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Asked by keen498eta on 26 Jan 2024. This question was also asked by fact1gum, yard1met, free1ask, rate499pan, gear1nan, term1art, east1pew, care1maw.
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David Bremner answered on 26 Jan 2024:
The salary scale for a grade 5 technician is about 30 thousand pounds a year before taxes, which may sound a lot but it will have taken someone possibly many years to work their way up to this. If it was working in industry or the private sector then it could be more.
My first wage when i started out 32 years ago was £7,787 per year.
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Kirsty Ross answered on 26 Jan 2024:
Here are some of my starting salaries for my (multiple) roles over the years. Universities have incremental points that you get each year to move you up the salary bandsIt’s taken time to get to where I am now, but if you are willing and able to move roles more frequently then you could progress up the pay scales faster.
PhD £12000/year stipend (no tax, National Insurance or Council Tax)
1st postdoc £27500/year pre-tax
2nd postdoc £33000/year pre-tax
1st public engagement role £36500/year pre-tax
2nd public engagement role £39000/year pre-tax
Current role as Industrial Liaison ~£46000/year pre-tax -
Alexander De Bruin answered on 26 Jan 2024:
As a PhD student in 2016 I was earning £16,000/year tax free, and started in my first industrial research role 7 years ago on just over £31k pre-tax immediately after I handed in my last piece of coursework. I’ve since had raises and two big promotions so I’m now in a management position, which comes with a comfortable salary that is (pre-tax and other deductions like student loans) over £5000/month. Being in the private sector, we also have bonuses, benefits, and share schemes that increase the value of our salary.
For what it’s worth, science doesn’t tend to pay as well as e.g. finance, but I’ve found my career so far to be highly rewarding intellectually -
Kat Tanner answered on 26 Jan 2024:
When I started my Level 3 apprenticeship in 2019, I was on £12,500 a year, but this quickly grew and after 4 years of taking on more responsibility and starting a degree qualification, I’m now in the region of £35,000. It can depend on your discipline and the career pathway you pick, but the framework I’m on will only see my salary increase year on year, plus I’m not having to pay for my qualifications and I also get paid to attend college which is a big bonus of apprenticeships.
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Martin McCoustra answered on 26 Jan 2024:
Most of the professional bodies to which scientists belong carry out annual surveys of how much we earn and produce public reports that anyone can access. Typically for a chemist or physicist, starting salaries for those with a degree in the subject are around £30,000 to £35,000 per year. Career average salaries are in the £50,000 to £60,000 range. In both cases, membership of a professional body can increase the salary.
As a university professor, I’m taking home around £4,000 per month with my university also making a substantial contribution to my pension such that I probably cost the university around £90,000 to £100,000 per year.
That’s not a bad change from starting at £11,850 per year in 1988 at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.
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Geofrey Iason answered on 26 Jan 2024:
My current salary monthly after taxes and deductions is just over £4000. Most personnel in the oil and gas industries also get an annual bonus on top of the monthly salary and this can be up to an additional 20% of annual salary (obviously only once a year).
The oil and gas industry has generally high wages compared to many other industries.
Graduates in the industry start at around 28,000 a year with apprentices starting around 20,000 a year before taxes and deductions.
The values above are for onshore positions, offshore typically is better but has different conditions.
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Andrew McDowall answered on 26 Jan 2024:
Each year the Royal Society of Chemistry asks its members just this question. The results for 2023 have just been published. Pay changes by experience, by who you work for and by the qualifications you have.
For 2023, the middle pay of someone who answered the society’s questions was about £51,000 before tax.
Newer chemists had a middle salary of about £38,000, more experienced chemists a middle salary of about £60,000.
Chemists with doctorates earned around £53,000 on average; chemists with degrees but not doctorates around £46,000; chemists with HND/HNCs but not degrees around £37,000; chemists with A-levels alone ~£25,000.
The middle pay for the whole country across all jobs is about £35,000 at the moment, so chemists do a bit better than most. -
Erin Pallott answered on 26 Jan 2024:
Money talk is important!
As a PhD student, I get a “stipend” instead of a salary. All that means is I don’t pay tax on it.
This year, I’m getting about £2,000 a month. I also do some extra side jobs like teaching, which earns me on average about an extra £200 a month.When I graduate, hopefully it will be much more!
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Adam Washington answered on 26 Jan 2024:
After taxes, I take home about £3000 a month. Just last year, it was only £2400 a month, but we had a strike. The truth was that I could easily make twice as much if I left science and the lab was losing a lot of good people who were doing exactly that. However, none of the better paying jobs that I’ve been offered have been nearly as interesting as what I get to do.
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Edd Bilbe answered on 26 Jan 2024:
£3000/month. This is after tax and pension contributions. You need to make sure you include your companies pension contribution when determining your total remuneration when comparing roles. I also get a cooked free lunch every day and am eligible for a performance related bonus which can be worth 2 months salary after tax. I am in my late 30’s and my pay growth has probably plateaud (flattened) unless I move to a completely different role.
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Michael Schubert answered on 26 Jan 2024:
It varies! Because I work for myself, I can decide what jobs I take and how many. If a job doesn’t pay very much, it’s up to me to decide whether or not I have time to do it and whether or not I’m happy with what they’re offering.
But scientist salaries are all over the map, as you can see in these answers! Sometimes you don’t earn much as a student because you’re still learning. (I earned about £15,000 per year and had to pay taxes on it because I studied in America!) Other times, if you stick with it and get a senior job in industry, you can earn well into the six figures!
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Georgia Lambert answered on 26 Jan 2024:
As a biology PhD student funded by the UKRI (part of the UK government that gives money to scientists so that they can do research) I get £1,551.83 a month (I looked at my January pay slip to get as specific as possible!)
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Zoe Vance answered on 26 Jan 2024: last edited 26 Jan 2024 2:10 pm
My monthly take home is about £2500 as a post doc researcher with a couple of years experience. Which is quite the jump from my PhD stipend which was €1500 a month! I generally had to do some teaching hours on top of my PhD research to make ends meet because I was living in Dublin which is a very expensive city for the salaries you get. Even now as a post doc I could be earning a lot more if I worked in an industry job rather than academic research – I have friends with similar experience earning twice what I do.
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Rachel Edwards answered on 26 Jan 2024:
I’m not quite sure – is that a bad answer? Childcare comes out of my salary before it gets to me, but it’s definitely enough to cover all my bills and have enough to play with after. I started on $34k as a researcher when I worked in the US after my PhD, but salaries have been improved a lot since then.
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Festus Ejikemeuwa answered on 26 Jan 2024:
When I started my career in Engineering, I was making £29,000/year. As you grow in your field with more experience and also move around in the industry, things improve significantly. The average salary of an experienced Control and Instrument Engineer in the UK is around £55k and that of the project manager is £65k-£70k.
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Amber Villegas - Williamson answered on 26 Jan 2024:
I think the question should be more, how much do you want or need to be paid per month?
Of course we all want to have loads of money to spend of family, friends and ourselves. I would consider myself paid well compared to others who do incredible jobs to further human understanding.
The amount of pay will always be a trade off as to what hours you want to work, responsibilities and qualifications. Making sure you are paid correctly will involve websites such as Glassdoor where you can compare wages for similar job titles.Engineers are typically paid well compared with other STEM careers and a significant number of engineers I know are on 6 figure salaries per year.
Remember, money isn’t everything and higher salaries come with a sacrifice…maybe you work horrible hours, maybe you need to be always travelling (trust me it is not always as fun as it sounds), maybe the pressures you have a huge and if you make a mistake it could involve jail time, maybe you have zero time for family and friends (not all jobs, especially high paid ones are 9-5).
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Megan Quartley answered on 27 Jan 2024:
My first job after uni paid £26,500 per year. I now earn £46,000 a year but in my industry (Medical Devices) I am lucky to get a 10% bonus if I do well that year.
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Steve Markham answered on 28 Jan 2024:
More than enough.
Engineers are generally well paid – it’s a career rather than a job – so as you progress and your knowledge increases, particularly if you work in a niche field then there isn’t a limit as to what you could potentially earn.
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Sharron Kenny answered on 29 Jan 2024:
wages vary based on role and experience also where you are based in the country. up in the north east say we get paid far less for the same role as down south. living costs wont be as expensive here. university roles seem to pay higher ?
i get paid enough to cover my bills, and i enjoy my job. but it isnt huge money after tax and student loans and pension its about £1900 take home pay a month.i am late 30s but i am also female and maternity leave and family care comitments have impacted my career progression/therefore i am paid less. but my job isnt huge stress either and when i go home on a nightime i dont take my job problems with me. higher paid colleauges perhaps do ? i think its about life balance and what suits a person. money isnt everything ? you need enough to retire and pay bills but along the way you also need to live a life your happy with 🙂
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Tina-Jaine Haigh answered on 29 Jan 2024:
My field as a nuclear safety engineer is very niche and very much in demand. That means there are very few people who do it, who have the necessary skills, and there are more jobs than suitable people to fill them. All that adds up to nuclear safety engineering paying much more than other fields of engineering. I have worked at a very senior level in my field, leading safety for a new build nuclear power station, so you would expect I’m near the top of pay rates within my field. I now work part time as a contractor, but if my salary was translated to full time, it would be about £120,000 before taxes.
If a high paid job is important to you, look at niche fields, and ones where there is a shortage of people. -
Kim Nash-Game answered on 30 Jan 2024:
I started my science career in 2016 as a medical lab technician at Band 3 (£16,800), which increases each year. After a promotion to associate practitioner (Band 4) with a starting salary of around £24,000. I was lucky enough to also compete my apprenticeship in biomedical science whilst still receiving pay increases with each year of service.
Since gaining my HCPC BMS registration last year, I took a role with Siemens and currently take home £2400 per month. With an annual bonus this equates to about £40,000 per year.
I highly recommend if possible becoming an apprentice as this gives the potential to earn a liveable salary as well as gaining an education and valuable experience at the same time. -
SJ Paines answered on 31 Jan 2024:
I earn £7875 each month before tax (£94500). After tax and paying into my pension, I bring home about £4800 each month.
A brand new patent attorney trainee would earn around £35000 every year and it rises quickly as you become qualified. -
Margaret Laurie answered on 2 Feb 2024:
About £3,000 after tax, pension, student loan, etc. I work in “industry” (not a university) so I earn a little more, although it varies widely depending on where you work. For example, private sector pays quite a bit more than public sector but with less security, you can earn a bit more if you practice as a Psychologst vs. being a researcher like me, but it depends. Money is important of course – but there are other things to look for in jobs too, like environment, team, what you actually do, working patterns, pensions and benefits, progression, etc.
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Sarah-Jane Potts answered on 2 Feb 2024:
As a Postdoctoral Research Engineer working at a Welsh University, I am currently earning around £2.2K a month after tax, national insurance, pension contribution and student loans are removed. However, the amount you earn as a post-doctoral researcher varies according to how long you have been in the role, how many papers you have published or grants you have won as well as where in the UK you are working.
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Lydia Eeles answered on 6 Feb 2024:
I earned more a few years ago during my small stint as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (it was just a maternity cover post for a few months) – the annual salary then was £32,300
I then went travelling for a bit of time and came back just as the pandemic was hitting. It was a hard time to get a job, but I finally got one within the pharmaceutical industry. I had always thought that this was a high paying industry, so I was surprised to find out that I had to take a pay cut for this role compared to my previous role due to not having any experience in industry. The bonus scheme made it approximately the same amount, although I was not eligble the first year as they delayed my start date by a few weeks which then meant that I had not started in the correct quarter of the year to be eligible for this scheme.
For my current role, I also took another pay cut for a similar role in the pharmaceutical industry. It went up slightly in January to £30,500 annually which means that I took home slightly shy of £2,000 after tax, National Insurance, and pension was deducted.
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Liv Gaskill answered on 12 Feb 2024:
My first job after graduating uni paid around £22,000, and that was working at an advertising agency in strategy. I then worked at a uni as a Research Administrator in a VR lab – that was part-time, but the full-time equivalent salary was around £24,000. When I moved to work in science publishing my salary dropped to £20,000, but with promotions I worked my way up to £28,500.
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