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Contract Research Scientist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Plexus Worldwide

Research Scientist

Scottsdale, AZ · On-site

Design, manage, and execute preclinical and clinical research programs in partnership with internal teams and Contract Research Organizations (CROs). * Critically evaluate emerging science, patents ...

Plexus Worldwide

Research Scientist

Scottsdale, AZ · On-site

Design, manage, and execute preclinical and clinical research programs in partnership with internal teams and Contract Research Organizations (CROs). * Critically evaluate emerging science, patents ...

Onsite Personnel LLC

Research Scientist

Lancaster, SC · On-site

... contract facilities. * Verifies study data using applicable Data Management tools and study ... Research Scientist: * Strong strategic thinking with the ability to translate technical insights ...

CICONIX, LLC

Research Scientist III

San Antonio, TX · On-site

Description Research Scientist III About CICONIX: CICONIX LLC is a Veteran Owned Small Business ... contracts for scientific requirements, i.e., equipment purchases, preventative maintenance ...

ManTech

Research Scientist

Catonsville, MD

$141K - $236K/yr

The Research Scientist will support advanced research initiatives focused on HPC (High-Performance ... Contract Wage Determination, relevant work experience, skills and competencies that align to the ...

CICONIX, LLC

Research Scientist III

Bexar, TX

Research Scientist III About CICONIX: CICONIX LLC is a Veteran Owned Small Business specializing in ... contracts for scientific requirements, i.e., equipment purchases, preventative maintenance ...

CICONIX, LLC

Research Scientist III

San Antonio, TX

Research Scientist III About CICONIX: CICONIX LLC is a Veteran Owned Small Business specializing in ... contracts for scientific requirements, i.e., equipment purchases, preventative maintenance ...

ManTech International

Research Scientist

Catonsville, MD · On-site

$141K - $236K/yr

The Research Scientist will support advanced research initiatives focused on HPC (High-Performance ... Contract Wage Determination, relevant work experience, skills and competencies that align to the ...

CICONIX, LLC

Research Scientist III

San Antonio, TX

Research Scientist III About CICONIX: CICONIX LLC is a Veteran Owned Small Business specializing in ... contracts for scientific requirements, i.e., equipment purchases, preventative maintenance ...

CICONIX, LLC

Research Scientist I

San Antonio, TX · On-site

Research Scientist I About CICONIX: CICONIX LLC is a Veteran Owned Small Business specializing in ... This opportunity is contingent and will begin upon contract award. CICONIX LLC is an Equal ...

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All JobsContract Research Scientist Jobs

Contract Research Scientist information

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$50.5K

$130.1K

$174K

How much do contract research scientist jobs pay per year?

As of Jul 13, 2026, the average yearly pay for contract research scientist in the United States is $130,117.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $107,500.00 and $173,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What types of projects or research areas do Contract Research Scientists typically work on?

Contract Research Scientists are often engaged in a diverse range of projects depending on the organization's needs, such as pharmaceutical development, biotechnology innovations, environmental testing, or engineering studies. You may be tasked with designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, writing technical reports, and presenting findings to stakeholders. The variety of assignments provides exposure to different scientific challenges and methods, allowing for rapid skill development and professional growth. This dynamic work environment is ideal for professionals who enjoy working on multiple topics and collaborating with scientists from various disciplines.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the Contract Research Scientist position, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Contract Research Scientist, you need a solid background in scientific research methods, data analysis, and experimental design, typically supported by an advanced degree in a relevant scientific discipline. Familiarity with laboratory information management systems (LIMS), statistical software (such as R or SPSS), and standard lab equipment is commonly required, and certifications like Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) can be advantageous. Strong project management, adaptability, and effective communication skills help you collaborate with cross-functional teams and manage shifting priorities. These abilities are crucial for delivering high-quality research outcomes on time and adapting to varied project scopes in contract-based environments.

What is a Contract Research Scientist job?

A Contract Research Scientist is a professional hired on a temporary or project-specific basis to conduct scientific research, analyze data, and develop new technologies or products. They typically work for pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, government agencies, or academic institutions. Their responsibilities may include designing experiments, writing reports, and collaborating with teams to achieve research goals. Unlike full-time scientists, they work under fixed-term contracts and may work on multiple projects for different organizations.

More about Contract Research Scientist jobs
What cities are hiring for Contract Research Scientist jobs? Cities with the most Contract Research Scientist job openings:
What are the most commonly searched types of Research Scientist jobs? The most popular types of Research Scientist jobs are:
What states have the most Contract Research Scientist jobs? States with the most job openings for Contract Research Scientist jobs include:
What job categories do people searching Contract Research Scientist jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Contract Research Scientist jobs are:
Contract Research Scientist jobs near you
Infographic showing various Contract Research Scientist job openings in the United States as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 62% Full Time, 19% Part Time, 1% Temporary, and 17% Contract. Highlights an 80% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 18% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $130,117 per year, or $62.6 per hour.
Research Scientist

Research Scientist

Plexus Worldwide

Scottsdale, AZ • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Retirement

Posted 16 days ago

Job description

Research Scientist - Gut Health & Clinical Research
The Role
The Research Scientist is responsible for building the scientific foundation that differentiates our gut health portfolio through innovative research and evidence-based product development. This role designs, manages, and executes preclinical and clinical research to generate robust scientific substantiation, support regulatory-compliant structure/function claims, and advance a pipeline of science-based initiatives.
Working closely with Product Development, Regulatory, Marketing, Product Education, and Quality, this scientist translates complex microbiome science into compelling, consumer-relevant product benefits that are easily understood.
Employee Value Proposition
This is a unique opportunity to own the scientific direction of research initiatives-from identifying emerging ingredient opportunities to designing studies, generating evidence, and influencing product strategy. Backed by executive support, you'll have the autonomy to shape research programs, contribute to first-to-market innovations, and build the scientific credibility that differentiates our products and empowers our field.
Key Performance Objectives
  • Lead and complete 1-3 priority preclinical studies supporting upcoming product launches and patent opportunities.
  • Strengthen scientific substantiation by developing differentiated, regulatory-compliant structure/function claims.
  • Advance innovation by identifying and evaluating emerging gut health ingredients, technologies, and research opportunities.
  • Partner with Marketing and Product Education to translate science into compelling product stories and field education.
  • Support innovation and renovation initiatives that strengthen the company's long-term gut health portfolio.

Performance Accountabilities
Scientific Research & Innovation
  • Design, manage, and execute preclinical and clinical research programs in partnership with internal teams and Contract Research Organizations (CROs).
  • Critically evaluate emerging science, patents, and competitive technologies to identify innovation opportunities.
  • Develop research strategies that support a 3-5 year gut health innovation pipeline.

Scientific Substantiation
  • Develop defensible scientific substantiation for structure/function claims through literature evaluation, research findings, and clinical evidence.
  • Author scientific dossiers, white papers, technical summaries, and ingredient substantiation documents.
  • Translate microbiome science into differentiated product positioning across digestive health, immune health, metabolic health, and the gut-brain axis.

Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Collaborate with Regulatory, Marketing, Product Development, Product Education, Quality, and Legal to ensure scientific accuracy and compliance.
  • Develop educational content and scientific training that equips internal teams and the field with evidence-based product knowledge.
  • Provide scientific leadership throughout product development and commercialization.

External Scientific Engagement
  • Build relationships with CROs, academic researchers, Scientific Advisory Boards, and industry partners.
  • Attend scientific conferences and evaluate emerging research, ingredient technologies, and partnership opportunities.
  • Support Quality with scientific evaluation of Serious Adverse Event reports when needed.

Performance Qualifications
Required
  • PhD in Microbiology, Nutrition Science, Biochemistry, or a related scientific discipline.
  • Minimum of 2 years of relevant industry experience or postdoctoral research.
  • Experience designing, managing, analyzing, and interpreting preclinical and clinical research.
  • Strong scientific writing, literature evaluation, and communication skills.
  • Ability to manage multiple priorities while collaborating across cross-functional teams.

Preferred
  • Four or more years of relevant industry experience.
  • Expertise in probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics, fermentation-derived ingredients, or microbiome science.
  • Experience in weight management and/or cardiometabolic health.
  • Peer-reviewed publications and experience supporting product claim substantiation.

The Manager, DevOps Engineering is a hands-on technical leader responsible for designing, building, and operating scalable, cloud-native systems. This role functions as a player-coach, actively contributing to infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and platform reliability while leading a team of engineers. This position is critical to accelerating delivery, improving system resilience, and reducing operational overhead through direct technical execution and leadership.
Employee Value Proposition
As a pivotal member of a tight-knit, collaborative team, you'll play a vital role in building and scaling a new, innovative platform. We're exploring emerging technologies and transitioning toward self-sufficient, agile systems. Your influence will shape the way our developers build, test, and release software.
Key Performance Objectives
In the first 12-18 months, success will be measured by your ability to:
  • Implement a self-service DevOps platform that allows developers to deploy, test, and monitor applications independently.
  • Directly contribute to the design and implementation of core infrastructure, including Kubernetes (EKS), CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure as code.
  • Deliver measurable improvements in deployment frequency, system uptime, and mean time to recovery (MTTR).
  • Ensure successful migration and ownership of cloud infrastructure (e.g., EKS) from external vendors to internal teams.
  • Drive continuous delivery adoption, including infrastructure-as-code, automated release orchestration, and real-time performance feedback loops.
  • Enhance system observability and resilience by leveraging advanced monitoring tools (e.g., New Relic, Dynatrace) and automated alerting for production systems.
  • Foster strong cross-functional collaboration with Development, QA, Product, and Security teams to align on delivery goals and operational excellence.

Primary Responsibilities & Deliverables
DevOps Strategy & Execution
  • Lead the end-to-end design and continuous improvement of DevOps and SRE practices.
  • Own CI/CD systems, cloud-native infrastructure, and deployment strategies across environments.
  • Actively design, build, and maintain cloud infrastructure (AWS, EKS, networking, IAM).
  • Write and maintain infrastructure as code (Terraform/CloudFormation).
  • Troubleshoot complex production issues and performance bottlenecks.

Team Leadership & Delivery Management
  • Mentor engineers through pairing, code reviews, and hands-on guidance.
  • Allocate capacity between support, project work, automation initiatives, and incident response.

Platform & Infrastructure Ownership
  • Continue current adoption of infrastructure as code (Terraform/CloudFormation) and container orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker).

Cross-Team Collaboration
  • Act as a key partner for Development, QA, and Security teams to streamline release cycles and eliminate delivery bottlenecks.
  • Participate in technical architecture reviews and post-mortems to ensure the production readiness of all systems.

Success Profile (Qualifications & Experience)
Education & Leadership
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline.
  • 5+ years in DevOps or SRE roles, with 3+ years of direct people leadership.

Technical Expertise
  • Mastery of cloud platforms (preferably AWS) and orchestration (Kubernetes).
  • Experience with infrastructure tools (Terraform, CloudFormation).
  • Skilled in CI/CD systems (Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, CircleCI) and monitoring tools (New Relic, Dynatrace).
  • Strong knowledge of configuration management tools (Ansible, Puppet, or Chef).
  • Experience with API Gateway platforms (AWS API Gateway, Apigee).

Performance & Metrics-Driven
  • Proven ability to use telemetry (logs, traces, metrics) to diagnose and improve system performance.
  • Deep understanding of modern deployment strategies, including canary, blue/green, and rolling deployments.

Work Environment
  • Willingness to participate in off-hours support rotations, including evenings, weekends, and holidays when needed.
  • Committed to continuous improvement, ethical delivery, and maintaining strong stakeholder relationships.

About Plexus
Founded in gut health. Experts in microbiome. Plexus Worldwide®, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a renowned direct-selling company recognized as a top employer. Over the past 18 years, Plexus has dedicated itself to promoting hope, health, and happiness through its scientifically backed, innovative dietary supplements, weight management products, and personal care products, sold primarily through Plexus Brand Ambassadors. As a six-time Best Places to Work awardee, Blue Zone-approved employer, and an AZ Most Admired Company, Plexus prides itself on its robust organizational culture and commitment to community support and philanthropy. Our team is driven by a shared mission to empower individuals to achieve their health and wellness goals while offering additional income through the sale of products. Join us to be part of a team that values people, innovation, wellness, and community impact.
Benefits
  • Highly rated and competitive medical plans.
  • 401 (k) with company match and immediate vesting.
  • 1-on-1, personalized health coaching.
  • Many other voluntary benefits.

To learn more about Plexus Worldwide, please review our careers page at www.plexusworldwide.com/careers.
Learn more about our One Plexus culture. Watch this short video to see how our values, people, and purpose come together to make Plexus a great place to grow and make an impact. https://plexusworldwide-1.wistia.com/medias/zhfpm3vi4o.
Thank you for taking the time to apply for an opportunity with our One Plexus team! If you had any issues during the application process, please get in touch with us directly at careers@plexusworldwide.com.
We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your information. Visit our Candidate Privacy Notice for additional information.
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