What it pays
Government survey numbers — not estimates, not ads.
Half of all Computer and Information Research Scientists in the U.S. earn more than $140,300 a year — the middle 80% land between $82,200 and $230,630. About 37,200 people in the U.S. do this work. Figures are for the U.S. occupation group “Computer and Information Research Scientists”. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, published 2025.) In India, Professionals earn about ₹38,298 a month on average — around ₹4.6 lakh a year (government PLFS survey via ILOSTAT, occupation-family figure).
$140,300typical pay / year
37,200people in this work
$230,630+top 10% earn
₹4.6 lakha year in India (family avg)
Think you get this job?Six quick questions on how it really works — with a hint and the reason behind every answer.
Test yourself →The work, task by task
These are the real jobs-to-be-done, not a wish list. Each task shows where we found it, and the prompt underneath is written for that exact task.
Analysing1
Examine computer hardware
+Inspect the cluster node that reported intermittent failures yesterday, record firmware and component…
Examine computer hardware
+Inspect the cluster node that reported intermittent failures yesterday, record firmware and component versions, run diagnostics on CPU, memory and network interfaces, and produce a short repair recommendation with expected downtime and escalation contacts.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2ESCOjob descriptionsO*NETWikipedia
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The daily work19
Test computer hardware
+Run the full hardware acceptance test on rack 3 servers, record firmware and serial numbers, log each failed…
Test computer hardware
+Run the full hardware acceptance test on rack 3 servers, record firmware and serial numbers, log each failed sensor and intervention in the maintenance record, and notify Lab Ops and the requester by end of day if any unit needs repair.
The tools that do the workAnsibleESCOjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Consult with users and management
+Hold a one-hour consultation with Dr. Mehta and James from IT to capture their compute needs, priorities, and…
Consult with users and management
+Hold a one-hour consultation with Dr. Mehta and James from IT to capture their compute needs, priorities, and uptime expectations, then produce a two-page summary of requirements and risks for Anna in management by Wednesday morning.
The tools that do the workApache Airflowjob descriptionsO*NET
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Evaluate project plans for feasibility
+Review the three-phase project plan from Sara, check hardware capacity against the stated timelines, flag…
Evaluate project plans for feasibility
+Review the three-phase project plan from Sara, check hardware capacity against the stated timelines, flag infeasible milestones and estimated costs, and return annotated feasibility notes with alternatives to the project lead by Friday.
The tools that do the workApache Sparkjob descriptionsO*NET
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Participate in multidisciplinary projects
+Join the multidisciplinary kickoff with optics, software, and mechanics teams, map interfaces where our…
Participate in multidisciplinary projects
+Join the multidisciplinary kickoff with optics, software, and mechanics teams, map interfaces where our compute and sensor specs must fit, record open engineering actions, and email consolidated action items to the group within 24 hours.
The tools that do the workApache Kafkajob descriptionsO*NET
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Develop and interpret organizational policies
+Draft a short organizational policy on hardware maintenance intervals and intervention reporting, include…
Develop and interpret organizational policies
+Draft a short organizational policy on hardware maintenance intervals and intervention reporting, include escalation steps and customer‑facing notification text, then circulate to Legal and Facilities for review before next Monday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWS CloudFormationjob descriptionsO*NET
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Collaborate with scientists and engineers
+Coordinate a working session with Dr. Alvarez and the lead engineer to align our simulation code inputs with…
Collaborate with scientists and engineers
+Coordinate a working session with Dr. Alvarez and the lead engineer to align our simulation code inputs with lab measurement formats, consolidate agreed data schemas, and push the finalized schema to the engineers and data team by Thursday.
The tools that do the workApache Hivejob descriptionsWikipedia
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Replace damaged components and parts
+Schedule and record the replacement of the damaged power supply and two fan modules on Lab Rack 3, confirm…
Replace damaged components and parts
+Schedule and record the replacement of the damaged power supply and two fan modules on Lab Rack 3, confirm part numbers with procurement, update the maintenance log with serials and test results, and email the instrument owner Claire Jackson with ETA and warranty details by Thursday.
The tools that do the workAnsibleESCO
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Approve, prepare, monitor, and adjust operational budgets.
+Approve this quarter's operational budget for compute and lab instruments, prepare the spend-to-date report,…
Approve, prepare, monitor, and adjust operational budgets.
+Approve this quarter's operational budget for compute and lab instruments, prepare the spend-to-date report, flag any underspent line items for reallocation to maintenance, and start weekly monitoring updates for the finance team by next Friday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWSO*NET
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Improve the use of existing technology
+Review current data-pipeline scripts and lab instrument drivers, propose two concrete changes to reduce…
Improve the use of existing technology
+Review current data-pipeline scripts and lab instrument drivers, propose two concrete changes to reduce runtime or operator steps, test the smaller change on the staging dataset, and document impact for the engineering review on Wednesday.
The tools that do the workApache Airflowjob descriptions
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Determine computing needs and system requirements
+Survey upcoming projects and instrument specs, list CPU, GPU, memory, and storage needs for each, estimate…
Determine computing needs and system requirements
+Survey upcoming projects and instrument specs, list CPU, GPU, memory, and storage needs for each, estimate peak and average load for the next 12 months, and produce a short requirement sheet for procurement by Monday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2job descriptions
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Monitor networks for security and availability
+Set up continuous checks on the lab network for latency, dropped packets, and suspicious login attempts,…
Monitor networks for security and availability
+Set up continuous checks on the lab network for latency, dropped packets, and suspicious login attempts, escalate any anomaly over baseline to the on-call engineer within 15 minutes, and log every incident for the security record.
The tools that do the workApache Kafkajob descriptions
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Analyze data to extract meaningful insights
+Run the latest processed dataset through the analysis notebook, extract summary statistics and two hypothesis…
Analyze data to extract meaningful insights
+Run the latest processed dataset through the analysis notebook, extract summary statistics and two hypothesis tests, visualise the key trends for the PI, and deliver a one-page insight memo by Thursday afternoon.
The tools that do the workApache SparkWikipedia
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Publish research findings in scientific journals
+Draft the methods and results sections from our latest experiment, assemble figures with caption text, check…
Publish research findings in scientific journals
+Draft the methods and results sections from our latest experiment, assemble figures with caption text, check references and author order with the PI, and prepare the manuscript files and cover letter for submission by next Tuesday.
The tools that do the workApache HiveWikipedia
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Create new computing languages and tools
+Design and prototype two new domain-specific languages and a lightweight toolchain for sensor-data analysis,…
Create new computing languages and tools
+Design and prototype two new domain-specific languages and a lightweight toolchain for sensor-data analysis, document the runtime and memory constraints on our lab workstations, and produce a one-page report for Diego in hardware support by next Wednesday.
The tools that do the workApache Sparkjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Formulate mathematical models of problems
+Formulate mathematical models for the thermal drift and noise in our amplifier array, derive parameter…
Formulate mathematical models of problems
+Formulate mathematical models for the thermal drift and noise in our amplifier array, derive parameter sensitivities, and attach a reproducible notebook and a short methods note for the experimental team before Friday afternoon.
The tools that do the workApache Hadoopjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Assign or schedule tasks to meet work priorities and goals.
+Schedule and assign the week’s coding, testing and hardware verification tasks so we meet the patch release…
Assign or schedule tasks to meet work priorities and goals.
+Schedule and assign the week’s coding, testing and hardware verification tasks so we meet the patch release target, prioritise FPGA testbench fixes, and notify Priya in operations of any slips by Tuesday morning.
The tools that do the workApache AirflowO*NET
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Develop performance standards, and evaluate work in light of established standards.
+Define measurable performance standards for our simulation kernels, create a benchmarking suite, run baseline…
Develop performance standards, and evaluate work in light of established standards.
+Define measurable performance standards for our simulation kernels, create a benchmarking suite, run baseline evaluations on the lab cluster, and send the results with recommendations to Marco in QA by Friday.
The tools that do the workApache SparkO*NET
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Direct daily operations of departments, coordinating project activities with other departments.
+Run a skills-gap review for the programming team, pick three training modules on embedded systems and…
Direct daily operations of departments, coordinating project activities with other departments.
+Run a skills-gap review for the programming team, pick three training modules on embedded systems and testing, schedule hands-on sessions over the next four weeks, and send the plan and budget to HR and to Lina by Monday.
The tools that do the workAnsibleO*NET
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Participate in staffing decisions and direct training of subordinates.
+Select two junior engineers for mentorship, design a six-week onboarding and testing curriculum that covers…
Participate in staffing decisions and direct training of subordinates.
+Select two junior engineers for mentorship, design a six-week onboarding and testing curriculum that covers ICT hardware specs and repair records, and circulate the curriculum and assessment criteria to Sara in recruitment and to the hires by Friday.
The tools that do the workApache CassandraO*NET
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Says who?
These are the pages we read to build this. Open any of them and check us.
Activities this job lives in
The human activities behind the tasks — each with its honest AI ceiling.
The logs, files & records this job keeps
Shared with other careers — the same record means something different in each.
Related careers
Same family of work — each with its own tasks and prompts.
The LLOS Work Atlas is the world's largest evidenced task library — a map of human work, with a ready prompt behind every task. 1,774 careers · every task named by the sources that witnessed it — O*NET, ESCO, real job descriptions, Wikipedia — and the deepest tasks by several at once. And it is honest about limits: where AI cannot help, the map says so.
The rest of the map
Same library, five ways in.
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Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses
Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses