The Future of Pharma: What Are the Hottest Jobs & Why

The pharmaceutical industry in the UK is booming. In a new report by the Fraser Allander Institute shows that the pharma sector exported £462m worth of manufactured goods a year and is worth £1.7bn to Scotland's economy, alone. Employing more than 5,000 people across Scotland and thousands more throughout the UK, the pharmaceutical industry helmed by companies like AstraZeneca, Novartis and Eli Lilly is employing people in highly-skilled jobs from data scientists to researchers and global sales leads. And ahead of Brexit, the industry shows very few signs of slowing. Mike Thompson, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), said, “Every month, 37 million packs of medicine arrive in the UK from the EU, with 45 million moving the other way. Our industry’s priority throughout these negotiations is to ensure patients in both the UK and EU can continue to access the medicine and vaccines they need.” So what makes working in pharma so exciting? According to one executive, the innovation is key. “The freedom to dream big —to come up with new ideas and take smart risks— that’s core to who we are and how we operate,” says Bahija Jallal, PhD, President of MedImmune and Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca. “We know that our job is to provide an environment where innovation can thrive, and we’re so proud of the scientists who are making bold advances toward modifying or even curing disease.” On Glassdoor today, there are more than 10,000 open pharmaceutical jobs in the United Kingdom. Here are ten of the top jobs in the thriving industry: Research Scientist Number of Open Jobs: 6,261 Average Base Pay: £33,495/yr Companies Hiring: Amazon, New England Biolabs, Arm Holdings, Signum Global Advisor, National Physical Laboratory, WRc, Evidera, Clinical Professionals Limited, Immunocore, Ecolab, Jefferson Wolfe Ltd., Google & more.

Data Scientist Number of Open Jobs: 5,433 Average Base Pay: £42,000/yr Companies Hiring: AstraZeneca, Barclays, Zurich Insurance Group, OC&C Strategy Consultant, GlaxoSmithKline, Quanta, Zopa, New England Biolabs, iwoca, Ztex Limited & more.

Project Manager Number of Open Jobs: 1,110 Average Base Pay: £41,910/yr Companies Hiring: Ecolab, AstraZeneca, Sparta Systems, Catalent Pharma, MasterControl, Thomas Wolf Recruitment, Johnson & Johnson, Quotient Sciences, Charlton Morris, Nanostring Technologies, Intercept Pharmaceuticals & more.

Clinical Research Associate Number of Open Jobs: 962 Average Base Pay: £34,000/yr Companies Hiring: Wood Mackenzie, Evidera, Medpace, Cancer Research UK, TFS, ClinTec International, Covance, AstraZeneca, ProClinical, PRA Health Sciences & more.

Formulation Scientist Number of Open Jobs: 665 Average Base Pay Approx.: £25K - £27K Companies Hiring: Unilever, Thomas Wolf Recruitment, medPharm, Reed Scientific, Immunocore, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories, Quotient Sciences, Teva Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Cranleigh Scientific, GlaxoSmithKline & more.

Medical Writer Number of Open Jobs: 933 Average Base Pay: £31,324/yr Companies Hiring: Clinical Professional Limited, Opus Recruitment Solutions, Edelman, W2O Group. Caudex, Open Health, MediTech Media, Ashfield Healthcare Communications, T2 Biosystems, Open Health, McCann Health & more.

Medical Science Liaison Number of Open Jobs: 3,284 Average Base Pay Approx.: £53K - £59K Companies Hiring: Takeda Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, T2 Biosystems, Immunocore, Barrington James Ltd, Proclinical, Circassia, IQVIA, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Lilly UK, Novartis & more.

Post Doc Number of Open Jobs: 748 Average Base Pay Approx.: £30K - £32K Companies Hiring: AstraZeneca, University of Edinburgh, Microsoft, Imperial College London, MedImmune, Microtech Global & more.

Process Engineer Number of Open Jobs: 667 Average Base Pay: £34,523/yr Companies Hiring: Millbank Holdings, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Rise Technical Recruitment, Flexion Therapeutics, PMP Recruitment, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Blackfield & more.

Regulatory Affairs Number of Open Jobs: 1,292 Average Base Pay Approx.: $40K - $43K Companies Hiring: RB, Teva Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Skills Alliance (Pharma) Limited, Carrot Pharma Recruitment, ProClinical, Takeda Pharmaceuticals & more.

Note: Number of Open Jobs in the United Kingdom as of October 30, 2018.