Annual Salary
£28,000 to £51,000
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
Swap to Maths or STEM or go back to all job sectors
Swap to Maths or STEM or go back to all job sectors
Physicists study the behaviour of matter and energy and construct theories to explain how everything fits together.
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: evenings / weekends / bank holidays; occasionally
There will be
2.4% more Physicist jobs in 2027.
As a physicist, you could:
You may need to wear protective clothing.
You could work at a research facility, in a laboratory or at a university.
Your working environment may be outdoors some of the time and you may spend nights away from home.
You can get into this job through:
You can do a degree to start your career in physics. The course you choose will depend on your area of interest.
Course examples include:
If you do not have the required entry qualifications to do a physics degree, you may be able to do a 1-year physics foundation course before moving onto a degree.
Some physics degrees combine an undergraduate course with a postgraduate master's qualification, like an MPhys or MSci. You'll do more independent research and courses can lead to further study for a PhD.
You'll usually need:
You could apply for a work-based training route through a degree apprenticeship. There are a lot of apprenticeship options to develop your skills in physics.
Examples include:
These apprenticeships take between 3 and 4 years to complete.
You'll usually need:
You may be able to apply for a place on a graduate training scheme with a commercial company, government department or university, after completing your degree or postgraduate qualification.
Try to get work experience to find out more about job roles and the areas where you could apply your knowledge and skills as a physicist. Look out for:work placements; internships and vacation schemes; the Year in Industry programme
You can find out more about careers in physics through the Institute of Physics and Planet Possibility.
With experience, you can lead and manage the work of a research team. This could be in one of many different areas, for example:education, teaching the scientists of tomorrow; materials science, investigating the properties of superconductors; energy engineering, developing alternative fuels; medical research, building more sensitive scanners; aerospace, designing instruments for satellite systems
Physicists play an important role in the economy. You can learn more about the different career options from the Institute of Physics.
You'll need: