Martin Anderson on the future of Life Sciences hiring as we move into 2026

Dec 8, 2025

8 MIN READ

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By Martin Anderson, Founding Director, Carrot Recruitment

As the life sciences sector marches toward 2026, recruitment is being reshaped by shifting regulatory pressures, accelerated drug development, tougher market access environments, and a continued war for specialist talent. Across both the UK and U.S, demand remains strong within core functions such as Regulatory Affairs, Medical Communications, Pharma Market Research, and Market Access – but the nature of that demand is changing.

A hiring market that is normalising, but still competitive

I’ve been recruiting in the life sciences space for almost 20 years, and in that time I’ve seen the industry move through just about every version of the hiring landscape. After several years of volatility – post-pandemic over-hiring, biotech contraction, and tightened venture capital – it’s encouraging to see clear signs of stabilisation emerging through 2025. As we head into 2026, both the U.S and UK life sciences markets appear set to shift firmly into a phase of quality-driven hiring rather than volume hiring, with organisations becoming more selective, strategic, and focused on securing the right expertise rather than simply expanding headcount.

This year we have seen hiring managers growing more selective, but not necessarily reducing their recruitment needs. Instead, they are prioritising:

Candidates with cross-functional capability
Sector-specific experience (rare in early-career talent pools)
A demonstrated ability to work in hybrid or fully remote environments while maintaining commercial awareness

This is creating a premium for mid-senior professionals and widening the skill gap at the junior level.

Across life sciences recruitment then, it is really no surprise that the strongest future demand centres on professionals who combine deep scientific expertise with cross-functional versatility. Examples of this could include:

Regulatory strategists who understand early development and commercial launch
Medical writers who can handle both publications and medical affairs strategy
Market researchers who interpret data in the context of market access
Market Access professionals who collaborate closely with medical and commercial teams

I believe this “hybrid specialist” profile is rapidly becoming the new gold standard across the functional areas we recruit within. Clients are increasingly looking for individuals who combine deep scientific expertise with cross-functional capability, and this demand is only set to grow stronger in the months ahead.

Regulatory Affairs: Rising demand for candidates within a small talent pool

The UK’s MHRA modernisation programme, expedited pathways, and stronger collaboration with global regulators are fuelling consistent demand for regulatory strategists, particularly those with EU and U.S submission experience. Brexit-related complexities remain a factor, making candidates with “global region fluency” highly sought after.

Hiring remains tightest for:

CMC regulatory specialists
Labelling and promotional compliance professionals
Strategists with early development experience

In the U.S, FDA guidance updates, accelerated approvals scrutiny, and the boom in cell and gene therapies are pushing companies to hire regulatory leaders with deep specialised knowledge rather than broad generalists. Biotech’s cautious rebound will likely reopen frozen roles in 2026, but competition will remain highest on the East and West coasts.

Across both markets, hybrid working is now standard, but fully remote roles are slowly declining for regulatory teams due to the strategic nature of cross-department collaboration.

Medical Communications: Growth steadily returning with new focus on AI experience

Medical communications remains one of the most resilient areas of life sciences recruitment.

UK Agency growth in 2025 has been moderate but stable. For 2026, agencies expect stronger pipelines in medical affairs, HEOR/real-world evidence communications, and patient engagement content. What’s changing is the skill expectation: the bar for scientific quality, client-facing maturity, and digital fluency is significantly higher than it was in 2020–2022.

Ghost-writing and traditional publications skills remain fundamental, but roles increasingly require:

Understanding of AI-assisted content creation
Strategic thinking around omnichannel engagement
Ability to interface with medical affairs, market access, and commercial teams

The U.S med comms market is rebounding more aggressively than the UK. Demand is highest for scientific directors, client services leads, and writers with niche therapeutic area expertise (oncology, rare disease, and immunology)

Pharma Market Research: A shift toward more strategic insights during fast transformation

Globally, the market research space is transforming quickly. Demand is moving away from pure analytics roles and toward professionals who can synthesise insights into commercial strategy. The rise of AI-driven data platforms means companies now need:

Consultants who can apply human interpretation to automated data
Specialists who understand payer behaviour and competitive intelligence
Researchers with experience integrating qual, quant, and real-world data

For 2026, the biggest hiring gap will be for candidates who can work comfortably with advanced analytics tools without being data scientists.

Market Access, RWE & HEOR: Reforms bring intensifying competition for specific expertise

Pharma Market Access is now one of the most competitive hiring segments in UK life sciences. NICE ( National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) reforms and increased payer scrutiny are intensifying competition for:

HTA specialists
Pricing & reimbursement strategists
Global value dossier (GVD) and payer evidence experts

Hybrid working is widely accepted, but companies increasingly want candidates with direct payer engagement experience, something the UK talent pool is chronically short of.

However, the US continues to experience sharp demand for individuals who can navigate value-based care, CMS pricing changes, and increasingly complex formulary negotiations. Hiring needs are highest for:

HEOR specialists
Access strategists with real-world evidence backgrounds
Field access professionals

By 2026, the U.S is expected to outpace the UK in senior market access hiring due to policy changes and reimbursement pressure.

KEY DATA POINTS (UK AND U.S LIFE SCIENCES)

According to the latest statistics from Office for Life Sciences (2023/2024), there are 6,170 businesses operating within the UK life sciences industry (across 7,320 companies). These employ 359,600 people in total and generate £146.9 billion in turnover. GOV.UK+1
Within that employment base, the medical-technology subsector accounts for 55% of jobs, while biopharma accounts for 45%. GOV.UK
Geographically, the South East region of England accounts for 24% of UK life-sciences employment and 27% of turnover; London accounts for 16% of employment. GOV.UK
From a recent review of the UK life-sciences labour market (2025): vacancies rose by 5.2% year-on-year in 2024, totalling 7,521 open positions across the sector. Vacancysoft+1
Within that, demand for Regulatory Affairs and Quality / Compliance roles saw strong growth — Quality Assurance/Regulatory Affairs vacancies rose ~ 34.8%, and Project Management roles surged 57% year-on-year, indicating growing complexity and compliance workloads. Vacancysoft+2Vacancysoft+2
According to the skills-forecast report Life Sciences 2035: Developing the Skills for Future Growth, the UK will need ~145,000 skilled workers by 2035 — including about 70,000 newly created jobs plus replacement hires for retirement / attrition. lifesciencesweek.london+1

Implication for recruitment: The size of the UK life-sciences labour market remains substantial (≈ 360 k employees), with ongoing demand in regulatory, QA, project management, and compliance-heavy roles. The projected need for +70 k new skilled workers through 2035 underscores that competition for talent will remain intense for years.

U.S

According to the 2025 edition of CBRE “U.S. Life Sciences Talent Trends” report, total U.S. life-sciences employment reached a record ≈ 2.1 million people in March 2025, before a modest pull-back in April. CBRE+2CBRE+2
The decline between August 2023 and August 2024 was only 0.8%, a relatively small drop — signalling resilience despite challenges (funding constraints, macroeconomic headwinds). CBRE+1
However, unemployment within “life, physical & social sciences occupations” rose to 3.1% in April 2025 (versus 3.9% general U.S. unemployment), reflecting some softness post-boom. CBRE+1
The number of U.S. graduates in biological/biomedical sciences remains high — the 2022–2023 academic year produced a record ~174,692 degrees/certificates in these fields. CBRE+1
Some sub-fields of biotech/R&D reportedly saw growth even in 2024–2025: one source suggests that a biotech R&D subsector grew by ~ 3.7%, adding ~ 10,700 jobs within ten months. IntuitionLabs+1

Implication for recruitment: The U.S. still supports a very large life-sciences labour base (≈ 2.1 M), giving firms capacity to scale. But rising unemployment and slower hiring suggest firms are selective – especially for niche roles.

The large volume of new graduates adds to competition, especially for entry- or early-career roles. For specialisms such as regulatory affairs, market access or medical comms (where real-world experience matters) competition may intensify, potentially slowing hiring cycles.

Looking ahead to the life sciences recruitment landscape

The future of life sciences recruitment into 2026 is less about explosive growth and more about strategic, selective, and highly specialised hiring. The UK and U.S markets will continue to evolve, but one truth remains consistent: the life sciences sector is only as strong as the specialised talent that drives it forward.

In both markets, the data underscores a clear shift toward specialist and experienced talent. In the UK, strong growth across Regulatory Affairs, Quality, and Compliance reflects the mounting regulatory burden, with companies hiring aggressively to handle increasingly complex requirements around submissions, labelling, and quality management.

This trend sits against a broader backdrop in which the current life-sciences workforce of around 360,000 people falls significantly short of the projected need for an additional 145,000 skilled workers by 2035 – signalling long-term, structural demand rather than short-term hiring spikes.

In the U.S., the sector remains large and resilient, but rising unemployment and slowing growth mean employers are becoming far more selective, prioritising mid- to senior-level professionals with proven niche expertise. And while the high volume of life-sciences graduates continues to swell the early-career talent pool, scarcity persists at the senior and specialist end of the market – particularly for those who can navigate regulatory complexity, market access pressures, and evolving medical-affairs expectations.

Our advice for Life Sciences hiring managers in 2026

To secure top talent in an increasingly competitive and globalised market, companies will need to rethink traditional hiring models and adopt a more agile approach. Speed is critical, with even a week’s delay risking the loss of senior candidates, while flexible or hybrid working environments have become a baseline expectation rather than a perk.

Clear progression pathways and competitive salaries aligned with global market rates are also essential in attracting and retaining high-calibre professionals. At the same time, organisations must be open to borderless or remote hiring, particularly for niche or hard-to-find skills. Ultimately, the businesses that thrive will be those willing to adapt quickly and embrace a modern, international talent strategy.

With founders who come directly from careers in Pharma, Biotech, MedTech, and Consultancy, being deeply embedded in the sectors we serve has always been central to our identity and success. This industry grounding gives us a genuine, real-time understanding of the market and ensures we stay closely attuned to the shifts shaping how organisations attract and retain talent.

We partner with clients to strengthen their overall talent brand – whether through salary benchmarking, advisory support, leadership assessment and psychometric testing, market insights, or strategic hiring reviews. And whether the requirement is for permanent or contract roles, we support businesses through both contingent hiring and exclusive partnerships, offering flexible solutions tailored to their long-term growth.

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