While tech was busy with layoffs and "rightsizing," pharma and biotech quietly became the hottest hiring market in America. Life sciences job postings are up 167% year-over-year, venture funding for biotech hit $89 billion in 2024-2025, and pharmaceutical companies added 94,000 jobs in the last 18 months.

The reason? All that pandemic-era investment in drug development and clinical infrastructure is now converting into commercial operations, and companies need people—lots of people—to run trials, navigate FDA approvals, and scale manufacturing.

Reports indicate that clinical trial coordinators, regulatory affairs specialists, and clinical research associates are facing sub-30-day time-to-fill in some markets because demand is absolutely bonkers. If you thought tech recruiting was competitive, welcome to life sciences in 2025.

The Numbers Behind the Boom

This isn't a small uptick—this is a structural shift in where hiring growth is happening:

Overall hiring momentum:

• Life sciences job postings up 167% year-over-year
• Pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs up 89%
• Clinical research positions up 234%
• Regulatory affairs roles up 198%

Investment driving everything:

• $89 billion in biotech venture funding in 2024-2025
• 412 active clinical trials for obesity drugs alone
• Oncology clinical trials up 67% from 2023 levels
• Gene therapy trials up 143%

The FDA approval pipeline is massive:

• FDA approved 67 novel drugs in 2024, the highest count since 2018
• 289 drugs currently in Phase III trials
• Every approved drug needs commercial manufacturing, quality teams, and regulatory compliance

Translation: The pipeline from clinical trials to commercial drugs is fuller than it's been in years, and every stage requires specialized talent.

Clinical Trials Roles: The New Gold Rush

If you want to understand where the hiring frenzy is most intense, look at clinical research positions. The number of active clinical trials globally increased from 420,000 in 2023 to 547,000 in 2025, and every single one needs staff.

Clinical Research Associates (CRAs):

Demand for CRAs is up 241% year-over-year. These are the people who monitor clinical trial sites, ensure protocol compliance, and verify data integrity. Average salary for CRAs: $78-115K, up 34% since 2023.

The average time-to-fill for CRA positions is 28 days—basically the moment you post the job, it's filled. 85% of CRAs report being contacted by recruiters at least weekly.

Clinical Trial Coordinators:

Up 218% in job postings. These professionals manage trial logistics, recruit and screen participants, collect data, and coordinate with investigators. Salary range: $58-85K, but signing bonuses of $5-10K are becoming standard to close candidates quickly.

Clinical Data Managers:

Demand up 189%. Someone needs to design databases, clean data, ensure regulatory compliance with 21 CFR Part 11, and manage data queries. Salaries: $72-108K, up 29% since 2023.

Why clinical trials talent is so scarce:

There are approximately 35,000 qualified CRAs in the United States and over 88,000 open CRA positions. That's a 2.5:1 demand-to-supply ratio. Clinical trial coordinator supply-demand ratio is even worse at 3.2:1.

The bottleneck? Most clinical research roles require specific certifications (CCRC, CCRA) and hands-on trial experience. You can't just hire smart people and train them on the job—regulatory requirements demand proven competency.

Regulatory Affairs: The Unsung Heroes Getting Paid

While everyone focuses on scientists and researchers, regulatory affairs specialists are the people who actually get drugs approved—and they're in absurdly high demand.

Regulatory Affairs Specialists:

Job postings up 198%. These professionals prepare FDA submissions, manage interactions with regulatory agencies, ensure compliance with global regulations, and navigate the nightmare of getting drugs approved in multiple countries.

Salaries for regulatory affairs specialists: $85-135K, up 37% since 2023. Senior regulatory affairs managers: $125-185K. Directors of regulatory affairs at mid-size biotech: $165-245K.

Why they're worth it:

The average cost to develop a new drug and bring it to market is $2.6 billion. A great regulatory team can shave 6-12 months off approval timelines. Those months represent hundreds of millions in potential revenue.

One good regulatory affairs director who accelerates your NDA approval by nine months is worth their weight in gold. Literally.

The certification and experience barrier:

Most regulatory affairs roles require RAC (Regulatory Affairs Certification) and direct experience with FDA submissions, INDs, NDAs, or BLAs. The talent pool is tiny: approximately 18,000 RAC-certified professionals globally and over 47,000 open regulatory affairs positions.

71% of biotech companies report difficulty filling regulatory positions, and average time-to-fill is 67 days—unacceptable when you have FDA submission deadlines.

Manufacturing and Quality: Scaling the Miracle

Once you get FDA approval, you need to actually manufacture the drug at scale—and pharmaceutical manufacturing is exploding.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control specialists:

Job postings up 156%. Every batch of drug product needs testing, validation, and release. QA/QC roles require knowledge of cGMP, 21 CFR Part 211, and validation protocols.

Salaries for QA specialists: $68-98K. QC managers: $95-145K.

Manufacturing and process engineers:

Demand up 134%. These professionals optimize production processes, scale up from clinical to commercial manufacturing, and troubleshoot deviations.

Drug shortages in 2024 were partially driven by manufacturing capacity constraints, making companies desperate to expand production capabilities.

Validation engineers:

Up 142%. Someone needs to validate equipment, processes, and computer systems to ensure regulatory compliance. Every new manufacturing line requires extensive validation work.

What Smart Companies Are Doing

Given the talent scarcity, leading pharma and biotech companies are getting creative:

Clinical research training programs: Pfizer's Clinical Research Scholars Program brings in recent graduates and trains them into CRAs, with 89% retention after two years. Bristol Myers Squibb launched a similar program with 200+ participants.

Regulatory affairs apprenticeships: Amgen partnered with regulatory affairs certificate programs to create earn-while-you-learn pathways. Participants work in regulatory departments while completing RAC certification.

Poaching from CROs: Contract Research Organizations train people well but can't compete on comp with pharma companies. 68% of CRAs at pharma companies previously worked at CROs.

Military medical pipelines: Military medics, hospital corpsmen, and biomedical equipment technicians have transferable skills for clinical and manufacturing roles. Veterans often have clearances useful for government contract work.

Global talent and visa sponsorship: 78% of biotech companies now sponsor H-1B visas for regulatory and clinical roles, up from 54% in 2022. The talent pool is global.

The Therapeutic Areas With Highest Demand

Not all pharma hiring is equal—certain therapeutic areas are absolutely on fire:

Obesity and metabolic disease: The GLP-1 drug boom (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro) has created a hiring frenzy. 412 active obesity drug trials means thousands of clinical staff needed.

Oncology: Cancer drug development continues to dominate pharma pipelines, with 67% more active trials than 2023. Immuno-oncology roles are particularly hot.

Gene and cell therapy: 143% increase in gene therapy trials. These therapies require specialized manufacturing and quality expertise, creating massive demand for process development and manufacturing science roles.

Rare diseases: Orphan drug development is exploding, with small patient populations requiring specialized clinical trial designs and regulatory pathways.

The Bottom Line

Life sciences job postings are up 167%, clinical research roles up 234%, and regulatory affairs positions up 198%. This is what happens when years of R&D investment start converting into clinical trials and commercial products.

The talent pipeline can't keep pace with demand. Time-to-fill for CRAs is 28 days. Regulatory affairs specialists are getting 37% raises. Companies are building training programs because they can't recruit fast enough.

If you're in talent acquisition and you're not looking at life sciences, you're missing one of the strongest hiring markets in the economy. While tech stumbles through layoffs and hiring freezes, pharma and biotech are scaling like it's 1999.

The clinical trials can't find enough bodies. Maybe yours should be one of them.