 17 at 11 a.m. CST. Participants can register at: https://cc.readytalk.com/r/oajz4v303tex&eom

SOURCE Burtch Works