Counted October 17, 2026 · from employers’ own postings
Academia & natural science: 3,512 open roles, 949 entry level.
Studying the natural world — oceanographers, hydrologists, ecologists, geographers, graduate researchers and research fellows.
536 of these postings state no level; the entry-level count is over the ones that do, plus any that ask for a year or less and are not titled senior. Pay is the median of posted bands, in USD, only where eight or more roles posted one; 2 posted figures that could not be a year's pay were left out. Only open roles are counted.
The roles, as the postings name them
Open roles and posted pay by role.
| Role | Open roles | Median posted band |
|---|---|---|
| Adjunct Faculty | 438 | — (2 of 8 bands) |
| Postdoctoral Research Associate | 299 | $73K |
| Assistant Professor | 218 | $93K |
| Lecturer | 176 | — (5 of 8 bands) |
| Adjunct Instructor | 114 | — (1 of 8 bands) |
| Postdoctoral Fellow | 102 | $74K |
| Post Doctoral Scholar | 67 | — (2 of 8 bands) |
| Postdoctoral Scholar | 62 | $70K |
| Postdoctoral Associate | 54 | — (7 of 8 bands) |
| Adjunct | 48 | — (0 of 8 bands) |
| Faculty | 46 | $79K |
| Faculty Position | 41 | — (0 of 8 bands) |
What each pays, on its own page: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Assistant Professor, Postdoctoral Fellow, Postdoctoral Scholar.
A role is the posting’s own title with its level, shift and schedule set aside, so “Registered Nurse – ICU (Nights)” and “Senior Registered Nurse” are one role. The twelve most posted; pay is the median of posted bands, where eight or more roles posted one.
The skills, as the postings name them
What the postings ask for.
| Skill | Postings | At entry |
|---|---|---|
| Investigation | 1,179 | 38% |
| Statistics | 504 | 23% |
| Classroom Teaching | 495 | 19% |
| Data Analysis | 347 | 30% |
| Payroll Processing | 345 | 2% |
| Community Outreach | 308 | 3% |
| Curriculum Development | 297 | 2% |
| Benefits Administration | 277 | 11% |
| Machine Learning | 260 | 16% |
| Student Assessment | 258 | 1% |
| Python | 256 | 21% |
| Physics | 242 | 13% |
A count of open postings naming each skill, the twelve most named; “at entry” is the share of the 949 entry-level postings that name it. Never a trend, never a score of you. Which of these you already have, and what you would learn first, is on your CareerVersion.
The ladder, by level
What each rung pays.
| Level | Open roles | Median posted band | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| INTERN | 70 | — (4 of 8 bands) | — |
| JUNIOR | 865 | $73K | $68K–$80K |
| MID | 1,604 | $83K | $73K–$98K |
| SENIOR | 144 | $151K | $122K–$154K |
| STAFF | 207 | $122K | $88K–$136K |
| PRINCIPAL | 24 | — (6 of 8 bands) | — |
| MANAGEMENT | 62 | $126K | $93K–$143K |
Levels as the postings name them. A rung shows a median only where eight or more postings at that level carried a band; the middle half is the twenty-fifth to seventy-fifth percentile of those bands.
Who is hiring
The employers with the most open.
| Employer | Open roles | Entry level |
|---|---|---|
| Tamus (System Wide External) | 358 | 56 |
| Ivy Tech | 322 | — |
| Northeastern | 265 | 43 |
| Osu | 155 | 56 |
| Ohio State University | 154 | 56 |
| Wisconsin | 96 | 1 |
| Louisiana State University | 95 | 19 |
| Usnh | 86 | 13 |
| Psu | 83 | 50 |
| University of South Florida | 82 | 7 |
Counted from employers’ own job boards. The twelve with the most open roles in this career tonight; “entry level” is how many of those ask for no prior experience.
Where the work is
1% of open academia & natural science roles are remote.
- Remote1%31 roles
- Hybrid0%11 roles
- On site74%2,614 roles
- Not stated24%856 roles
As the boards state it. Nothing in the postings supports a city-level figure, so none is given.
How this was counted
Every figure here is counted from 3,512 open postings read from 183 employers’ own job boards on October 17, 2026, and recounted every night. Pay is the band the employer posted — never an estimate, never a model: a level shows a median only where eight or more postings carried one, and 547 of these postings did. 2 posted bands whose midpoint could not be a year's pay in US dollars were left out of every figure. Titles are grouped by the words the postings use, with levels, shifts and schedules removed, so one role is one row. The same counts as Markdown are at facts.md.
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Counted October 17, 2026 from 3,512 open postings; refreshed nightly. Facts as Markdown: facts.md.