Jobs Signal: Amid hiring downturn, job postings for generative AI skyrocket in pharma

Each week, Pharmaceutical Technology’s journalists explore movements in job postings that shed light on hiring trends in our sector. These job signals provide insights into where the leading companies are focusing their recruitment efforts, and why. We reveal the skills that are in high demand in the sector, and the themes driving current hiring patterns.   

This new, thematic jobs coverage is powered by our underlying Disruptor data which tracks all major deals, patents, company filings, hiring patterns and social media buzz across our sectors. 

The number of job postings related to generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the pharma sector has increased by 407% over the last three months. This dramatic rise is particularly notable given a general downturn of 7% in postings across the pharmaceutical industry over the same period. 

Although the increase is an outlier due to the low number of jobs in previous months – the number of postings identified by GlobalData still sits below 100 – it is indicative of a desire to harness the technology’s potential. A GlobalData report suggests that generative AI trained on big data can cut the length of an initial exploratory phase in drug design by three or four years, significantly reducing the cost of drug development in terms of both time and money.  

It’s not just traditional pharmaceuticals players interested in this technology. It was announced earlier this month that Nvidia, the tech company predominantly known for its role as a graphics card manufacturer, has invested $50m (£38.19m) in the 10-year old biopharmaceutical generative AI startup Recursion as part of its pivot towards AI.  

A number of other young companies have been hiring within the sector, including AbSci Corp and Precision for Medicine Inc., suggesting that the future of the industry may be shaped as much by technology as traditional practices.