Between 21 and 27 February, there were 13,098 jobs posted by 676 companies. Credit: Shutterstock.

In the week between Sunday 21 and Saturday 27 February, 676 companies operating in the pharma industry posted 13,098 jobs, according to GlobalData’s jobs analytics tool. This represents a 44% increase on the week prior, 14 to 20 February, when 9,096 jobs were posted.

Of the 13,098 jobs, 9,522 (73%) are classified as junior or entry-level jobs. Johnson & Johnson (J&J), PRA Health Sciences and Grifols were actively hiring at this level.

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There were only 751 jobs posted at the senior level in the final week of February. A standout company hiring at this level was Moderna. The US-based biotech was hiring 15 roles, including a senior director of clinical development in infectious diseases, an associate director of international marketing and a senior director of policy and compliance.

Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine has been emergency-approved in multiple markets across the world, meaning the company is scaling up the production of its vaccine doses. In addition, the company is carrying out additional clinical trials of vaccine boosters with the aim of tackling emerging Covid-19 variants.

Hiring spree from Pfizer and AstraZeneca

J&J had yet another productive week of hiring. The US-headquartered pharma giant posted 462 jobs between 21 and 27 February. This represents an increase of 33% on the previous week, 14 to 20 February.

Pfizer also had a prolific recruitment drive; the company posted 401 jobs in the last week of February. This included 46 jobs posted in Europe, 93 in North America and 245 in Asia-Pacific, of which 224 are in China. Most of the jobs posted in China by Pfizer were for junior and entry-level roles.

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The company has been active in the Chinese market since the 1980s. Recent company developments in China include Pfizer’s strategic collaboration with Liantuo Bio to develop innovative medicines in the country and the Chinese approval of rare disease drug Weiwanxin (clofenac soft capsules).

Another pharma giant on a hiring spree in the final week of February was AstraZeneca. The Anglo-Swedish company posted 339 jobs between 21 and 27 February, compared with 271 the week before.

Like Pfizer, AstraZeneca primarily focused its hiring at the junior and entry-levels, where it was primarily hiring in China. The company’s recruitment was focused on hiring medical sales representatives in various indications, including cardiovascular and oncology.

The company’s heart failure and diabetes drug Forxiga (dapagliflozin) was approved in China a month ago. AstraZeneca also recently announced it was supporting Junshi Biosciences market its PD-1 inhibitor Tuoyi (toripalimab) for urothelial carcinoma and other cancer indications in China.