Job Trends
Labor Market Reports
BioSpace’s 2026 U.S. Life Sciences Employment Outlook examines the state of the biopharma workforce amid ongoing funding pressure, elevated layoffs and cautious hiring sentiment, while highlighting early signals of stabilization and cautious optimism for the year ahead.
BioSpace’s 2025 Q4 U.S. Life Sciences Job Market update highlights early signs of stabilization in biopharma hiring, with modest gains in job postings, slowing layoffs, and cautiously improving sentiment heading into 2026.
BioSpace’s Q3 2025 U.S. Life Sciences Job Market Report reveals a turbulent quarter for biopharma hiring, with record declines in job postings, rising layoffs, and cautious employer sentiment shaping the industry’s employment landscape.
Now Hiring
Last month, biopharmas let go or projected they would let go of less than 500 people combined, based on BioSpace estimates, down almost 1,000 from January 2025. Still, competition for open jobs remains strong, with employed and unemployed biotech and pharma professionals eyeing their next roles.
Looking for a biopharma job in Boston? Check out the BioSpace list of nine companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
Looking for a biopharma job? Check out the BioSpace list of 12 top companies hiring life sciences professionals like you.
Career Advice
While you should never rely solely on AI tools when applying for jobs, they can greatly benefit the application process. Recruiting expert Bryan Blair discusses how using large language models can set you apart from the competition and includes a prompt framework to get you started.
THE LATEST
Bristol Myers Squibb is continuing its cost-savings measures with layoffs in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. The company announced earlier this year that it will eliminate 2,200 jobs by the end of 2024 in a bid to save $1.5 billion through 2025.
Oncternal Therapeutics will lay off about 10 workers as it explores “strategic alternatives” that could include asset sales or an M&A.
For the first eight months of 2024, California had the most job postings live on BioSpace—37.7% more than Massachusetts. Last year, Massachusetts ranked No.1 for the same time period.
Astellas Pharma’s new life sciences center houses its first U.S.-based SakuLab, an incubator space for external partners, as well as its engineered small molecules unit.
Facing financial challenges, IN8bio is looking to preserve cash resources through a pipeline prioritization and layoffs at its New York City and Birmingham, Alabama, sites.
ImmunityBio will lay off 16 employees in California and said it expects to need more funding to commercialize Anktiva, approved in April for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
Astellas Gene Therapies is closing its San Francisco biomanufacturing facility, shifting gene therapy manufacturing to North Carolina, cutting at least 17 employees and affecting dozens more.
Last week, BioMarin revealed changes to its C-suite; now, the company has announced its second round of layoffs this year, following the termination of 170 employees in May.
Genentech’s latest layoffs are the second round of workforce reductions this year, following the company’s announcement in April that it was letting go around 3% of employees.
For reasons including downsizing, avoiding retirement and a tight labor market, senior-level biopharma professionals are increasingly turning to fractional roles, according to two recruitment experts.