35 Jobs You Can Pursue With a Career in Pharmaceuticals

Updated February 3, 2023

A career in pharmaceuticals is a job or position that you can find within a pharmaceutical organization. These jobs often vary in skill level and expertise and are placed in various departments throughout the company, including research and development, quality assurance and sales and marketing. In this article, we give you a list of 35 jobs you can find in a pharmaceutical company based on its different departments.

Types of careers in pharmaceuticals

Here is a list of 35 jobs you can find in the different pharmaceutical company departments:

Research and development

Here are seven jobs you can find in the research and development department:

1. Laboratory technician

National average salary: $19.40 per hour

Primary duties: A laboratory technician conducts several experiments and technical projects in a lab. They also perform other tasks including, taking notes of experiment results, cleaning equipment, sample testing and mixing chemical compounds.

2. Microbiologist

National average salary: $65,355 per year

Primary duties: A microbiologist often studies and works with microorganisms. In pharmaceuticals, their work focuses on monitoring microorganism contamination in the company's products. In the lab, they might conduct microorganism testing, keep a record of test results and create strategies to control contamination.

3. Biomedical engineer

National average salary: $85,989 per year

Primary duties: A biomedical engineer works to design, create and maintain special scientific equipment. This equipment is often used to help make pharmaceutical research and development more efficient and produce results at a quicker rate.

4. Product development scientist

National average salary: $87,465 per year

Primary duties: The product development scientist works to create an efficient and successful path to a product's creation. Some of their job responsibilities include planning and organizing production trials, recording and analyzing data and consulting with engineers and other scientists on staff.

5. Senior scientist

National average salary: $112,209 per year

Primary duties: A senior scientist oversees other scientists and lab assistants and helps delegate tasks to them. They also help reach research and development goals through helpful instruction, leadership and experimentation.

6. Research scientist

National average salary: $113,667 per year

Primary duties: Research scientists plan and perform experiments, analyze sets of data and interpret the results. After, they may also present the information they've learned to senior scientist and staff in order to help them solve any issues or challenges they might have in the developmental stage.

7. Principal scientist

National average salary: $155,338 per year

Primary duties: Principal scientists often oversee the management and organization of a scientific lab. They generate new projects and areas of research for the lab to investigate and help develop products that benefit both the scientific and business areas of a pharmaceutical company.

Clinical trials

Here is a list of four clinical trial department jobs:

1. Epidemiologist

National average salary: $82,850 per year

Primary duties: An epidemiologist focuses their studies on the causes and patterns of disease outbreaks. They also try to figure out how outbreaks affect certain communities and try to find solutions to prevent them in the future.

2. Clinical research associate

National average salary: $97,420 per year

Primary duties: A clinical research associate, much like a clinical research scientist, helps companies conduct clinical trials. However, they are also in charge of coordinating trial sites, writing trial protocols and training staff.

3. Clinical trial administrator

National average salary: $106,152 per year

Primary duties: The clinical trial administrator is a managerial position that oversees a clinical trial in its entirety. They provide administrative support to clinical trial associates, consult with trial sponsors and ensure all patient documentation and results remain confidential.

4. Clinical research scientist

National average salary: $123,143 per year

Primary duties: Clinical research scientists help scientific companies conduct clinical trials following strict rules and regulations. They recruit and screen patients, handle documents and trial materials and submit results to the company upon completion.

Production and manufacturing

Here are six production and manufacturing positions you can pursue:

1. Packaging operator

National average salary: $14.78 per hour

Primary duties: A packaging operator takes a pharmaceutical company's finished product and packages it according to the company regulations. They then organize all the packaged products for the company to sell and distribute.

2. Cleanroom operator

National average salary: $16.59 per hour

Primary duties: A cleanroom operator assembles and inspects the equipment used in the company's cleanrooms. The cleanrooms maintain a sterile environment to ensure that the company does not contaminate its products during creation and packaging.

3. Production supervisor

National average salary: $62,017 per year

Primary duties: Production supervisors work on the production floor to oversee the creation and packaging of products. They also create employee schedules and help resolve any production issues or challenges.

4. Manufacturing engineer

National average salary: $82,647 per year

Primary duties: Manufacturing engineers design, create and maintain the equipment and machinery that the company uses to produce their pharmaceutical products. They try to create machines that production floor workers can safely operate with little training.

5. Process engineer

National average salary: $89,928 per year

Primary duties: The process engineer helps develop the manufacturing systems that allow pharmaceutical companies to produce their goods and services. They often focus their work on the chemical or biochemical functions necessary to generate the drugs and medication that the company will sell.

6. Instrumentation engineer

National average salary: $99,122 per year

Primary duties: Instrumentation engineers create and maintain equipment used to monitor the production machinery and process. They often work collaboratively with manufacturing engineers to create a safe and efficient manufacturing system.

Regulatory affairs

Here are two jobs you can find in the regulatory affairs department:

1. Regulatory affairs specialist

National average salary: $77,915 per year

Primary duties: A regulatory affairs specialist works to obtain government approval for drugs and other related materials. They help pharmaceutical companies overcome any legal challenges that might prevent them from creating certain products.

2. Pharmacovigilance manager

National average salary: $114,629 per year

Primary duties: Pharmacovigilance managers help to monitor and report side effects of drugs and other pharmaceutical products. They also try to determine how effective the drugs are in their desired purpose. Pharmacovigilance managers might conduct their studies in hospitals, clinical trials or in the general population.

Validation

Here are two jobs you can pursue in the validation department:

1. Validation manager

National average salary: $92,456 per year

Primary duties: The validation manager oversees the validation department and manages the team of technicians and engineers. They create staff schedules, communicate with other department managers and assist in the creation and maintenance of the validation systems.

2. Validation engineer

National average salary: $95,624 per year

Primary duties: Validation engineers create different systems that conduct validation tests on equipment and processes used in creating pharmaceutical products. They also ensure that the processes and equipment are creating consistent results. The engineers oversee the implementation of the systems and make adjustments if necessary.

Quality assurance and control

Here is a list of four quality assurance and control positions:

1. Documentation specialist

National average salary: $17.83 per hour

Primary duties: The documentation specialist writes, collects and maintains a pharmaceutical company's documents. They might also help to create new documentation systems or make adjustments to a company's current systems to improve their efficiency.

2. Quality control analyst

National average salary: $62,442 per year

Primary duties: A quality control analyst tests the final product of the manufacturing process to make sure that it is safe and meets all company requirements. Once the tests are complete, the company can package the product for selling and distribution.

3. Quality engineer

National average salary: $75,586 per year

Primary duties: Quality engineers design and create tests to examine the quality of a company's manufactured products. They might also examine the quality of employee training, analyze customer feedback on certain products and create reports to present to the company.

4. Senior quality specialist

National average salary: $77,971 per year

Primary duties: Senior quality specialists use the tests that quality engineers designed to inspect products and all aspects of production and manufacturing. They might also work to make sure manufacturing equipment is up to date, train employees on quality policies and create standard operating procedures for the company and its staff.

Operations

Here are five jobs you can find in the operations department:

1. Maintenance technician

National average salary: $18.26 per hour

Primary duties: Maintenance technicians assemble, maintain and repair machinery that companies use to produce goods. They help find faults in the production equipment, ensure all employees are following safety instructions and keep detail records of completed maintenance procedures.

2. Calibration technician

National average salary: $21.67 per hour

Primary duties: Calibration technicians work with specialized equipment and ensure that they are performing with accuracy. They might conduct routine tests, analyze testing results of equipment to make sure they meet criteria and repair broken machinery as necessary.

3. Project engineer

National average salary: $77,935 per year

Primary duties: Project engineers oversee the work of other engineers and department heads within the company and help them fulfill company requirements. Project engineers often generate assignments for departments and ensure they stay within a certain budget. They might also help gather the right personnel for the job and create a plan to help departments achieve their goals.

4. Automation engineer

National average salary: $89,749 per year

Primary duties: Automation engineers work with departments to help automate certain parts of the manufacturing process. They plan and implement special technology they can use to streamline production systems.

5. Facilities engineer

National average salary: $94,346 per year

Primary duties: Facilities engineers help maintain different manufacturing buildings within the company to ensure that they meet standards necessary for production. This can include maintaining specific environments using heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) or focusing their attention on preventing health and safety issues from chemicals or other harmful substances.

Sales and marketing

Here are five jobs you can pursue in the sales and marketing department:

1. Marketing executive

National average salary: $3,680 per month

Primary duties: Marketing executives oversee marketing departments to help them develop promotions and campaigns to advertise different products and services. Marketing executives often meet with other managers and department heads to learn about the products being sold and understand the benefits they provide to consumers.

2. Medical representative

National average salary: $5,980 per month

Primary duties: Medical representatives are sales associates that meet with healthcare professionals in person to inform them of company products and attempt to sell pharmaceutical goods and medical supplies. Medical representatives often have special authorizations to conduct meetings and sales pitches inside hospitals and healthcare facilities.

3. Marketing assistant

National average salary: $46,259 per year

Primary duties: A marketing assistant works in the marketing department and helps the executives and team members perform their promotional functions. They might perform market research, conduct consumer surveys and generate helpful reports that inform the marketing department how to best advertise their assigned products.

4. Medical science liaison

National average salary: $72,921 per year

Primary duties: Medical science liaisons establish and maintain relationships with doctors and other medical professionals and provide them with specific scientific details and benefits about pharmaceutical products. They can also use these relationships to help determine what pharmaceutical goods or tools doctors are looking for and communicate those desires to the research and development department.

5. Sales manager

National average salary: $79,991 per year

Primary duties: A sales manager oversees the staff of the sales department and helps them fulfill their company assigned quotas. They can also approve certain discounts and promotions, give sales associates leads on who to contact and coach their employees on effective selling techniques.