BioSpace has named 50 life sciences companies to its 2026 Best Places to Work list. AbbVie, Amneal Pharmaceuticals and BridgeBio executives share what makes their organizations special.
AbbVie and BridgeBio headline the BioSpace 2026 Best Places to Work list, based on input from over 7,600 life sciences professionals. North Chicago–based AbbVie and Palo Alto, California–based BridgeBio ranked No. 1 for large and small employers, respectively.
The Best Places to Work list features 50 companies with U.S. operations. The 20 large and 30 small employers were nominated in June. Life sciences professionals voted on nominees in August. Eli Lilly and Company, Insmed, Amneal Pharmaceuticals and Vertex Pharmaceuticals rounded out the top five large employers behind AbbVie. Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Mediar Therapeutics, Avidity Biosciences and EyePoint Pharmaceuticals finished out the top five small employers after BridgeBio.
“Best Places to Work winners set the standard for what makes a great workplace,” said Josh Goodwin, BioSpace CEO. “They understand that excelling at a mix of factors, from career growth opportunities to innovation and leadership, is necessary to attract, engage and retain life sciences professionals whose contributions make a difference for patients around the world.”
Voters identified their top three most desirable workplaces and rated companies on eight attributes: compensation; innovation; career growth opportunities; leadership; culture; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); reputation; and flexibility and remote work options.
Being the No. 1 large employer on the Best Places to Work list is humbling and affirms AbbVie’s company culture, noted Chris Tse, the pharma’s site head and vice president of discovery research and early development. He described that culture as one that puts patients first and reflects employees’ collective passion to take on the toughest scientific challenges with rigor and resolve.
“A recognition such as this reminds us that what we do matters and drives our determination to pursue breakthroughs that have the potential to transform lives for generations,” he said.
Tse also highlighted the importance of employees working well together.
“Fostering a collaborative environment rooted in empathy, respect, and growth makes AbbVie’s culture truly special,” he said.
To learn more about what makes a company a best place to work, BioSpace interviewed BridgeBio and Amneal Pharmaceuticals executives.
Amneal Pharmaceuticals: Helping Employees Thrive, Make an Impact
In its first year on the BioSpace Best Places to Work list, Bridgewater, New Jersey–based Amneal Pharmaceuticals placed fourth. The company, which develops, manufactures and distributes over 280 pharmaceuticals, ranked highly in all eight attributes, scoring highest for reputation, culture and DEI.
The award recognizes Amneal’s deep commitment to creating a workplace where people can thrive, feel valued and see the impact of their work on patients’ lives, according to Nikita Shah, the company’s executive vice president and chief human resources officer.
“It also affirms the culture we have built around integrity, shared ownership, and collaboration, which drives both purpose and performance,” she told BioSpace in written responses to interview questions.
Amneal’s shared purpose of “making healthy possible” shapes that culture, according to Shah.
“We listen to our employees, invest in their growth and wellbeing, and celebrate innovation at every level,” she said, adding that programs like Amneal Listens and MyAmneal Career give employees a voice and clear paths to career development. “What makes Amneal special is our entrepreneurial spirit, strong leadership, and the belief that great ideas can come from anywhere.”
What makes Amneal special is our entrepreneurial spirit, strong leadership, and the belief that great ideas can come from anywhere.
The Amneal Listens program uses an engagement survey and pulse checks to ensure employees have a voice in shaping the culture. In 2024, the company achieved an 88% employee engagement index, which it noted is 11 points above the pharmaceutical industry benchmark. In addition, 91% of employees expressed confidence in Amneal’s strategic direction, and 81% indicated they intend to stay at the business for three or more years.
Introduced last year, MyAmneal Career is a talent development initiative that supports professional growth, retention and internal mobility. This year, it added an artificial intelligence–powered talent marketplace so employees can create talent profiles, learn about roles and required skills in the organization and explore career paths, skills-based trainings, gig roles, mentorships and more.
Looking ahead, Amneal plans to enhance its talent development initiative and strengthen pay and title equity while giving employees clear pathways to grow with the company. Shah noted that it will also expand its culture and community impact initiatives and evolve its leadership development program through efforts including the Amneal Leadership Lab.
Amneal’s culture and community efforts include its patient assistance program, which provides free Amneal medicines to thousands of eligible patients for up to one year; pharmaceutical product donations to organizations such as Dispensary of Hope; and volunteerism and corporate sponsorships with groups such as Support for Veterans, One Tree Planted and The Indo-American Pharmaceutical Society.
Established as a leadership development program for the company’s senior and midlevel leaders, the Amneal Leadership Lab includes more than 3,600 global learning hours across core leadership, senior business strategy and new manager effectiveness tracks. Programs emphasize skills including inclusive leadership, psychological safety and decision-making.
BridgeBio: Minimizing Bureaucracy so People Do Their Best Work
Like Amneal, BridgeBio ranked highly across all eight attributes. The company, which discovers, creates, tests and delivers medicines that treat genetic diseases, scored highest for flexibility and remote work, innovation and reputation.
The award validates BridgeBio’s unique approach to working, according to Josh Loehrer, the biopharma’s chief people officer. He told BioSpace that what differentiates the company is its approach to people and process. On the employee side, he noted, “We build small teams of really high-performing and passionate people, and then we create an environment that removes and minimizes bureaucracy and allows those people to do their best work.”
We build small teams of really high-performing and passionate people, and then we create an environment that removes and minimizes bureaucracy and allows those people to do their best work.
While BridgeBio doesn’t have a flat organizational structure, the company structurally operates as decentralized, and employees are encouraged to speak up, according to Loehrer.
“We want the people who are closest to the problem, who know the data and who, as we say, sweat the details, we want those people to be the ones that are driving the decision-making process as well,” he said. “So, we deliberately avoid and minimize bureaucracy and hierarchical decision-making and try and push autonomy down into the business.”
From a process perspective, Loehrer shared that BridgeBio cares as much about process as about outcomes, noting that the latter can be uncertain in drug development.
“If you have a good process, then you’re setting yourselves up for more successful outcomes over time,” he said.
When it comes to flexibility and remote work, the attribute where the company scored highest, Loehrer noted that the preference is for people to be in the office. However, he added, BridgeBio recognizes that various factors pull on staff’s time and demands and that sometimes, the company must go beyond where it’s headquartered to find the best talent. So, the biopharma offers flexibility, allowing team leaders to decide how and where teams should work. Many employees are hybrid, with very few fully remote or fully in the office, according to Loehrer.
Looking ahead, as BridgeBio continues to grow in and outside the U.S., Loehrer said it must be deliberate about how it builds its culture and engages employees. For example, the company is reviewing what it calls its meaningful moments, such as the onboarding experience. Loehrer said BridgeBio wants to ensure it’s not only educational but also exciting so that employees look forward to being part of the biopharma’s journey.
The company is also looking at how to grow its patient days, where employees hear from people in the communities they serve. After all, Loehrer noted, one of BridgeBio’s values is putting patients first.
“For us, it goes beyond words on a website and pictures on a website,” he said. “For us, it really is integrated into how we make decisions, into how we inspire and motivate our employees and how we build community.”
2026 Best Places to Work winners, large employers: AbbVie, Eli Lilly and Company, Insmed, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Takeda, Amgen, argenx, Regeneron, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Daiichi Sankyo, Moderna, United States Pharmacopeia (USP), Lundbeck, BioMarin, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Novo Nordisk, GSK, Promega.
2026 Best Places to Work winners, small employers: BridgeBio, Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Mediar Therapeutics, Avidity Biosciences, EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, TG Therapeutics, Beam Therapeutics, Apogee Therapeutics, Mirum Pharmaceuticals, AnaptysBio, Civica Rx, ATCC, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, A2 Biotherapeutics, Mirador Therapeutics, Visterra, COUR Pharma, Tessera Therapeutics, Spyre Therapeutics, enGene, Syner-G Biopharma Group, Genezen, Star Therapeutics, Forge Biologics, Abcuro, Arcturus Therapeutics, Protara Therapeutics, OmniAb, Terray Therapeutics, ModeX Therapeutics.
For more information, visit 2026 Best Places to Work.
