Another associate position was opened recently by a large company near me. I know this because by 9:16am that morning, I had been contacted by seven different recruiters from five companies about this role. By the end of the day, the number was 13, and by the end of the week, the number was well over 20.
The kicker? The open role is a Senior Associate position, looking for about 4 years of experience. I’m at the Senior/Principal Scientist level with over 20 years of experience, which means this role is not a match for me.
It seems that lots of recruiters are never given an overview of the typical roles, levels, and modifiers in the biotech industry, and as such they are not contacting the right people for these roles. I’ve written a short guide to help anyone who’s new to the biotech industry better understand the typical roles and levels. While this guide is directed at recruiters, it may be helpful for anyone looking to better understand the job titles and roles typically seen within biotech, especially those looking to transfer from academia or from other industries.
BIOTECH LEVELS
1) Associate
-this is the entry and junior level, focusing on learning lab techniques and executing experiments
-often requires a BS, or an AA/certificate with internship experience
-not a management role
-higher roles within this level may be project leads under close supervision
2) Scientist
-this includes junior to senior level roles, expecting independent experiment design/execution and results analysis
-lab work is part of this level, but more time is being spent on technical writing and presentation of results
-typically requires a BS with 8-12 years of experience, or MS/PhD with less experience
-this level typically involves project lead opportunities
-higher roles within this level often lead to team management
3) Director
-senior level roles, focusing on strategy, resource allocation for projects, and employee development
-most of this level’s time is spent in meetings and in managing the overall projects of the department
-typically requires a BS with 16-20 years of experience, or MS/PhD with less experience
-no longer performing lab work, and often managing the team leads and not associates directly
4) Executive Leadership
-this includes vice president roles and above
-executives with scientific backgrounds and experience are very valuable in biotech!
BIOTECH LEVEL MODIFIERS
This is where things get complicated, as every company does this a little differently. But with a review of other open positions at the company, along with reference to the requested experience level in the job description, it’s pretty easy to figure out what seniority level a position is seeking.
Numerical Modifiers
-Associate – typically only seen with the Scientist and Director levels, this indicates the lowest role within these levels
-I, II, III, IV – for example, an Associate III probably has 5 or so years of experience, can do most typical experiments independently, and is learning how to do more complicated analysis and development
-Senior – the highest role within a level prior to promotion to the next level, for example a Senior Associate is likely the position that promotes into Associate Scientist
-Principal & Fellow – typically only seen within the Scientist level, these are the highly experienced individual scientists and team leads that choose not to go into management
EXAMPLE
So a Senior Associate is not the same as a Senior Scientist, in fact there may be as many as four levels and 10 years of experience between them! It’s important to keep in mind not only the modifier but also the title level in order to find the right candidates for an open role. As mentioned previously, the exact details may shift between companies, but the overall setup should remain similar regardless of the individual company.
I hope this is helpful for recruiters or anyone else who is looking to better understand job titles and descriptions in the biotech industry. Knowing the right role and level combination is a start on finding the right candidate – and then the next step is understanding the different specialties within the industry. I will cover that in a future blog post, so stay tuned!
#recruiting #hr #jobtitles #industry
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