Pharma Recruitment in Europe: Fast, Cost-Effective Strategies That Work

Julia Koblischke
5 days ago
14 min read

Pharma Recruitment in Europe: Featured Image

Pharma recruitment is difficult, with “significant skills-supply deficits.”

Yes, this quote perfectly captures 2025.

Except it’s from a twenty-year-old ABPI report (2005).

And, in PwC’s 2013 CEO Survey, pharma topped all 19 industries for hiring difficulty, with 51% of biopharma leaders calling recruitment increasingly hard.

And, what about 2025?

Well, no surprises here…

Hays' research shows that 45 % of life-science employers report greater difficulty filling roles than the year before, calling skills shortages their “top 5 challenge for 2025.”

The trend is clear.

In fact, it is very unlikely you’ll ever find a year or region where pharma hiring is easy.

Every time the world shifts (Covid, Ukraine, trade wars, global tensions), the one constant is this: the demand for talent doesn’t drop.

If anything, it spikes.

While much of the high-level conversation focuses on broad policy or future reforms, these do little for hiring managers who need to fill roles now, not in some distant, better future.

The real challenge is immediate: how do you attract, assess, and secure the right talent in a market defined by unpredictability and relentless change?

This article will help you solve those challenges.

To skip industry insights and go directly to challenges and actionable solutions, click here.

If you want to read more about pharma recruitment statistics,

click here.

The Current Situation in the EU Pharma Industry

COVID took its toll, and world powers have learned their lessons about vulnerability. That's why there are incentives for pharma strengthening on both sides of the Atlantic. There is an ongoing battle for the best talent, and pharma is included.

EU pharma is moving to the USA to avoid tariffs, EU counteracts

For instance, Roche plans to invest $50 billion in the U.S. over five years (1). Novartis announced it will invest $23 billion in the United States, while Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson also confirmed sizeable investments.

In 2024, pharmaceuticals represented the largest sectoral import from the EU to the US, reaching a total of $127 billion (€117 billion) (2).

Ireland is among the most vulnerable to US tariffs. It hosts significant manufacturing operations for US pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AbbVie. Other key pharmaceutical and biotech exporters include Denmark, Belgium, and Germany.

32 major EU pharmaceutical companies (3), including Pfizer, Novartis, and AstraZeneca, have urged the EU to reform its pharmaceutical policies. They warn that without changes, up to €103.2 billion ($113 billion) in investment could shift to the U.S. by 2029.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded promptly (1) to pharma industry concerns, pledging to assess the situation and continue the dialogue on possible solutions.

The EU’s 2025 pharmaceutical reforms bring sweeping changes across the entire lifecycle of medicinal products, from clinical development to market access.

Key measures include the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Regulation, requiring joint clinical assessments for certain medicines, and the new EU SoHO platform to streamline data exchange. (4)

This is especially important for advanced therapy medicinal products - ATMPs (gene therapy, somatic cell therapy, tissue-engineered products). Namely, there are over 250 clinical trials in Europe for cell and gene therapies, yet only 20 are on the market (5). This is quite a jump from 11 in 2020, but it's still far behind the US, which has 43.

Choose Europe for Science: The Initiative

A new €500 million “Choose Europe for Science” initiative, launched in March 2025 (6) by the European Commission and universities such as Aix-Marseille, Sorbonne, and Leiden, offers US researchers fast-track visas, lab space, and multi-year “super-grants” as a refuge from Washington’s funding freezes.

President von der Leyen said,

“We want to reach the 3% of GDP target for investment in research and development by 2030.” (7)

Europe’s pharmaceutical market is projected to reach €612,5 billion ($688.4 billion) by 2030, growing at a 5.9% CAGR between 2025 and 2030 (8). Biologics and biosimilars are set to be the fastest-growing segment, while Spain is expected to lead the European countries in growth rate.

Global and EU Pharma Recruitment Statistics

So, how do these developments affect recruiting in the pharmaceutical industry? The following statistics give us an idea:

1. Job postings on the rise

Recruitment statistics show that HR teams are feeling the pressure - 62% are filling more roles than ever. With the rapid growth in the Biopharma sector and MedTech's precision driving momentum, Europe’s life sciences sector is powered by innovation and manufacturing. Over the past 12 months, R&D led hiring activity with 108,778 job postings, followed closely by Biopharma with 108,689, and MedTech with 34,723.(9)

2. How life sciences talent is distributed by region and discipline

On average in the EU, 70% of life sciences employees work in Research, Testing, and Medical Laboratories, 18% in Medical Devices & Equipment, and 12% in Biopharmaceuticals. However, in Ireland, Biopharmaceuticals account for a much higher 35% of the workforce, compared to just 4% in the UK. Germany and Switzerland are close to the EU average.

3. Operational talent in life sciences sees 37% surge in demand

As companies localize manufacturing to mitigate supply chain disruptions, demand for operational roles in pharma organizations has risen sharply, up 37%, compared to just 7% growth in white-collar roles (9). Biopharma and Medical Devices are leading this shift, requiring skilled talent in manufacturing, quality control, and compliance-driven operations.

Laboratory technicians are driving hiring trends in the life sciences sector, accounting for 92,500 postings - three times more than the next most sought-after positions. Pharmacists, research managers, regulatory experts, and project managers follow, playing key roles in turning scientific advances into real-world outcomes.

4. €3.3 billion market growth signals rising demand for computational biology talent

Fueled by advancements in AI, genomics, and drug discovery, Europe’s computational biology market is projected to reach €3.3 billion by 2030, growing at a 12.2% CAGR from 2024 (10). This growth reflects a sharp increase in demand for pharmaceutical professionals skilled in data modeling, algorithm design, and biomedical computing, making it a strategic priority for life sciences companies across the region.

5. 71% of disciplines in acute shortage in the UK Pharma are data and digital roles

Recent UK pharma research showed 5 out of 7 roles in acute shortage are in data and digital fields, including computational chemistry/chemoinformatics and physicochemical modelling (11).

6. 57% of UK pharma companies identified the application of scientific, mathematical, and digital expertise as a key concern

As digital transformation accelerates in the life science industry, many pharma companies struggle to close skill gaps in areas like bioinformatics, computational biology, and systems biology (12). These disciplines require the integration of scientific insight with data-driven tools — yet more than half the industry reports difficulty finding skilled professionals with the right blend of expertise. This disconnect threatens progress in research, clinical operations, development, and innovation.

What's interesting is that “Computational disciplines have been a high-priority shortage in every ABPI survey since 2015.”

7. Roles combining data analytics or AI expertise with biomedical or regulatory knowledge are particularly difficult to fill

A 2024 survey (13) reveals that health-tech investors face growing challenges in sourcing skilled talent. Recent EU pharmaceutical regulations may be compounding the issue, as increased cross-border collaboration raises the demand for specialized, hybrid skill sets that combine regulatory affairs and medical operations. EU regulators are preparing an AI and Big Data work plan, (14) signaling a shift in the skills expected of regulatory professionals toward algorithm oversight and data governance.

8. More than a third of cloud-related pharma job postings in Q2 2024 came from the United States

In Q2 2024, the United States accounted for the largest share of cloud-related job postings in the pharmaceutical sector at 38.58%, followed by India with 22.98% and Spain with 3.67% (15).

9. R&D remains a priority, regardless of market conditions

Even as 2024 already feels distant amid rapid industry shifts, last year’s data reveals a clear trend: R&D remains more essential than ever. A survey of California biotech firms painted a cautious hiring outlook, aligning with national patterns. While overall hiring remains slow, 21% of companies anticipated layoffs (16).

Yet, among those still hiring, the largest share of new roles is in R&D. As EU pharma manufacturing begins to expand into the U.S., it's unclear how this dynamic will evolve, but one thing is certain: highly skilled talent in research and product development continues to be in demand, no matter the circumstances.

10. Pharma Talent Hotspots and Leading City Hubs

Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, and Spain are among the most active life sciences markets (often with the largest talent pools), with Ireland alone home to five of Europe’s top ten talent hubs. Denmark continues to show strong talent demand, with Copenhagen and Aarhus standing out as key growth centers. Regarding biopharma, Spain will have the highest growth, with 7.1% CAGR from 2025 to 2030.

EU Pharma Recruiting Challenges - And Solutions

Let's take a look at the most common talent acquisition challenges pharma hiring managers list - and some of the best approaches to solve them:

Challenge #1: “We can’t find enough specialized talent, fast.”

Niche skillsets (ATMP GMP, pharmacovigilance, AI-drug-discovery) are in short supply and highly mobile.

Key roles gaining importance in the pharmaceutical industry:

Advanced manufacturing professionals – driving innovation and scalability
Supply chain experts – ensuring resilience and efficiency in global operations
AI specialists – accelerating research and development timelines. (52% of companies spend at least $10,000 to fill roles that require AI skills)
Cybersecurity professionals – protecting against growing risks of industrial and national espionage
Cross-border compliance experts – navigating complex international regulatory landscapes
Computational biologists – bridging data science and life sciences for precision medicine.

Solutions

Address scarce-skill gaps on two fronts. First, offer relocation-ready contracts and hybrid (or remote) options to pull qualified experts (ATMP GMP, AI-drug-design, pharmacovigilance) from other EU hubs within weeks.

Second, lock in a steady feed of future talent: sign research MoUs (Memorandums of Understanding) with universities for capstone projects, convert high-performing interns into graduate hires, and upskill existing statisticians or process engineers through focused AI and regulatory boot camps.

For instance, we mentioned computational biologists before as one of the hardest roles to fill. The schools producing this talent are mostly based in the UK and Spain:

University of Cambridge
Imperial College London
Heidelberg University
University of Oxford
The University of Manchester
University of Birmingham
University of Barcelona
Pompeu Fabra University

Support both tracks with a mission-led employer brand and create talent communities and programs for silver-medal candidates, so every new vacancy starts with engaged prospects instead of blank searches.

Wondering how to create a talent community? Find out in our article: Talent Pipelines & Talent Communities: How to Create a Proactive Recruitment Strategy

Challenge #2: “Data-centric candidates get 20-30 % higher offers from tech or fintech.”

Across multiple public salary datasets, data-centric specialists can expect roughly 20-30 % higher base (and even richer total compensation) in pure-tech or FinTech employers than in pharma and biotech. The spread tightens or widens by level and location, but the direction is consistent.

Solution:

Give your candidates and employees a mission. Some popular industries may be better paid, but they don't offer a chance to work on an innovative medicine that will help people.

Research done by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) shows that young people view the pharmaceutical industry as a leading force for good, ranking it above tech (54% vs. 23%), finance (53% vs. 25%), and energy (53% vs. 20%) for its positive societal impact (17).

Rewrite the job ad headline to start with the purpose, not the tasks (“Help launch Europe’s first CRISPR therapy” sounds much better than “Data Scientist III”).

Challenge #3: “Large companies are absorbing local talent.”

When a large company enters a region, it often acts as a talent magnet, attracting professionals from across industries. One of the examples is Novo Nordisk’s manufacturing facility (18).

Solution

While this can pose challenges for smaller employers, increased competition can simultaneously open strategic possibilities.

For instance, some candidates will decline a large corporation’s terms, and others who accept may grow dissatisfied with the constraints of a hierarchical structure. Smaller and mid-sized companies can leverage this situation by engaging those experienced specialists, offering an environment with greater autonomy and more immediate impact.

Read more about Cost-Effective Hiring Strategies.

Challenge #4: “Geographic mismatch.”

New plants sometimes struggle to lure senior hires without relocation support.

Surprisingly, one of the biggest pharma problems in Ireland is housing (19). National Skills Council warns pharma may create 21,000 new jobs by 2027, but “could struggle to fill them”. Interviews, surveys, and workshops with biopharma companies revealed a surprising barrier to talent attraction: housing shortages, especially for international and senior-level hires.

It's almost bizarre that such unrelated matter can halt the development and production of a life-changing drug.

On the other hand, companies try to compensate for that by offering higher salaries and better compensation packages (20), increasing their overall recruitment costs.

Solutions

1. A relocation plan

Offering a good relocation plan could put you ahead of your competitors and save you money. For candidates with families, it can be a deciding factor. Try to provide a video tour of local housing, schools, and partner with councils and real-estate firms to pre-reserve apartments near the plant (Ireland learned this the hard way).

2. Pursue cross-border talent initiatives

Intergovernmental agreements, such as the Germany–India Green Skills Initiative (21) or the Italy–Tunisia (22) life-sciences framework, provide structured channels for recruiting skilled professionals and personnel. In the Italian program, each trainee is paired with a host company at the outset; the firm supervises their training and prepares them for their future position. As a result, new employees arrive already acquainted with the team and operating procedures, allowing them to contribute immediately.

3. Hybrid (and remote) work

While some positions require on-site presence, this isn't necessary for each one. Where possible, offer these possibilities.

4. Mobility

Internal transfers move employees into fresh roles, departments, or sites via promotions and job swaps. It’s a smart way to close talent gaps while rewarding high performers with new challenges.

International moves send experts wherever they’re needed most - especially useful in the pharmaceutical sector when shifting regulations or tariffs push manufacturing to new regions. Placing the right people in the right location keeps pharma operations running smoothly worldwide.

Find out more about recruiting across regions on our Recruitment Process Outsourcing Poland and Recruitment Process Outsourcing Netherlands pages.

Challenge #5: “Retention after the expensive hire.”

Attrition spikes once signing bonuses fade; knowledge walks out the door.

Alarmingly, 45% of the life science turnover is happening within the first year (23). Competing firms watch LinkedIn for the exact anniversary date; recruiters time their outreach to coincide with the end of claw-back periods.

Solution

Retention begins with the right hire. While perks and development programs matter, long-term retention is rooted in strong talent acquisition programs. Give employees room to grow, clear incentives to stay, and a voice from the start. Schedule a stay interview in month two instead of an exit interview in month twelve.

Learn more about attrition and retention: Recruitment Tips for Better Retention and Different Faces of Attrition Costs.

Reducing Pharma Recruitment Costs Without Compromising Talent

Recruitment in life sciences is complex, and most companies don’t have the time or resources to evaluate every option for finding ideal candidates. That’s where Serendi comes in. With deep pharmaceutical hiring expertise, an extensive network, and a footprint in 25 countries, we help you move faster.

Thanks to our embedded recruiters and AI-powered sourcing centers, you can hire up to 40% faster and cut costs by up to 50%.

How does RPO outperform traditional pharmaceutical recruitment agencies?

Embedded recruiters, deeply familiar with your company’s culture and structure, provide a superior candidate journey that agencies simply can’t replicate.

With 60% of our team comprised of psychologists with advanced academic backgrounds and 20% behavior specialists, we create recruitment experiences that drive fit and retention.

A positive candidate experience can even lower salary demands.

For instance, we helped a client in Western Europe hire top tech talent 11% to 20 % below market salaries - while maintaining strong retention levels.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing Can Solve Your Pharma Recruitment Challenges

Partnering with an RPO service provider doesn’t mean giving up control. With Serendi, you outsource recruitment, not oversight.

A good recruitment process outsourcing partner doesn’t replace your team; it extends it, aligning with your culture to deliver consistent hiring results. Our recruiting firm brings speed, scale, and pharma hiring know-how, while you steer the strategy. Let our team of specialists find you the perfect candidate.

With Serendi – you outsource talent acquisition, not control.

Hire pharma talent 40% faster and cut recruitment costs by 50%

Consult Recruitment Experts

Pharma Recruitment Europe: Case Studies

A leading pharmaceutical company needed a scalable recruitment solution for its production sites in Kiel, Germany, and Saint-Prex, Switzerland.

Serendi delivered a full-lifecycle RPO model, blending on-site recruiters with off-site sourcing and coordination experts. We ensured seamless integration with the client’s existing processes and worked closely with HR, managing intern programs, local works council, referrals, and university partnerships.

Result: Hiring process shorter by 30%, 95% probation pass rate. Roles covered: Quality, Process, and Product Engineers, Operators, Technicians, and Lab Assistants.

A company needed ultra-niche R&D talent across multiple EU locations, with only 30 to 40 suitable profiles globally.

They also required talent insights to support their global, talent-centric hiring strategy. Our dedicated team delivered targeted shortlists and deep market analysis, resulting in a 55% cost reduction and 40% shorter time-to-hire.

An innovative food processing solutions company needed fast, high-precision recruitment across Europe.

The focus was on Eindhoven, Boxmeer, Lichtenvoorde, and Opmeer in the Netherlands, as well as roles in Iceland, Denmark, Germany, France, and the UK.

Serendi deployed a Project RPO team with nearshore recruiters and off-site support to manage sourcing, coordination, and end-to-end hiring.

Results: 40% shorter time-to-hire, 35% cost savings, and zero aging positions.

Pharma Recruiting EU - Key Takeaways

If you’re a pharma hiring manager or founder, you probably feel like the ground is always shifting beneath your feet.

Trump’s tariff decisions (that turn into threats, then negotiations), ongoing wars, and a cascade of supply chain disruptions, from COVID to Ukraine, and now India-Pakistan tensions, have made “business as usual” a thing of the past. It seems like every two years, a new global crisis forces everyone to rewrite the workforce solutions playbook.

This relentless uncertainty means you’re constantly adjusting strategies, making decisions with incomplete information, and trying to stay ahead of the next disruption.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing offers many benefits in optimizing the hiring process for businesses growing, relocating, or scaling.

With a mix of AI-driven tools and a team of experts (60% psychology-qualified and 20% behavior specialists), Serendi is one of the best pharma & life sciences recruitment companies.

We offer a consultative partnership that delivers high-quality talent fast, achieving up to a 96% candidate probation success rate.

Faster Hiring Reduce time-to-hire by 40% and costs by up to 50%.	Stronger Candidates Better-fit hires mean 30% less employee turnover.
Always-On Pipeline Our sourcing keeps roles filled—no more empty seats.	Clear Costs No hidden fees. Pay only for what delivers.
Control Stays With You We fit your process, not the other way around.	Flexible by Design Start, pause, or scale hiring as needed.
Premium Candidate Experience Crafted by psychology and behavior specialists.	Quick Launch Minimal setup. Start hiring in just weeks.

About the author

Julia Koblischke is a Business Development Manager at Serendi.

Julia has over 8 years of cross-industry, international experience in talent acquisition and account management, advising our clients globally. Her passion lies in transparent communication, connecting people with the right opportunities, and helping companies achieve growth and success.

Recruitment in EU Pharma: FAQ

What are the most common challenges in EU pharma?

According to one survey, the most common challenges of the pharmaceutical industry today are:

• Regulatory compliance

• Talent shortage

• Intellectual property

• Supply chain management

• Data security

• HCP engagement

• Resistance to change

Not surprisingly, most of these challenges can be solved by solving the second one - talent shortage.

Which pharma roles are hardest to fill in Europe right now?

Computational biologists, AI/ML engineers, qualified persons (QPs), ATMP process scientists, and supply-chain cybersecurity leads. Data-centric functions dominate UK and EU shortage lists—57 % of UK firms cite them as a concern.

What is the most cost-effective way to hire in pharma?

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is the most cost-effective path for pharma hiring because it replaces transaction-based agency fees with a dedicated, embedded team that manages sourcing, screening, compliance checks, and onboarding at scale.

By centralizing all recruitment activity under a single, performance-based contract, companies typically cut cost-per-hire by 30–50 % and shorten time-to-hire by up to 40 %, while ensuring GMP and data-privacy compliance is built into every step. The result is predictable spend, faster access to hard-to-find talent, and fewer costly vacancy days, without expanding internal headcount.

How is recruitment process outsourcing better than a pharmaceutical recruitment agency?

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is often a better solution than traditional pharma recruitment consultants and pharmaceutical recruiting and staffing agencies because it provides a deeper, more strategic partnership. RPO is built for long-term talent acquisition success and is aligned with your business goals.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing brings you

• Up to 40% Faster Pharma Hiring – Critical roles filled quickly

• 30% to 50% Cost Savings – Optimized pharma recruiting strategies that cut expenses

• 30% Lower Turnover – Employees who stay

Do relocation packages really matter in pharma recruitment?

Yes, especially in talent-hot but housing-tight regions like Ireland or Denmark. A transparent relocation wallet (housing, schooling, partner-job help) boosts offer acceptance in pharma recruitment, and often costs less than raising the base salary.

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