As pharmas reshore manufacturing, they’re squaring off with each other to find the right personnel to staff up their plants. That task is challenging given the limited talent pool, difficulty filling critical roles and, in some cases, competition from data centers.
As pharmaceutical companies expand existing manufacturing facilities and add new ones to reshore operations to the U.S., there is concern about how well they can build the workforce needed to open and operate those sites.
Sheena Dempsey, CEO of CAI, which provides manufacturing experts and consultants to stand up global manufacturing plants, is among those wondering if supply can keep up with demand. She told BioSpace that with pharmas pursuing the same people for open positions, there is a war for talent—and it will get even hotter in 2027 and 2028.
Dempsey added that a complicating factor is the industry is competing with data centers for talent to build and commission new facilities. For example, she said, in Texas, where pharmas and data centers are putting up plants, companies can’t hire or train fast enough across all organizational levels, from engineers to supervisors.
“It’s a significant challenge for the industry, and there’s no simple solutions,” she said.
Talent availability is the defining constraint on U.S. therapeutic biologics manufacturing growth, according to a 2026 Global Location Strategies report. Biological product manufacturing not including diagnostics employs over 46,000 people in the country and has grown 5.1% annually over the past decade, the report noted. However, it added, “Only a handful of regions can offer talent at sufficient scale to support large biologics facilities.”
In a BioPharma International interview in January, Eric Langer, president of market strategy and consulting firm BioPlan Associates, said biopharmaceutical manufacturing entered 2026 with a mounting workforce crisis that threatens global capacity. Based on a BioPlan study, he noted that a significant share of facilities can’t fill critical roles. The study found that 36% of respondents are unable to hire process development staff, 28% struggle to hire downstream production personnel and 27% lack sufficient process engineers.
The growing need for talent
Pharma’s largest companies have announced over $160 billion combined in U.S. manufacturing spending following President Donald Trump’s 2025 threat of levying tariffs on organizations that don’t reshore operations. Businesses making investments include AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Roche and Takeda. The pharmas are expanding or building manufacturing facilities in states including California, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. Those sites combined are expected to employ thousands of manufacturing professionals.
For example, Eli Lilly announced Sept. 21 it broke ground on a Houston manufacturing site that will produce domestic active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). The company expects the $6.5 billion facility will create more than 600 high-wage jobs, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians.
In other recent news, BMS announced in August that it will spend $2.3 billion to build a new manufacturing campus in Houston to speed up delivery of next-generation medicines. The company expects the facility will employ 500 skilled professionals initially in roles including operations technicians; production specialists; maintenance and engineering professionals; quality control and assurance experts; and site leadership and administration.
As to examples of state-level talent demand, Indiana life sciences initiative BioCrossroads notes that industry projections estimate a need for 2,400 to 3,700 new biomanufacturing employees per year over the next decade in Indiana.
The manufacturing functions most in demand now are process engineers, chemical engineers and project managers, according to Dempsey. She expects that demand to continue over the next few years.
Training and replacing talent
With manufacturing talent availability an issue, the Global Location Strategies report recommends a dual-track workforce strategy that expands the domestic talent pipeline while maintaining access to specialized expertise. State and regional partners, the report noted, should:
- Scale bioprocessing and good manufacturing practice (GMP) programs
- Develop apprenticeships and co-ops
- Reskill workers from adjacent industries
- Strengthen industry-university partnerships tied to measurable placement outcomes
“At the same time,” the report advised, “targeted immigration pathways for experienced specialists must complement these efforts to meet immediate operational needs as domestic capacity builds.”
Dempsey’s firm, CAI, is taking action that aligns with Global Location Strategies’ recommendations. The company is working with trade schools in the U.S. and Europe to identify talent early and bring them on in an internship program. It’s also considering building an internship program for students who have completed two years of school.
On a state level, training efforts include:
- BioTrain, which provides targeted training, stackable credentials and direct employer partnerships. The program prepares participants for roles from entry-level technicians to advanced bioprocess engineers.
- BioWork, a certificate program in North Carolina that teaches foundational skills to help people start careers as process technicians for a biotech, pharma or chemical manufacturing company.
- A partnership in Texas between Eli Lilly and San Jacinto College meant to produce technicians, operators, maintenance professionals and other manufacturing talent. Lilly experts will support curriculum development and instructor readiness and preparation.
But, while programs are popping up, Dempsey said training isn’t quite at the level it needs to be given workforce needs. She noted, for example, that while a bachelor’s degree isn’t required to be an operator at the early stages of the manufacturing process, as people get deeper into the aseptic GMP side, they need more instruction.
Another challenge Dempsey noted is that manufacturing employees at pharmaceutical companies are aging out and retiring, taking significant experience with them. To avoid replacing those employees with people not trained properly, she said, some pharmas turn to contract workers. However, Dempsey noted, some manufacturing plants working to get off the ground have fallen behind schedule because of outsourcing-related mistakes.
“Too many outside parties were brought in without the oversight and governance, so documentation is missing, skids are just not getting up into production fast enough and then you don’t have a KPI, a governance layer, sort of tracking on what’s working and what’s not working so you can course correct,” she said.
Dempsey added, though, that she’s seeing companies that made mistakes take those learnings to other locations, which she hopes will lead to better outcomes.
