Life Sciences Global HR Trends Report 2026

The life sciences industry is growing.
Talent decides the pace. 

Life Sciences Global HR Trends Report 2026

The Life sciences industry is growing. Talent decides the pace. 

You already know the sector is moving fast.
Our report helps you move with purpose.

Built with Lightcast and Excellera Intelligence, informed by 10,000 candidates across 20 countries. Our study combines labour market intelligence with what workers are actually looking for in BioPharma, MedTech, and Research, Testing and Medical Laboratories.

Get the 2026 briefing. Keep out the guesswork.

What you'll find inside

    1. Q4 2025 demand update
    2. Global talent hubs
    3. Attraction and retention drivers
    4. Lifelong employability
    5. DEIB experience and outcomes
3M+
job postings in 2025
20
countries analysed by Lighcast
10,000
candidates surveyed by Excellera Intelligence


What has been driving life sciences hiring demand?

In 2025, hiring demand stayed high because the baseline shifted, not because the spike returned.

2025 did not cool demand.
It clarified it by bringing new positive year-on-year growth, while the life sciences industry continued to record over 3 million job postings annually.

That matters because a high baseline changes planning.
Timelines stretch, competition sharpens, and in 2026 “we’ll hire later” starts to cost real time.
We also show how this plays out differently by subsector, which is why one-size workforce planning keeps underperforming.

Read the signals. Plan the hires.

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Global Outlook

Discover where supply is tightening, and what it means by region

Regions are behaving differently. That’s your edge if you read it early.

  • From 2018 to 2024, North America was the only region to record a positive growth rate (5%) in overall life sciences supply-to-demand balance, while Europe recorded -7%.
  • Worse off were Africa (-35%) and Latin America (-38%), with our analysis also flagging role pressure across Asia and Oceania and Central Asia and the Middle East.

Hire by region. Win by design.
This is the difference between “global HR strategy” and execution that actually lands. 

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How do life sciences employers attract and retain talent in 2026?

Attraction and retention in 2026 come down to stability, work design and rewards people trust.

People are not job-hopping. They are option-checking.

  • Retention starts earlier than resignation. In our survey, 35% of workers are considering a job move within the next six months.
  • What wins attention is refreshingly practical. Over 60% rank stability and reliability as the most attractive employer factor.
  • Pay and benefits still matter, and preferences are clear, with 50% prioritising performance bonuses or profit sharing.
  • Work design is a decision driver too, with improved work-life balance ranking high among reasons for changing roles.

Build teams that stay.
Align the offer, the work, and the reality.

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What does lifelong employability mean in life sciences?

Lifelong employability means building entry routes for young talent and keeping expert capability productive for longer.

The talent pipeline starts earlier than most workforce plans admit. We look at practical routes for ages 15 to 24, including early exposure, internships, vocational pathways, and apprenticeship models that fit regulated environments.

That early design work compounds. Earlier access creates earlier experience, and earlier experience produces tomorrow’s specialists.

 Then comes the other side of the curve: keeping deep expertise in-house. 

  • Across the sector, 14% of employees are aged 55 to 64, reaching nearly one-fifth in some regions.

  • Lifelong employability is also about removing friction for experienced professionals as the work evolves. In our study, 56.72% cite adapting to new technologies as their top challenge.

Build both ends well and you get something rare: capability that grows, stays, and keeps pace.

Discover how to turn longevity into resilience, and entry routes into momentum.

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Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging

Culture writes the policy. People write the score.

DEIB credibility is earned in day-to-day reality.

  • Only 17.43% of workers say DEIB is deeply embedded in company culture.

  • Nearly half (48%) report witnessing or facing discrimination or microaggressions at work.

  • Progression confidence is part of the picture too, with 40% believing bias influences hiring and career progression.

  • We also asked what would improve things first, and employees point to practical moves, from education and awareness to transparency and career growth.

This section helps you prioritise actions that people will actually notice.

Because “we care” is nice. “Here’s what changed” is better.

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Progress is human. Plan accordingly.

The next breakthrough will not recruit itself.

Our study gives you the map and the shortcuts.
Demand and supply by region, the retention triggers people act on, the employability moves that protect expertise and build young pipelines, and the DEIB experience gaps that quietly drive churn.


Download the Life Sciences Global HR Trends Report 2026

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