This study empirically examines the relationship between the career orientations of R&D professionals and their demographic characteristics (age, tenure, and education level), affiliated organizations (public and private organizations), reward systems. It further explores the contingent effects of the career orientation fit between leader and members on their performance. The results reveal that : 1) five different career orientations (technical, manager, project, technical transfer, and entrepreneur) are empirically distinguished, 2) technical orientation of R&D professionals is higher in public in private sectors, 3) technical, project, and manager orientation are positively associated with the education level, while technical transfer and entrepreneur orientation are negatively associated with the education level, 4) manager and technical transfer orientation is positively related with age and tenure, 5) the career orientation fit between leader and member is closely related with job satisfaction and organization commitment, and partially related with technical performance, 6) R&D professionals with different types of career orientation exhibit different preference to various rewards. Based on these findings, this study suggests several practical implications for the design of career ladder, mentoring, and reward systems of R&D professionals.