Business stage is just one factor in whether biopharmas want job candidates to have oncology experience for oncology roles. Two recruiters explain when oncology expertise matters most, the mistakes job seekers make and how to make a good impression.
Biopharma professionals who want to get hired in oncology may not need direct or specialized experience in that area, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important, according to two recruiters.
When it comes to direct experience, there are times when it’s necessary, said Margaret Blackwell, global head of talent acquisition and recruiting services at Amplity. She told BioSpace employers in launch mode typically want someone with strong oncology relationships, relevant tumor-type experience and a launch background—people who can step in and be effective quickly.
“They often can’t wait six, nine months to test and see are they going to make it or not,” Blackwell said.
As to specialized experience, that’s especially important for clinical operations roles where companies want depth, not breadth, said Todd Gabianelli, vice president of business development at ClinLab Solutions Group. For example, he told BioSpace, many employers want candidates that have experience with specific therapeutic markers.
“They want somebody that’s lived in that therapeutic category, not somebody that’s been exposed to it,” Gabianelli said.
Speed is also a factor for clinical operations roles. Gabianelli explained that in specialized or precision oncology, the protocols are nuanced, and employers don’t have time to wait for candidates to spend six to eight months getting trained up on them.
“The studies are progressing fast, so they need that specific complex protocol experience,” he said.
The trend of companies not settling for generalists for clinical operations roles began when funding and capital tightened, according to Gabianelli. The job market shifted from “everybody was hiring to every hire had to have a very specific, warranted reason,” he said.
Still, companies will hire people without oncology experience for oncology roles. Over the past few years, Blackwell said, she’s noticed a trend where some employers that never would have considered candidates without an oncology background will do so. She noted that one reason is that companies have seen some people be successful without that experience.
Another reason, according to Blackwell, is biopharma professionals with oncology expertise can be expensive. Data from the BioSpace 2026 U.S. Life Sciences Salary Report backs up the higher price tag. In 2025, full-time employees or contractors in oncology earned an average base salary of $162,898, while biopharma professionals overall earned $145,349, according to the report.
As Blackwell noted earlier, business stage also influences employers’ hiring decisions. While launch-mode companies favor those with oncology experience, biopharmas with an existing drug and experienced team may consider candidates with adjacent experience in areas such as immunology or rare disease, she explained.
Where candidates miss the mark
Based on their work with companies hiring oncology professionals, Blackwell and Gabianelli identified a few reasons candidates don’t always make the best impression on employers. One is that some biopharma professionals are too compensation driven because oncology salaries and packages can be extremely high, Blackwell noted. She shared that her firm once pulled an offer for a candidate who had years of experience and many connections but was too caught up in trying to negotiate an already generous deal. That person came across as being in it for the money, she said.
Companies want candidates who are committed to the opportunity and mission, Blackwell emphasized. She explained that those factors matter because they link to employee retention, which is important to employers.
Another misstep Blackwell identified is that some biopharma professionals who haven’t worked in oncology before may underestimate the scientific acumen required to succeed in that space. For example, she said, someone coming from cardiovascular could take several months to grasp how the treatment paradigm, offices, practices and terminology differ.
“They can underestimate it, and that’s what’s hard—when a candidate’s all excited because they’ve been successful and they really, really, really want it, because most people really, really want to be in oncology,” Blackwell said. “Very few make it in there, but they don’t understand that a lot of people just are not successful.”
Gabianelli highlighted how clinical operations candidates tend to oversell their general clinical operations experience as oncology specific, an approach whose time has passed. A few years ago, he said, someone who had spent over a decade running a dermatology or diabetes trial would have had sufficient experience. Now, he noted, hiring managers want candidates who’ve done oncology-specific work that includes depth in areas including biomarker triggers and dose escalation studies.
Landing the job: tips for success
Blackwell and Gabianelli offered a few tips for biopharma professionals seeking oncology jobs. Some of Gabianelli’s recommendations can be used before people apply.
- Find two or three recruiters who specialize in oncology and who have relationships with oncology hiring managers.
- Attend two or three networking events per year so you can have conversations with hiring managers and get your name in front of them.
- Attend local conferences and any career-oriented sessions to learn what employers are looking for. Then, customize your experience to fit that profile.
Regarding the application and interview process, Gabianelli recommended that those seeking clinical operations roles lean less on science and more on operational experience.
“Instead of overtalking the science behind some of these dose escalation trials or what have you, know enough that they know you know it, but then operationally, how certain things within the execution of the study could cause significant delays and how those costs bear into the project as well,” he said.
For roles in areas like data management and statistics, Gabianelli advised that candidates have an awareness and understanding of a therapeutic category but emphasized that it’s more important to focus on the “blocking and tackling” of the job function.
Blackwell’s advice included guidance for biopharma professionals who want to move into oncology without prior experience in that area. She said they should clearly explain why that space matters to them and how their prior experience will transfer.
As to that “why,” Blackwell noted that candidates who share how cancer has touched them or important people in their lives can stand out from the competition, even against people with more experience.
“If you’ve lived it and been through it, there’s just a level of understanding,” she said.
