What are the biggest recruitment trends in life sciences?

While demand is slightly down across the life sciences sector, Hays’ Chris Smith said roles in R&D continue to hold up.

Data from 2023 showed that life sciences was among the industries that were demonstrating ongoing strength.

Amid continuing layoffs in the tech sector, pharma, biotech and life sciences have remained strong, with recent examples such a major jobs announcement from Bristol Myers Squibb and Saint-Gobain Life Sciences’ new facility.

However, according to Hays’ Chris Smith, demand is slightly down across the sector – although roles in the R&D area continue to hold up. “[The sector] has been hit by a slowdown in investment in biotech, but obviously there are big pharma sites that are recruiting research scientists,” he said.

“There is a high demand for skills in gene therapy, advanced therapeutics, so that kind of drug discovery, they’re the roles that are holding up.”

Smith also said that a lot of tradition roles in this sector have been outsourced overseas, especially in areas such as drug safety, administration and database management.

“We’ve also seen a reduction in demand for clinical operations people, particularly working for clinical research outsourcing organisations (CROs),” he said.

Advice for workers

For those in the industry or looking to get into life sciences, it’s not all bad news. Smith said the biotech industry is starting to recover. “Candidates with solid experience are still getting interviews and job offers.”

But he did warn that it’s a slightly different industry than it was a few years ago. “There was obviously a real surge in demand in 2021 and salaries became quite inflated then, so people who want to move around, who last changed jobs two or three years ago might find the market slightly different now.”

Because there are so many different routes into this broad sector, it can be hard to give advice to early-stage workers. However, Smith said it’s important to start with a plan and follow your passion.

“Do everything you can to get some kind of industry experience or background,” he said. “There’s no point working your socks off to get into a job that you’re not going to enjoy. So, follow your passion and do everything you can to get some industry experience.”

With this in mind, Smith shared the top jobs in the life sciences and pharma sectors, according to data from Hays.

Hottest jobs in life sciences

Research scientist

Key account manager

Regulatory affairs manager

QA manager

Bioinformatics lead

Clinical operations manager

Biostatistician

Health economist

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