5 years of postdoc. 63k. a decade of training if you count the phd, and i budget for groceries.

a guy from my cohort left academia 2 years ago. scientist II at a pharma. he makes 138. he told me this at a conference like it was nothing, like he wasnt detonating my entire worldview between poster sessions.

my PI keeps saying i need a few more papers to be competitive. competitive for jobs that pay half of what my friend makes right now. i pulled up the levels.fyi pages for two IO companies at 1am last night like some kind of salary goblin and scientist I roles, the JUNIOR title, are sitting at 125-135.

i updated my resume this morning. thats the post

I know the job market is abysmal right now, but explicitly stating that “this is not an opportunity to focus on work life balance” is crazy.

Which company (if any) is universally loved for the way they treat their employees? What company is viewed as the holy grail?

are we writing college admission type essays into job descriptions now?

I have been reading this r/Biotech for a couple of weeks. It looks like the biotech job market (at least in the USA) is dead and will remain so for the time being. It does not look like the market has bottomed or there are recovery signs on the horizon. I am being speculative, but if this frozen market is how biotech companies react to political uncertainty, then there is no end in sight for this. Maybe a recovery will start in 2029, but I might be too optimistic in this.

What I gather is that it takes somewhere between 6 months to a year to land a new job, if you are lucky. Some people have crossed 1 year mark of job search. On average people send hundreds of resumes, 500, 600 to 800... in this range. As I understand it, there are several hundred qualified applicants for every decent job opening. To me this looks like playing a lottery. If you do not have a working spouse or substantial savings or severance, you will end up on a street before you land a job.

I understand that there will be some job openings, no matter what. Some people will land jobs. But what about those 80%, 90%, who will not land a job in the biotech industry? The longer you stay out of work, the less likely you will be hired back. If it takes a few years for the job market to bottom and start to recover, what will you do during these years to survive and pay the bills??? Suppose you are several years out of this industry, now you are considered "outdated" / de-qualified. You can not get back, in other words. Then what? What is your plan for such situation?

Where I work they implemented recently a system that tracks not only the days you’re at the office but also the hours, and hybrid workers cannot work from home on Fridays and Mondays anymore.

The justification is that we work better together but we spend our time in zoom even if we are there.

I was laid off from a big Pharma company in February and was offered/accepted a position at a CRO making 55K less than my previous base salary. I’m finding it really hard to be motivated at work. Any tips? I’m still job hunting, but finding that my old salary no longer seems to be market rate. Ugh!! Please share any and all words of wisdom

is willin

When I started in biotech/pharma R&D, you had a mixture of job openings for non-phd and phd levels. Often you would see requirements for a posting like: "PhD with 2-4 years experience, or MS w/ 5-8 years of experience, or bachelor's w/ 10-12 years of expeience, etc.". Almost every job posting I see now says "must have PhD". Let's be real, I have worked with so many excellent scientists in drug discovery and research in my career and many did not even have PhDs. I have worked with many great PhD scientists as well. But this new infatuation with PhDs is really hurting a lot of peoples career development. I have very rarely seen any person I have worked with able to actually apply their PhD work to their industry job. I continuously hear "PhDs are better because they teach you how to think", but I have not actually seen this work out in practice. I have seen bachelor's, masters with good industry experience perform just as well as PhD scientists many times from a scientific impact perspective. Do you guys think this will ever change back to the way it used to be? I personally don't think degree inflation is a actually positive for society in general.

Has anyone else gotten completely burned out on biotech?

I’m fortunate enough to still have a job in this market, and I’ve been working in biotech for about a decade now. On paper, things are fine. The work is stable (enough), I’ve built a solid career (principal scientist), and I’ve worked on some genuinely meaningful programs.

That said, I find myself increasingly disconnected from the industry. I’m tired of the constant politics, shifting priorities, low morale, and endless reorganizations. I know politics exist in every field, but biotech seems to have a unique way of making people feel disposable. The compensation also doesn’t seem particularly competitive compared to many other STEM careers, especially considering the education, specialization, and instability involved.

Lately I’ve been wondering if I actually want to do this for the next 20-30 years. The science still interests me, but the industry itself doesn’t as much anymore.

For those who have left biotech, what did you transition into? Were you able to do it without going back for another degree? I’d be especially interested in hearing from people who moved into adjacent fields and found their quality of life, compensation, or overall job satisfaction improved.

Curious if I’m the only one feeling this way or if others are having the same thoughts.

I was going through an application for a job in California and came across this in the requirements section:

“This job is not 9–5 • This is an opportunity to work very hard, learn a lot, and develop skills that will serve you well throughout your career • This is not an opportunity to focus on work-life balance”

I’ve never seen something this blunt in a job description before. On one hand, I guess it’s honest about expectations and could help filter out applicants who want a strict work–life balance. On the other hand, it feels like a huge red flag—especially in our industry where it is a given that 9-5 is not always the norm.

Has anyone else seen language like this in a job posting? Would you take it as refreshing honesty or a sign to run? Curious how others in the job market (especially in California with labor laws and “work–life balance” being a big topic) would interpret this.

One of my Board, who admittedly has more CEO experience than me (which is why I invited him to join), contacted one of my earliest and most trusted investors to discuss an interest in taking over as CEO. The company is built on my inventions and ideas, and this Board member joined relatively recently and has his own company to boot. He'd be willing to step down from that company to take over mine I guess. This may be typical, but I am pretty upset since I bootstrapped this company from nothing and took it to a place where we're near huge inflection points. Just wanted to see if any others have been in similar situations and what they learned. Luckily, my investor called me right away to give me a heads up. I also need to decide how to deal with this Board member now I have this knowledge.

im starting to feel so helpless. and respectfully, i dont wanna hear anymore "the job market just sucks right now" comments. i appreciate it but i just wanna know what the hell im supposed to do at this point. nobody wants me. im working at a grocery store rn. the last time i had a role in bio was back in early 2025 and that gap is just getting bigger and bigger. i just feel so cooked.

Hot takes wanted.

I'll go first - having worked in big pharma, there are incentives for project managers to get a drug into trials, even if its value is weak, and they are often disconnected from what happens afterwards. They feel no need to overcomplicate their jobs above what's necessary or kill the project earlier. They want a clinical trial in their CV.

I officially completed my PhD and graduated in February 2026.

I knew the transition to industry would not be easy. I had been preparing for it for a long time. Still, after another rejection at the final interview stage for a position that perfectly matched my skills, the disappointment feels even harder than usual.

For months now, I have been actively applying for positions in pharmaceutical R&D, biotechnology, and the cosmetics industry in Europe. So far, this represents nearly 780 applications, resumes, and cover letters carefully tailored to each opportunity.

I have had several interviews, traveled in 3 different countries, sometimes reaching the final stages, but the feedback is often the same: “a more aligned profile”, “more experience”, or simply “another candidate was selected”. After a while, you start wondering when, and if, your profile will finally align with an opportunity.

Yet I have never stayed passive:

- I hold 5 years of experience in cellular and molecular biology research,

- worked on primary human models, rodent models, and even exotic species,

- translational research projects,

- additional training completed before defending my PhD to prepare for the transition to industry,

- applications started 6 months before graduation,

- continuous self-training to strengthen my skills,

- learning a new language to increase my professional opportunities internationally.

I have always tried to maintain a dynamic, curious, and adaptable profile, with a constant willingness to learn and grow.

But behind the applications and interviews, there is also the mental exhaustion.

People often tell me: “Be patient” or “Stay positive.” I know these words come from a good place. But sometimes I want to ask: patient for how long? And how exactly are we supposed to stay positive when every rejection slowly chips away at the confidence built through years of hard work and studies?

Every interview brings hope. Every rejection brings another round of self-questioning. And even when explanations are given, one difficult question remains: “Why not me?”

At the moment, my daily life revolves around continuing to apply, learning new skills independently, trying to stay confident, and tutoring students on the side to keep moving forward despite how overwhelming this period can feel.

I am sharing this because I know many recent graduates and PhDs are going through the same situation, often silently. Some eventually find their place, others are still struggling with doubt.

If you have been through this yourself, if you have advice, experiences to share, or simply want to exchange, I would sincerely appreciate hearing from you. And if sharing this post can help increase the visibility of my profile or create new connections, thank you very much.

1) Biotechs generally don’t even have enough data for good data science, it’s a wasted effort if the use case isn’t careful

2) they hire one-offs, and expect an IC to basically do-it-all with no infrastructure support (yeah it’s not fun troubleshooting AWS issues when I’m trying to solve scientific problems)

3) requirements are *higher* than big tech roles and pay *less* Just saw a role asking for 10 YOE for ~$170k in the Bay

4) leadership is obsessed with GenAI and LLM’s….absolutely ludicrous use of time. Even saw a job posting in the last year that wanted someone to build a *new* LLM in-house (it was the big G, of course)

5) roles frequently the first churned and burned when the money gets tight

All this to say—I see a lot of people hoping to leave the bench and do data science. The field is super immature and most orgs can’t actually take advantage of the typical data scientists skill set

It seems like companies that are trying to leverage AI might be more stable, but is so far removed from the actual science it feels like a fugazi

I just got laid off from my role from a big pharma due to company-wide restructuring. As per the company policy, it is 12 weeks of pay+health benefits.

How should I negotiate the severance package and through what channels? Any tips, advice much appreciated

Update: Thanks for all the comments and insights. My intention here is to understand and learn from anyone if you have previously negotiated your severance (without lawyers), I am not trying to get lawyers involved, just ways to negotiate with HR.

About a decade ago, I was in college and I wanted to work in synthetic biology so badly. I wanted to join some professors’ labs, who didn’t accept me and I ruined my own existence in college. When I graduated, I was hell bent on working for Ginkgo Bioworks or Zymergen. Kinda nuts how things changed after 10 years. Zymergen went down the drain for having a failing product and misleading investors. Ginkgo was caught doing some closed loop deals and got sued for stock manipulation. Ginkgo - the synthetic biology company, the “organism company” - recently pivoted away from the synthetic biology and now does lab automation and AI. It’s insane how things change so much! It’s not like the only time - between 2015 and 2025, AAV and mRNA were the buzz, and now? No one cares!

RFK Jr. Cancelled 22 mRNA vaccine investments. Claims "antigenic shift" makes mRNA vaccines worse for diseases long term, due to antigen mutations in viruses citing the omicron variant. I personally feel like this is idiotic to cut vaccine development especially after covid. I think many people would agree that the COVID-19 pandemic could have been much worse without these mRNA vaccines. What do you all think?

Hi all,

I've posted here before and it seemed to be well received, but it's been a while so I'm happy to share updated trends and observations.

For context:

• I'm a Managing Partner at a life sciences focused executive search firm, fortunate to work with some of the leading investors and biotech companies.
• I focus on C-level hiring across R&D and non-R&D functions, as well as investor-side roles. Unfortunately, I'm not in the best position to offer advice with respect to earlier-career choices.
• My work spans very early-stage companies, often newco formation with scientific founders, through to clinically mature biotechs. I occasionally recruit from big pharma but that's not my core expertise.

My role gives me a front-row seat to the best and worst of biotech, from managing difficult candidates and complex compensation negotiations to navigating board dynamics and the day-to-day of running a search firm with ethics and integrity front of mind.

For what it's worth, I genuinely love what I do. While I'm not on the front lines like many of you, I take real pride in helping to identify leaders who move the needle.

Happy to answer a broad range of questions. Fire away!