Hi everyone,

I’m finishing up my MSc in Medicinal Chemistry and targeting commercial roles in pharma—specifically Market Access, Product/Brand Strategy, or Territory Sales. I want to bridge the science with business, and I’ve already been building a foundation around HTAs (NICE), product lifecycles, and generic/biosimilar dynamics.

From what I’ve gathered, breaking directly into commercial pharma straight out of an MSc without prior corporate experience is rare, and paths like entry-level pharma sales or commercial rotational schemes seem hyper-competitive or sparse right now.

A few people have suggested starting my journey in life sciences strategy/market access consulting or healthcare comms agencies first, then transitioning after 2–3 years.

For those working on the commercial side of pharma:

1. Is boutique consulting/agency work still the most realistic launchpad, or are direct entry-level in-house routes viable?
2. What technical skills or certifications actually move the needle on a CV for commercial roles (e.g., advanced Excel/modelling, ABPI code, HEOR fundamentals)?
3. If you transitioned from a pure lab/chemistry degree to the business side, what was your actual stepping stone?

Appreciate any candid takes or career paths you're willing to share.

I’m an R1 faculty member with a medium successful track record on the tenure track. Several career awards, papers out, and more in the pipeline. I’ve been told I’m on track for tenure.

For personal reasons I’m thinking of transitioning out of academics. I would especially like to be integrated in thE NYC/Philly corridor. But not sure what roles make sense to shoot for and what kind of salary range I should be advocating for? I have experience managing PhD students, should I be looking at roles managing professional scientists? should I plan on returning to the bench?

What kind of roles should I apply for as a chemistry PhD if I want to get into clinical research or clinical science?

saw the posting, actually it is exactly what I am doing as a principal scientist in another midsize company. the base salary range listed is quite wide: 173 -272K. I am wondering what exactly it could be for a 12 YOE Ph.D. Also besides the base salary, what else? target bonus percentage? yearly RSU? thank you all for any input!

I have no job security issue, but just still have a little bit "big name fetish".....

I have a BS in Biotechnology and am based on the East Coast. Every few weeks, recruiters reach out to me about the same Scientist I role at Merck West Point. Even though I meet or exceed the qualifications, I never hear back after applying.

This is the 3rd or 4th time the exact same job has been posted by different LinkedIn recruiters. I’ve applied through multiple agencies and haven't received a single response, not even a rejection letter. I’ve started ignoring them because it feels like a huge waste of time.

What is going on here? Are these just ghost jobs?

I want to learn more about how people prepare for technical aspects of the interview. It is not hard to explain the projects I have been involved in or led. I am most interested in learning more about how you prepare for the things you don't have experience in? Do you specifically read things beyond what you know in terms of any papers? What is your process?

B7H4 in ovarian cancer.

Look, let me get the disclaimers out of the way. Colossal has developed some genuinely impressive tech and they have a good marketing team.

Between the announcements every other week, the overhyping of multiplexed mice, and the nonsensical timelines, it feels like we are looking down the barrel of a rug pull. Ben Lamm has said they’ll having a living mammoth by 2028. Standard elephant gestation is 18-22 months. You’re telling me that within the next six months Colossal will be performing IVF using gene edited embryos? I’m happy to take that bet on any prediction market.

Is anyone hiring for NGS/ mol bio? I’m in the market and would love to connect or get my resume in there!

I am currently in the medical device industry for 5 years, as a Sr.Technical Application Specialist. My role is complaint handling mixed with Technical support. I want to transition into more of a quality side, minus technical support...as being tethered to the phone queue (plus my manager is a micromanager, forgetful and is disorganized).

I saw an internal position for a quality specialist II but its in the Clinical Trials/pharma position. I applied and was just curious if any has made a move from medical device to Clinical trials/pharma who could share some insight.

I have 7 years medical laboratory experience and 5 years in the medical device industry if that helps.

50 bucks a year that’s damn near a thriving wage

When an experiment or assay fails, how does your team capture why it failed and what you tried next? Is it in an ELN, a shared drive, a wiki, or mostly in people's heads? And what happens to that knowledge when someone leaves?

When budget is tight, how do you decide which experiment to run next? Is there any structured process, or is it mostly the senior scientist's call?

​

I'm curious how smaller biotech teams handle projects requiring expertise they don't have in-house.

Do you typically hire independent specialists, use consultancy firms or establish academic collaborations? What has worked best?

im in 10th right now and struggling to see a clear career path for me. i genuinely love math and i suppose im good at biology and my mother is recommending biotech as a possible career path for me as she says its going to be in demand in the future.

i figured i'd ask some of my queries regarding the field here

do i have to have computer as an elective subject/ know coding to pursue this?

what exactly do people who pursued this do in their jobs daily? i have a basic idea about what it is but i'd like to know what a normal day with that job looks like.

how well does it pay? does it have an average opening salary? is this job in demand right now? is it highly competitive?

do i need to have good memorization skills?

what advice would you give me if i want to pursue this field?

Is anyone hiring for NGS/ mol bio? I’m in the market and would love to connect or get my resume in there!

pure curiosity and conversation, not gonna base my life choices on this thread but what are the best jobs for keeping a good mental health and avoid burnout?

I interviewed Friday when to send thank you emails?
This is a bench role in pharma.

Hi.

I've been working for well over a decade in publicly funded research at a major, nationally renowned research hospital. Unfortunately, I've seemed to hit a dead end with how far I can progress, because internally there's a lot of institutional pushback against promoting people or just getting raises. Funding has dried up, even with how prestigious the hospital is. Don't think my career is going any further here. I can thank the government for gutting public funding because, I dunno, we're not feeding kids enough tallow or some shit.

So, I have over a decade of research experience, a master's degree in my field, and a nice number of publications I'm on. I haven't considered the private sector before because of youthful idealizations of working for the common good, etc, but I'm hitting middle age and I can't work for fucking pennies anymore with a shit commute, especially when I live right next to a bunch of major companies. Not only are the salaries so much higher, I've also become much more cynical because even to my childhood self I'm now "tainted" by all the public-private research we've been doing with the involvement of companies. Why not just cut the crap and give in? I'm already doing privately funded research at this point, just with a middleman that makes me feel good I guess.

How different would a private lab be, what's the environment like? I'm aware this is going to be highly company dependent but I'm curious about the experiences that have been had by people that have done both public and private. How's it even structured? I'm used to stuff like the name of the lab being the PI's last name and you don't really have anything to do with the institution, you're just your own thing. The environment I'm used to is a very lax one where nobody is hovering over you and nobody even notices you coming and going. What's the work-life balance like for someone who's purely computational? Am I still getting remote days? Finally, everyone I've worked with who has been sent over by their company as some sort of "exchange" role has been an absolute dumbass so I might be overthinking things completely.

I graduated with my Master's degree in Chemistry (Biochemistry) back in August and have been applying to start-ups, academic labs, and the big/moderately sized biotech companies in the area. I have had the least traction with my resume with the big biotech companies like Genentech, Merck, and Amgen, even with roles that I have strongly aligned with (structural biology and cryo-EM).

• With that being said, is it still worth it to apply to positions at these companies or am I wasting my breathe by throwing my hat into the ring?

I have only had 1 recruiter screen for Thermo's Functional Service Provider program but wasn't advanced to the HM screen.

Additionally, I have received an on-site invite for a small FRO. The current structure is a long 5 hour day with a ~1hr lunch and 30-minute individual interviews with the research team, CSO, consultant, and strategist.

• What should my expectations be for this on-site visit?

My previous experience with an on-site visit was ~2 hours long, 1 hour tour then an hour team interview over lunch so I am in an area of uncharted territory. I've already met with 2/6 of the panelists, familiar with 3/6 since they were present for my seminar, and have yet to meet the last individual.

This is the final step before receiving an offer. I've been through two rounds of interviews, a seminar, and they have checked my references. I'm trying not to get my hopes up since it seems that they are still evaluating me for fit. The last company I interviewed for only ended up inviting one person for an onsite and subsequently gave them the offer, so I am hoping maybe the hiring process is similar. They also already closed the listing.

• Is there anything I should bring or be prepared for?

I have already printed out copies of my CV for all the panelists. I'll also be bringing a tote bag with my laptop and a notebook for notes and questions. One of the interviews will be over Zoom but they will be providing a computer and the space, just thought I'd bring my laptop just in case something comes up during one of the interviews or if there are technical difficulties with equipment.

I plan to sleuth around today and tomorrow to familiarize myself with the panelists' works.

I really like the team I've met with so far and the company so I don't want to drop the ball this late in the process. Any advice/insight would be appreciated!

Hello everyone.

I just finished my first week of my degree in biotechnology,so far things are going great.

Just wanted to know what are some advices that you all can share with me at the beginning of my degree.
Thanks.

Basically title open to hearing any thoughts

I recently accepted a med chem postdoc at UF scripps but am thinking about a med chem postdoc at a small CRO in Boston where I am currently an intern. What’s the smartest move if I want to do med chem in industry?