Starting salary and merit as a marine biologist
In fact, biologists are not among the good earners among scientists. You certainly did not choose the profession for merit reasons, but because it is exciting and varied. Many excursions take you to exciting research stations, coasts and coral reefs in this world. Nonetheless, you should always make ends meet, so it’s worth taking a look at your future salary so you can settle your bills on a monthly basis. We researched for you the position in which you can count on what merit as a marine biologist, how your degree affects your starting salary as a marine biologist and how much air is still up.
Starting salary as a marine biologist
Your starting salary as a marine biologist is based primarily on your degree. Specializations in marine biology are available from the master’s program. In general, however, many biologists agree with the doctorate. Between 50 and 75 percent of biologists are doctoral students, depending on their specialization. That’s why the competition is big, so your competitors are extremely highly qualified. As a graduate with a master’s degree in your pocket, your application opportunities are therefore rather low and your earnings are thus at the lower limit. Between 1900 and 2400 Euro you should be able to expect as a starting salary for marine biologists with master’s degree.
During your doctoral position, you will receive an average of about 1250 euros gross monthly. After graduating you will often have PhD positions, where your salary often fluctuates between 3000 and 4000 euros per month. Here, your merit as a marine biologist mainly depends on which institute or institution you work or research. In basic research at universities and research institutes, funding is often very limited and the salary for employees is correspondingly low.
The same applies to environmental organizations that primarily finance themselves from donations. Here you should expect at the professional start between 2000 and 3000 euros – as a doctor. In the private sector and industry, however, salaries are often at the upper limit of 4000 euros.
Of course, you can also join the public service, for example in the environmental or federal office. Here you are paid by tariff and can actually be seen. The starting salary as a marine biology is here at about 3300 euros a month.
What can I earn later?
With the work experience, your salary should continue to increase, after all, you usually take on more demanding tasks and more responsibility for personnel and individual projects. Your salary increases here, of course, relative to the starting salary and is therefore dependent on the conclusion again. As a master’s graduate, you can, of course, also post-doctorate and recommend yourself for the team and project management. You also have an academic career.
As a professor or institute director, your salary as a marine biologist is often over € 5,000 gross per month. In the private sector, department heads also earn between 5,000 and 7,500 euros a month. As a conventional employee, your salary should later be between 3500 and 4500 euros. In the civil service you can later slip into the pay group 13 of the collective agreement of the civil service (TvÖD). There you are after 15 years up to 4598 euros a month.
Tips for salary negotiation
Specifying wished salary or interviewing is certainly one of the most unpleasant issues before you sign the contract. However, you should consider this opportunity as an opportunity not to sell below value and possibly even to earn a few extra euros a month. Especially since this is multiplied over the whole year, of course. We have already given you an approximate overview of the content as a marine biologist. By doing so, you should be able to roughly orient yourself and then be able to estimate, on the basis of the industry and your future employers, how much gross salary you can expect as a marine biologist.
By the way: You should never demand less than you are entitled to with your qualification, because that signals the employer’s lack of self-confidence and erroneous assessment.
