Golden Triangle life sciences recruitment continues to boom in 2022 with record number of jobs published in first quarter — new report
- Record of 1,200 vacancies published in London, Oxford, Cambridge in Q1 2022
- Hiring levels across Golden Triangle on course to rise 12.6% year-on-year
- New jobs in pharmaceuticals rise faster than across biotech and CROs
- Cambridge with fastest rise in 2022, recruitment up by nearly a quarter
New life sciences jobs in London, Oxford and Cambridge are expected to hit an all-time high in 2022 as the industry continues to grow in the wake of funding pledges from the government and capital flowing in from the investment community, a new report shows.
According to research by specialist recruiters Cpl Life Sciences and data analysts Vacancysoft, life sciences firms in the Golden Triangle published 1,200 vacancies in Q1 2022, 16.4% more compared to the same quarter a year earlier. This puts hiring levels on course for a 12.6% year-on-year rise by the end of 2022.
In early 2021, Boris Johnson announced a new £1 billion public-private partnership in life sciences. A year later, the government published a white paper outlining, among others, how public investment in R&D will increase by 40% and how overall British science funding will rise by 80%, reaching £22 billion by 2024.
The funds are likely to help build up the UK’s biotech industry, which in 2021 experienced the largest growth in jobs in the Golden Triangle, up 135% year-on-year. Hiring in the sector reached record levels in early 2022, with March’s total of 256 professionals vacancies representing an all-time high.
However, new jobs in pharmaceuticals increased at a faster rate, the 1,680+ vacancies equivalent to 30% of last year’s total sector hiring levels. In contrast, contract research organisations (CROs) have published 1,411 vacancies in Q1 2022, constituting a growth rate of 26.3%.
Cambridge with fastest rise in 2022, recruitment up by nearly a quarter
The most significant growth in overall life sciences vacancies out of the three cities is in Cambridge. Last year, vacancies finished up 177.5% year-on-year, while in Q1 2022 they are rising by 23.8% compared to 2022 — increasing the city’s share of overall hiring within the Golden Triangle to 52.1%
London’s 500+ professional life sciences vacancies in Q1 2022 have put it on a trajectory to grow 4.4% year-on-year. The capital accounts for 41% of total vacancies while Oxford, on course to experience a 7.1% year-on-year drop, accounts for 7.1% of total recruitment.
