Key skills in demand across life sciences

As the global life sciences industry goes from strength to strength, organisations are becoming increasingly competitive in order to secure the top talent on the market. That makes it a great time to be a contractor or employee working within this sector. With no better time to start looking for your next opportunity than the start of the new year, January presents the perfect chance to take stock of your skills and consider your next career move. Here’s what skills organisations are looking for from life science candidates: 

Although pharmaceutical research and development has fallen in profitability in recent years, advances in technology may help to rejuvenate this area of the industry. There is enormous potential for big data throughout life sciences, particularly when used in collaboration with machine learning. The enormous amount of data made available by modern technologies means that there are more ways than ever for manufacturers to gain insight into their products and consumers. However, in order for the right data to be used the right way, we need data scientists and data analysts to help with everything from evaluating the efficacy of new drugs to pricing products in a fair and accurate way. If you have analytical skills, 2020 could be the year to step up your career. View here to see the current analytical jobs that are available.

Pharmacovigilance is a key area within life sciences currently, with the rapid pace of innovation, new technologies and ongoing regulatory change meaning there’s always huge demand for people with drug safety skills. Not only is pharmacovigilance a crucial element in ensuring drugs are safe for distribution, but it is also required in the ongoing monitoring of drugs. We can expect to see new digital infrastructure adopted by pharmaceutical companies to collect and analyse health data generated by patients and healthcare providers, not to mention increased demand for pharmacovigilance auditors and officers, medical reviewers, risk management professionals and heads of drug safety. 

Commissioning, qualification and validation has long been a growth area at Quanta, providing chemical and process engineers with new career opportunities within the pharmaceutical industry. CQV is a process that ensures systems, facilities and equipment meet design requirements established for the end user, with various roles within the CQV landscape to suit people with different experience, backgrounds and skills. While people who work within this subsector typically have experience in every area within CQV, some projects see these elements split out, with C&Q engineers handling the initial stages of the process before handing over to validation engineers to run the documentation process and ensure products are produced correctly.

If you have CQV experience, particularly within the biopharmaceutical space, you’re likely in high demand by organisations around the world. Validation engineers, validation managers, QC validation professionals, commissioning engineers, commissioning managers and anyone else within this field will find a variety of opportunities available to them – if this is you, contact us here and find out how we can help you take that next step. 

We’ve been working within the life sciences sector since 2002, matching talented professionals with brilliant companies all over the world. We have an in-depth knowledge of the manufacturing areas we work in and have a proud history of working on some of the biggest projects with the most interesting organisations around. Find your next life sciences job with us and take your career further.