The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China highlighted the need to strengthen national strategic scientific and technological forces and cultivate high-level scientists. Based on career capital theory,this study collects data on National Key Laboratory directors from 2022 to 2024 and applies dynamic qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to explore how scientists’ attributes influence key core technology breakthroughs. The results show that no single factor is sufficient,while three configurations enable high-level breakthroughs:institutionally empowered-authority driven,collaborative ecosystem-knowledge spillover,and potential activation-compensatory transition types. The collaborative ecosystem-knowledge spillover configuration exhibits stronger robustness over time. Further analyses reveal substitution effects between relational capital and career attributes,with structural capital,relational capital, and frontier judgment as key drivers. SHAP analysis confirms nonlinear relationships between scientist characteristics and technological breakthroughs. This study offers implications for scientist selection and national innovation capacity building.