5 Top Life Sciences Jobs in 2023

• Collecting and producing data-driven reports and analytics for use across the business, helping to ensure that research and development are meeting budgetary and time milestones

• Identifying gaps in the required tools, equipment or skills needed to complete a project and working with department and business leaders to prioritise resourcing for these needs

• Communicating project progress regularly to internal and external stakeholders, adjusting timelines as required and in line with feedback

• Writing progress reports for any grant-awarding bodies

• Serving as a resource for departmental queries regarding regulation, compliance, best practices, and internal processes

• Helping develop team members to assist in project management through training and guidance

Many aspects of the role are evolving through new technologies, with machine learning algorithms helping bioengineering project managers parse through data and make informed decisions. 

Project managers are amongst some of the highest earners regarding a bioengineering salary, with average yearly earnings of around £55,000 within the UK and $70,000 in the USA. 

Career prospects for bioengineering project management professionals are good. Experience and ambition enable candidates to rise into senior roles. They’ll be responsible for an overview of all projects and focus on supporting the wider project management team through engagement and training initiatives. The right candidate for a bioengineering project management job will be personable and meticulous, able to be a trusted source for updates across the organisation. 

How to Become a Bioengineering Project Manager

There is a range of skills that bioengineering project managers require to do their jobs effectively, from statistics to finance, as well as leadership ability. However, most of these can be learnt on the job. 

A project manager in the life sciences sector will typically have an academic background in an associated field such as biology, chemistry or medicine. However, those from an engineering background can also focus their studies on a life sciences field at the postgraduate level. 

Project management roles within the life sciences will often also look for candidates with a few years of experience in a specific departmental role, meaning that those looking to advance into a career as a bioengineering project manager can set themselves apart by gaining a good understanding of all business operations whilst they’re working in less-senior roles. 

2. Biophysicist

Biophysicists focus on research and development programmes across the life sciences industry, helping organisations understand how to develop new tools and treatments that will be utilised in the clinical environment. 

From creating new medical technologies and imaging techniques that make disease diagnosis more safe and speedy to producing and analysing the data that will help guide nanotechnology and biomaterials production, these professionals are integral to the life sciences sector.

These experts can be found working across the private sector and academic research environment, from small technology start-ups to the significant and impactful corporations that enable healthcare professionals to carry out their life-saving work.

Biophysicist Job Description

Most biophysicist roles will see them carrying out cutting-edge research on applying physical laws to enable efficiency and safety gains in medical devices and pharmaceuticals that improve global health outcomes. 

A typical biophysicist job description will depend on which area of the life sciences they work in, but their day-to-day responsibilities could include:

• The research and development of the tools and techniques enable professionals across the life science industry to carry out their work, from mass spectrometry to computational biology

• Producing medical devices which will go on to help diagnose disease and illness more quickly and safely across the clinical and healthcare environment

• Working alongside bioengineers to develop precision medical treatments based on the study and sequencing of a patient’s genomes

• The development of biomaterials and nanotechnological innovations that will drive future advances in healthcare

With advanced automation allowing for the processing of ever-more complex and large data sets, biophysicists’ unique skill sets will see them becoming an integral part of the research and development activities of the life sciences sector in the coming years. 

Biophysicist Salary and Career Prospects

The average biophysicist salary is around £60,000 in the UK’s private sector and $86,000 in the US, although this figure is typically around £45,000 and $70,000 in the university environment, respectively. 

Seniority and additional responsibilities can see the average salary of a biophysicist rise higher, but getting to the level of a director within the field of biophysics will typically require a PhD and specialist knowledge. Many working within the life sciences will either possess or aim to complete Master’s degrees, enabling them to focus on a specific area or technology. 

Entrepreneurial biophysicists have also gone on to build their own start-ups and run incubators, helping to usher in a new era of advances in healthcare technologies.

How to Become a Biophysicist

Preparing for a career as a biophysicist typically begins at the undergraduate level, with degree courses such as physics, chemistry, biology or mathematics offering a foundation for many biophysicist life science jobs. Candidates with degrees in adjacent fields such as mechanical, electrical or biomedical engineering can also specialise at the postgraduate level. 

Once they have completed their academic studies, candidates typically go on to roles in the educational environment. Alternatively, they will join a start-up or a larger company as a researcher, helping their organisation utilise the latest developments and computational methods to create advanced treatments and medical devices.

3. Chemical Technician

A chemical technician is responsible for assisting engineers and pharmaceutical professionals in the lab environment and helping to conduct tests on various drugs and products. This role is integral to the quality assurance and compliance standards that life science organisations adhere to, with chemical technicians assisting in developing the internal processes that can help maintain a business’s reputation. 

These experts can be sub-divided into two categories: 

• Laboratory technicians help maintain and run laboratory instrumentation and equipment, conduct analyses and experiments, and test medical and pharmaceutical products

• Processing technicians monitor the efficiency and productivity of processes within chemical manufacturing facilities, helping to implement advanced techniques and calibrate equipment to improve the quality and volume of the chemicals produced

Every chemical technician will meticulously record and analyse data, ensuring that their organisations can make informed decisions on R&D and manufacturing.

Chemical Technician Job Description

A chemical technician will be responsible for many lab or chemical manufacturing facility responsibilities, such as: 

• Maintaining and monitoring equipment such as bioreactors to ensure efficient and safe production

• Implementing cutting-edge chemical processing techniques, guided by research and best practice, to improve yield and safety

• Testing the quality of products and deliverables and producing data-driven reports for internal and external stakeholders

• Preparing chemicals, compounds and solutions, conducting experiments and interpreting results

• Communicating with clients regarding their chemical orders, setting expectations and managing conflicts

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping to take the leg-work out of the role of a chemical technician, enabling them to automate the rote testing tasks and focus on the quality and internal processes that will ensure satisfied customers and better treatments. 

Chemical Technician Salary and Career Prospects

A chemical technician working in a life science job in the UK will earn an average salary of approximately £30,000; in the US, this figure will rise to around $55,000, whilst seniority will see these rise to £45,000 and $80,000 per year.

Career prospects for a chemical technician in either sub-sector—whether laboratory or process-focused—are good, with experience seeing employees able to move into production or device management or head of operations-level roles. 

How to Become a Chemical Technician

How to Become a Clinical Trial Coordinator

Becoming a clinical trial coordinator will often require candidates to possess an undergraduate degree in a scientific or medical field, alongside the experience commensurate with a senior role in charge of research on humans. 

Many employers expect these professionals to hold advanced degrees in the specific sub-field of clinical research they’ve chosen to focus their careers on, such as biochemistry, healthcare management, or novel drug development. 

The ambitious and talented candidates that enter clinical trial coordinator jobs typically have experience at the associate level in clinical research or come from specialised healthcare backgrounds such as nursing or pharmaceuticals. 

5. Pharmaceutical Research Scientist