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The life sciences sector is expected to experience significant growth over the next decade, but no industry can expand without new talent to support it. Will forecasted job creation in areas such as research and development, laboratory science and programming translate into fresh opportunities for graduates?

September always brings an air of change, particularly for the thousands of students across the UK (and globally) embarking on the pivotal journey of starting their journey into further education.

The new academic year brings excitement, new friends and Freshers’ Week or orientation week outside of the UK. This is when they begin building the skills needed for their future careers that lay ahead.

For these students, the future is full of possibility. As they begin their degrees, they are making decisions about the skills and experience they will need to turn their potential into a career.

But graduates are entering an increasingly competitive jobs market, and growth and demand for new talent alone do not guarantee opportunity. So, as the UK’s life sciences sector expands, how can that growth translate into meaningful career opportunities for the students entering universities today?

UK Government analysis estimates that around 66,000 additional jobs in priority occupations could be needed across the life sciences sector between now and 2035, alongside a further 52,000 workers needed to replace people leaving those occupations.¹ Projections, however, are not guarantees. Without investment in skills, training pathways and industry-academic collaboration, young people often find themselves qualified but still struggling to enter the workforce.

Importantly, growth in the overall life sciences workforce should not be interpreted as a direct forecast of the number of jobs that will be available to today’s graduates. Future employment will depend on the mix of occupations created, the qualifications and skills employers require, the number of people entering the labour market and where those opportunities are located. A growing sector can therefore still have a competitive graduate jobs market.

The talent pipeline

Demand for life sciences is strong—and in the UK the sector has grown into a major employer, with around 7,320 companies employing approximately 360,000 people in 2023–24.³

The potential opportunity is significant, yet there are a huge number of variables that can affect future demand, not least the growing adoption of AI and its potential impact on the nature and number of roles across the sector.

There is also an important distinction between demand for life sciences workers and demand specifically for life sciences graduates. Not every new role will require a university degree, and not every graduate will have the skills or experience required for every emerging position.

So, in what areas will these jobs be created? And, crucially, will there be opportunities across the career ladder, including for the life sciences graduates eager to start work?

Beyond the projections

Turning projected demand into real opportunities requires more than investment in the sector itself. It requires the right skills, training and education pathways to ensure people are equipped to fill the roles being created.

Universities in the UK are among the world’s leading centres for life sciences education and research but the question is not whether the sector will create more jobs—it is whether those jobs will be accessible to the people currently progressing through education and training.

A recent Skills England report looking at the skills needs for life sciences identified 31 priority occupations across the sector, and found that 35% of those occupations were in critical demand, while 73% were either in critical or elevated demand.¹

The report also highlighted programmers and software development professionals as the occupations with the highest projected additional employment demand. An additional 6,300 workers in these areas may be needed by 2035.

A further 6,100 production managers and directors in manufacturing could be required, alongside an additional 4,500 laboratory technicians and 3,300 research and development managers.¹

The figures demonstrate the potential opportunity but also reveal something particularly telling: the future life sciences workforce will need much more than traditional research skills.

The sector will need programmers, technicians, manufacturing specialists, researchers and managers, alongside the scientific expertise traditionally associated with life sciences.

Government analysis estimates that 83% of projected additional employment in life sciences priority occupations will require qualifications at Level 4 or above. This suggests significant potential for people with higher-level qualifications, including graduates, but that does not mean 83% of these roles will be graduate jobs. Level 4 and above encompasses a range of higher technical and professional qualifications, and employers will still be looking for the particular technical, digital and practical skills relevant and necessary for individual roles.¹

Nor does the growing number of opportunities in the life sciences sector automatically translate into a growing number of opportunities for every graduate, or for graduates from every life sciences discipline. 

Aligning education with demand

So how do we ensure the workforce is equipped to meet this demand, not just today, but in the years to come?

Training routes are crucial. And there has been an expansion of these with a range of apprenticeships, skills bootcamps and industry-led programmes. These initiatives help to diversify entry routes into the sector, but they must continue evolving if the UK is to meet future workforce needs.

Life sciences apprenticeship starts reached a record 1,416 in 2023/24, with 27% at Level 6 or 7.⁴ 

These routes demonstrate that the future life sciences workforce cannot be built through traditional university pathways alone. Apprenticeships and technical training have an important role to play alongside undergraduate and postgraduate education. For universities, the more pressing task may be creating a clearer bridge between education and employment.

Academic knowledge remains essential, but it may not be enough to give graduates the practical experience employers increasingly expect. There may be lessons for the UK from international approaches that place greater emphasis on university-industry collaboration, practical experience and coordinated workforce planning.

In the United States, there are initiatives that are bringing employers and education providers together to shape training around the skills businesses need.

In Ohio, for example, a new biomanufacturing workforce initiative announced in 2025 included plans for a dedicated training centre and collaboration with higher education institutions to develop an industry-relevant curriculum. The approach aims to strengthen the pipeline of skilled workers entering the sector, while ensuring training meets the needs of a growing biomanufacturing industry.⁵

Singapore provides another interesting example: with the government working with industry and education providers to develop talent for its growing biopharmaceutical sector. In 2025, the Singapore Economic Development Board and Republic Polytechnic launched the Talent Advancement Programme in partnership with 16 leading biomedical companies, with the programme including a 36-week industry internship, alongside training aligned with the skills employers need.⁶

The approaches differ, but the principle is the same: strong connections between education and industry—through graduate schemes, internships, apprenticeships, placements and workforce planning—can help students move successfully from lecture halls to laboratories, manufacturing facilities and innovative start-ups.

Turning growth into opportunity

The UK’s life sciences sector has significant potential for growth, but the number of jobs that could be created is only part of the equation.

For students and graduates, the more important question is how many of those opportunities will be genuinely accessible to them. It will depend not only on the overall number of jobs created, but on the occupations in which growth occurs, the skills employers require, the experience expected of applicants and the number of graduates competing for those roles.

The Government’s Life Sciences Jobs Plan, published in July 2026, recognises this challenge, setting out measures focused on sector coordination, skills, hiring and good jobs. It aims to strengthen the UK’s skills pipeline and improve the routes into life sciences employment, alongside measures to help employers access the talent they need.

For graduates, this could create significant opportunities. But the extent of those opportunities will depend on how effectively government, industry and education providers translate projected demand into accessible entry routes and relevant skills development.

If these groups can work together to align education with workforce needs—and give students meaningful opportunities to gain practical experience before they graduate—the UK has an opportunity to build a life sciences workforce ready for the next decade of growth.

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References
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-england-annual-skills-report-and-sectoral-skills-needs-assessments-2026/sector-skills-needs-assessment-life-sciences
[2] https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/uk-18-year-olds-make-record-number-applications-computing-courses
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/bioscience-and-health-technology-sector-statistics-2023-to-2024/bioscience-and-health-technology-sector-statistics-2023-to-2024
[4] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/683d69b21a840b2c06ebb98d/Sector_skills_needs_assessments_Life_Sciences.pdf
[5] https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/2026-05/bio_2025bestpracticesvfmarch2026.pdf?utm_source
[6] https://www.edb.gov.sg/en/news-and-insights/republic-poly-edb-launch-talent-program-for-biopharma-sector?utm_source

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