Alex Philippidis Senior News Editor Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Looking for a job? These companies need workers.

Following is a list of 10 pharmaceutical giants, ranked by their numbers of available jobs as posted on their corporate websites the week of June 17–21. Companies are listed with their total numbers of jobs worldwide, total number of jobs in the nation with the highest number, percentage of jobs accounted for by the top nation, the next five (or in Eli Lilly’s case, four) nations with jobs posted on the company’s website, and the percent of available jobs accounted for by those nations.

The results show both the U.S.’ continuing dominance of the industry, since nine of 10 companies hired the highest numbers of employees Stateside—as well as significant hiring overseas, especially in China (which dominated Eli Lilly’s listings of available jobs) and Europe.

Belgium was the top nation after the U.S. in listings posted by two pharma giants, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit. J&J numbers reflect Janssen job postings, since that unit specializes in prescription drug development worldwide. Also placing among next-five nations of most pharmas were three of Europe’s four biopharma powerhouses, the U.K. (seven of 10 companies), France and Germany (five each). The fourth, Switzerland, was a top-five hiring choice of just the two pharmas headquartered in that nation, Novartis and Roche.

After China and Europe, several nations figure in a few companies’ job postings: Canada and Mexico are among next-five countries of two companies, as are Australia and Singapore. So too is the Netherlands. But the presence of Poland and Ukraine indicate that Eastern Europe will have at least some future in the hiring plans of biopharmas, as will the Middle East and Asia (India, Taiwan).

The listings cannot say if companies truly plan to fill every one of those hundreds and hundreds of listed positions; hiring plans are often as volatile as the economy and drug discovery ups-and-downs. And some of the listed jobs may have already been filled by the time you read this. But the job listings can be viewed as a barometer of enduring big pharma health, at least in the business areas still seen as pharma strengths, such as business development, project engineering, technical services, and quality control—even as most of the industry giants have laid off thousands of R&D and sales staffers in recent years, while some are planning new rounds of workforce reductions.

#10. Bristol-Myers Squibb

368 total worldwide jobs listed on website

Top nation: U.S., with 318 jobs listed on website

U.S. % of available jobs: 86.4%

Next five countries: Ireland and United Kingdom (12 jobs each); France (9)1; Belgium (7); Spain (5)

Next five countries % of available jobs: 12.2%

#9. Eli Lilly2

484 total worldwide jobs listed on website

Top nation: China, with 319 jobs listed on website2

China % of available jobs: 65.9%

Next four countries2: U.S. (146 jobs); Canada (16); Australia (2); U.K. (1)

Next four countries % of available jobs: 34.1%

#8. AstraZeneca3

544 total worldwide jobs listed on website3

Top nation: U.S., with 259 jobs listed on website3

U.S. % of available jobs: 47.6%

Next five countries: China (202 jobs); U.K. (55)3; France (11); Turkey (8); Sweden (7)

Next five countries % of available jobs: 52.0%

#7. AbbVie

555 total worldwide jobs listed on website

Top nation: U.S., with 367 jobs listed on website

U.S. % of available jobs: 66.1%

Next five countries: Germany (68 jobs); China (28); France (20); U.K. (16); The Netherlands (14)

Next five countries % of available jobs: 26.3%

#6. Johnson & Johnson / Janssen Pharmaceuticals

655 total worldwide jobs listed on website

Top nation: U.S., with 232 jobs listed on website

U.S. % of available jobs: 35.4%

Next five countries: Belgium (81 jobs); China (63); The Netherlands (40); Mexico (30); France (26)

Next five countries % of available jobs: 36.6%

#5. GlaxoSmithKline

733 total worldwide jobs listed on website

Top nation: U.S., with 223 jobs listed on website

U.S. % of available jobs: 30.4%

Next five countries: Belgium (174 jobs); U.K. (114); Singapore (55); Australia and Germany (33 each)

Next five countries % of available jobs: 55.8%

#4. Pfizer

815 total worldwide jobs listed on website

Top nation: U.S., with 332 jobs listed on website

U.S. % of available jobs: 40.7%

Next five countries: China (249 jobs); U.K. (26); Mexico (18); Taiwan (17); Ukraine (16)

Next five countries % of available jobs: 40.0%

#3. Sanofi4

1,427 total worldwide jobs listed on website4

Top nation: U.S., with 744 jobs listed on website

U.S. % of available jobs: 52.1%

Next five countries: China (465 jobs); France (68); Germany (51); Canada (45); U.K. (18)

Next five countries % of available jobs: 45.3%

#2. Roche

1,450 total worldwide jobs listed on website

Top nation: U.S., with 591 jobs listed on website

U.S. % of available jobs: 40.8%

Next five countries: Switzerland (240 jobs); Germany (192); China (148); Poland and Singapore (40 each)

Next five countries % of available jobs: 45.5%

#1. Novartis

2,740 total worldwide jobs listed on website

Top nation: U.S., with 1,096 jobs listed on website

U.S. % of available jobs: 40.0%

Next five countries: Switzerland (500 jobs); Germany (224); U.K. (127); India (113); Austria (109)

Next five countries % of available jobs: 39.2%

Notes:
1 For France, available jobs include two “European headquarters” positions based in Rueil-Malmaison, a suburb of Paris
2 Figures include three Lilly subsidiaries, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, ImClone, and Elanco (Animal Health). Chinese figure includes 307 jobs posted in Chinese and an additional 12 in English. Following China, only four additional countries had jobs posted on the company’s website
3 Figures combine jobs listed by AstraZeneca and its subsidiary MedImmune. Total worldwide jobs include 411 listed by AstraZeneca and 133 by MedImmune. U.S. jobs include 148 listed by AstraZeneca and 111 by MedImmune. U.K. figure includes 33 listed by AstraZeneca and 22 by MedImmune.
4 Includes combined figures for Sanofi, Sanofi-Aventis, Sanofi-Pasteur, Sanofi-Pasteur MSD, Genzyme, Merial, and Zentiva. Not all countries disclosed available jobs on websites, though all figures come from official websites of Sanofi and subsidiaries

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