Pharmaceutical industry: roles for doctoral graduates

This is a highly skilled sector with a much higher proportion of doctoral graduates than the average. Research and development, and manufacturing roles are key areas for doctoral graduates, and there is currently demand for a range of often highly-specialist technical skills, as well as for managers. There are also roles available in finance and recruitment. The pharmaceutical sector has more direct opportunities for doctoral graduates from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) backgrounds, particularly from the physical sciences and engineering.

‘What Do Researchers Do?' shows that 8.5% of UK-employed doctoral graduates were in manufacturing (of which the pharmaceutical industry is a very significant part) three and a half years after graduation, compared to 8.1% six months after graduation, a small movement from elsewhere into the sector as careers progress.

Doctoral graduates from recent years are known to have worked in the sector in the following profiled roles:

• Analytical chemists
• Biochemists
• Biologists
• Chemists
• Education psychologists
• Management consultants
• Marketing executives
• Mechanical engineers
• Metallurgists and material scientists
• Microbiologists
• Pharmacologists
• Production and process engineers
• Research and development managers
• Social science, arts and humanities researchers
• Statisticians
• Technical authors