Data Scientist job description: duties, skills and qualifications.

Core duties

15

O*NET task statements

Preparation

Job Zone 4 of 5

considerable preparation

Typical entry education

Bachelor's degree

BLS 2025–35

Median pay

$120,230

BLS May 2025

1. Analyze, manipulate, or process large sets of data using statistical software. importance 4.3 of 5
2. Create graphs, charts, or other visualizations to convey the results of data analysis using specialized software. importance 4.3 of 5
3. Test, validate, and reformulate models to ensure accurate prediction of outcomes of interest. importance 4.2 of 5
4. Deliver oral or written presentations of the results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users. importance 4.2 of 5
5. Recommend data-driven solutions to key stakeholders. importance 4.2 of 5
6. Identify business problems or management objectives that can be addressed through data analysis. importance 4.1 of 5
7. Compare models using statistical performance metrics, such as loss functions or proportion of explained variance. importance 4.0 of 5
8. Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software. importance 4.0 of 5
9. Identify solutions to business problems, such as budgeting, staffing, and marketing decisions, using the results of data analysis. importance 3.9 of 5
10. Apply feature selection algorithms to models predicting outcomes of interest, such as sales, attrition, and healthcare use. importance 3.8 of 5
11. Identify relationships and trends or any factors that could affect the results of research. importance 3.7 of 5
12. Write new functions or applications in programming languages to conduct analyses. importance 3.6 of 5
13. Read scientific articles, conference papers, or other sources of research to identify emerging analytic trends and technologies. importance 3.4 of 5
14. Propose solutions in engineering, the sciences, and other fields using mathematical theories and techniques. importance 3.0 of 5
15. Apply sampling techniques to determine groups to be surveyed or use complete enumeration methods. importance 3.0 of 5

Work activities O*NET rates most important here: Analyzing Data or Information, Working with Computers, Processing Information, Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others and Getting Information.

Also part of the job

Supplemental tasks O*NET lists for this occupation: less central than the core duties above, and not done in every job.

• Design surveys, opinion polls, or other instruments to collect data.

Knowledge areas: Mathematics, Computers and Electronics and English Language.

Software O*NET lists for this occupation: Apache Hadoop, Git, SAS, Snowflake, TensorFlow, The MathWorks MATLAB. These are examples O*NET records for the job, not a list of tools every employer uses or a checklist of what you must know.

• Education: BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education.
• Experience: BLS lists no work experience in a related occupation as typical to enter.
• Training on the job: BLS lists no typical on-the-job training once hired.
• Preparation: O*NET places the job in Job Zone 4 of 5 (considerable preparation). A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations.
• Licenses and certifications: not listed here. A license is a legal requirement set by a state; a certification is a credential from a private or professional body. Rules vary by state and employer, and a missing entry on this page does not mean none is required: check with your state's licensing board and see how to become a data scientist.

The most common answer among O*NET's occupation experts for this occupation is a bachelor's degree (48%).

Job title: Data Scientist
[Company] · [City, State] · [Full-time or part-time] · [Pay range, where your state requires one]

About the role
[Company] is hiring a Data Scientist to develop and implement a set of techniques or analytics applications to transform raw data into meaningful information using data-oriented programming languages and visualization software.
[One sentence on your team and why this role matters.]

What you will do
- Analyze, manipulate, or process large sets of data using statistical software.
- Create graphs, charts, or other visualizations to convey the results of data analysis using specialized software.
- Test, validate, and reformulate models to ensure accurate prediction of outcomes of interest.
- Deliver oral or written presentations of the results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users.
- Recommend data-driven solutions to key stakeholders.
- Identify business problems or management objectives that can be addressed through data analysis.
- Compare models using statistical performance metrics, such as loss functions or proportion of explained variance.
- Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software.

What we are looking for
- [Education: BLS lists a bachelor's degree as typical for this occupation; set the level this role truly needs]
- [Experience: BLS lists no related work experience as typical to enter; set what this role needs]
- Strength in mathematics, critical thinking and reading comprehension
- Working knowledge of Mathematics and Computers and Electronics
- [Software your team uses, e.g. Apache Hadoop or Git]
- [Any license or certification your state or company requires]

[Schedule, benefits and how to apply]

Illustrative: every name, employer, school, date and number in these samples is fictional or a bracketed placeholder. Replace each bracket with your own true details; never copy a result you did not achieve.

Not a real job posting. This template is TryHired's illustration built from government occupational data. It is not an opening at any employer, and no employer wrote it.

The median annual wage was $120,230 in May 2025. The median hourly wage was $57.80. BLS estimates about 262,440 jobs in this occupation in the U.S.

BLS projects employment of data scientists to grow 34.6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,800 openings a year over that period, including openings to replace workers who leave.

See the full data scientist salary breakdown by percentile, state and metro.

• Read a real data scientist posting next to the core duties above. Duties it repeats, such as “Analyze, manipulate, or process large sets of data using statistical…”, tell you what that employer weighs most; anything it adds is specific to that team.
• Tailor your resume to the posting, not to this page: describe only data scientist work you have actually done, with your own results.
• Prepare a story for each of the top-rated skills (mathematics and critical thinking); data scientist interview questions turns them into practice questions.