Careers & Industry

About MSSE

The Berkeley MSSE degree prepares students for careers in computational science, data science, machine learning, and software engineering. The program is designed to train students with backgrounds in chemistry, physics, biology, computer science, or from other physical science disciplines. The MSSE provides students with the tools, software engineering practices, plus leadership, management, and entrepreneurial skills needed to create or lead science- or engineering-based enterprises.

Careers in Scientific Industries and More

While the MSSE degree focuses on the molecular sciences, the skills it provides are suitable for any student pursuing careers both in science and or non-science based industries that require advanced machine learning, complex mathematical modeling and simulations, software engineering, or high-performance computing.

Explore Careers with MSSE 

With its focus on Computational Molecular Science, MSSE prepares you for Software Engineering, Data Science, Machine Learning, and Research Scientist roles in high-demand fields such as Computational Chemistry, Cheminformatics, Computational Biology and Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Computational Physics, Computational Material Science, Quantum Computational Chemistry, Nanotechnology, and other Computational Science fields.

Computational Scientist

Average Starting Salary $157,000

Machine Learning Engineer

Average Starting Salary $149,742

Software Engineer

Average Starting Salary $144,144

Computational Chemist

Average Starting Salary $107,168

AI Engineer

Average Starting Salary $119,930

Bioinformatics Engineer

Average Starting Salary $145,573

Simulation and Modeling Engineer

Average Starting Salary $142,900

Computational Neuroscientist

Average Starting Salary $158,656

Source – Glassdoor.com – average national starting salary – December 2024

Transform Science-Based Industries

Biotech & Pharmaceutical

$3.8 Trillion

  • Drug discovery and new therapeutics
  • Vaccine development
  • Individualized medicines
  • Improved testing and screening

Materials

$1.9 Trillion

  • Renewable bioplastics
  • Reliable, durable materials for renewables
  • Biocompatible materials

Energy

$3.5 Trillion

  • Renewable energy & biofuels
  • Eco-friendly materials & chemical processes
  • Improved solar cells
  • New battery technologies

Food & Agriculture

$1 Trillion

  • Food and water security
  • Decarbonizing the synthesis of chemical feedstocks
  • New water treatment technologies

Semiconductors

$1.9 Trillion

  • Developing advanced semi-conductor materials
  • Thermal condoctivity improvements
  • Improving yield and cost

Aerospace

$.7 Trillion

  • Lighter, stronger, more durable materials
  • Superalloys and exotic materials
  • Shape memory and superelastic alloys

Recent Alumni Job Titles 

  • AI Software Engineer
  • Bioinformatics Scientist
  • Computational Biologist
  • Data Scientist
  • Developer Advocate
  • Electrical Software Engineer
  • Engineering Manager
  • Operations Manager
  • PhD in Biochemistry
  • PhD in Pharmacology
  • Principal Scientist
  • Senior Data Engineer
  • Software Engineer
  • Supercharger Product Engineer

Recent Alumni Employers 

Career Support

MSSE students have access to UC Berkeley career counseling through the Career Center and professional development planning through GradPro.

View MSSE Career Resources

Students get direct Career experience in their capstone project. Working with our partner companies and labs, students solve problems in computational science.

Learn about the Capstone