The 2026 Talent Squeeze: Why Biotech and Pharma Must Start Building Now

Every year, companies across the biotech and pharmaceutical landscape take a breath as the fourth quarter rolls in. Budgets tighten or accelerate, teams evaluate what worked and what didn’t, and leadership starts shaping the priorities of the year ahead. But this year is different. It isn’t simply a matter of redefining strategy or reallocating funds. It’s about preparing for a cycle of growth, competition, and scientific acceleration that industry watchers—and many of us working in the trenches—have been anticipating for more than a year.

Back in June 2024, I wrote that the industry was preparing for a rebound far stronger and faster than many understood at the time. My point then was simple: the temporary downturn in hiring and capital was masking something bigger. Discovery didn’t slow. Clinical pipelines didn’t empty. Manufacturing investments didn’t stop. They were building pressure. I stated then that once capital returned to the sector, the rebound would come quickly, hitting specific scientific and operational domains first. That is exactly what we are seeing now.

The early signs of this next growth cycle are becoming unmistakable: acceleration in IND activity, renewed investment into early-phase programs, acquisitions that consolidate scientific platforms, and the rapid expansion of U.S. manufacturing capacity. Against this backdrop, companies that wait until mid-2026 to build their teams will already be behind. The competition for specialized skills—particularly in drug discovery, translational research, DMPK, biomarkers, clinical pharmacology, CMC development, and advanced manufacturing—will be intense.

The companies that win next year will be the ones that prepare now.

Hard-to-Fill Scientific Domains Are Becoming the Center of Next Year’s Growth

Not all functions in biotech and pharma will feel the same pressure at the same time. The predicted growth cycle will hit a few essential domains first—precisely the ones where experienced talent is already scarce.

Drug Discovery and Early Research

Even during the industry’s more turbulent periods, innovation in RNA therapeutics, degraders, radiopharmaceuticals, gene therapy vectors, immune-modulating biologics, and platform technologies never slowed. But building programs in these areas requires discovery scientists who combine experimental depth with translational awareness—profiles that take years to develop and cannot be rapidly replaced. Now that more programs are moving toward IND-enabling studies, these discovery teams are becoming mission-critical again.

Translational Sciences, DMPK, and Clinical Pharmacology

These functions form the backbone of early human studies, dose selection, exposure–response evaluation, and regulatory strategy. Over the last several years, training pipelines have shrunk and movement across companies slowed, creating a situation where the available talent does not match the surge of programs heading into Phase 1 and Phase 2. The bottleneck is growing, not shrinking.

CMC Development, Formulation, and Manufacturing Sciences

The least discussed but most significant constraint to next year’s growth will be CMC talent—both development and manufacturing. New modalities require analytical experts, formulation scientists, upstream/downstream engineers, and MSAT support that simply do not exist in large numbers. As more programs transition from early-phase to commercial scale, this gap will become a key rate-limiter for many companies.

Regulatory Strategy and Submission Execution

While 2024’s layoffs temporarily increased the availability of regulatory staff, a large portion of those professionals have since been rehired, absorbed through M&A, or moved into consulting. With dozens of programs preparing for accelerated filings, expedited pathways, and global registrations, the competition for experienced regulatory strategists will return sharply.

Manufacturing Expansion Across the United States

States like North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, and Massachusetts are expanding facilities for biologics, cell therapy, mRNA, oral solids, and advanced therapeutics. These plants will need validation engineers, QC scientists, QA leadership, automation specialists, and manufacturing operators—roles that have been historically difficult to scale quickly.

The takeaway is simple: the hardest areas to hire are the exact areas where next year’s growth will be concentrated. Waiting to build teams until everyone else is hiring is a losing strategy.

Why Planning Now Matters More Than Ever

If there is a lesson biotech and pharma teams should take from the last three years, it is this: reactive hiring is costly, slow, and disruptive. By the time a program is delayed, a submission is at risk, or a plant is short-staffed, the competition for talent has already intensified.

Planning ahead allows companies to:

• Forecast talent needs based on scientific milestones, not budget cycles
• Build curated pipelines of candidates before openings are public
• Engage external partners before their bandwidth tightens
• Avoid inflated costs associated with urgent, competitive hiring
• Create continuity across drug discovery, development, and manufacturing
• Protect timelines for INDs, Phase 1 studies, scale-up, and regulatory submissions

Companies that wait until Q2 or Q3 of 2026 to react will be competing with every other organization hitting the same phase transitions. Companies that start in Q4 of this year or Q1 of next year will operate from a position of strength.

The Expanding Role of Support Organizations, Specialist Vendors, and Niche Partners

One of the most important industry shifts since 2024 has been the growth of specialized support organizations—vendors, consultancies, CROs, CDMOs, and boutique recruiting partners built to solve targeted problems in discovery, development, clinical execution, and CMC.

These partners allow companies to:

• Bring in fractional experts in DMPK, biomarkers, and clinical pharmacology
• Stabilize CMC or MSAT gaps during scale-up or tech transfer
• Access niche discovery capabilities without over-hiring
• Supplement regulatory submissions or authoring bandwidth
• Build targeted hiring programs in hard-to-fill scientific spaces

But external vendors only create advantage when engaged early.

By the time a company is in crisis—delayed studies, strained clinical timelines, manufacturing bottlenecks—external partners are already oversubscribed. The companies that build these relationships now will have access to talent, expertise, and bandwidth that others won’t.

A Strategic Roadmap for Entering 2026 from a Position of Strength

If biotech and pharmaceutical companies want to meet the pace of next year’s growth—the pace I predicted in June 2024—they should begin now with a clear, realistic, execution-focused plan.

• Map scientific and operational milestones to specific talent needs
• Identify gaps in discovery, translational, clinical, and CMC capabilities
• Engage external partners early, before the bandwidth crunch
• Build lists of vetted candidates months before positions open
• Create multiple hiring scenarios aligned to program success
• Move talent planning into Q1 instead of waiting for Q3 urgency

This isn’t just operational discipline—it’s competitive strategy.

Why the Time to Act Is Now

The biotech and pharmaceutical industries are entering a renewed period of scientific momentum. Capital is returning. IND activity is increasing. M&A pipelines are accelerating. Manufacturing infrastructure is expanding. Clinical-stage companies are advancing after a long period of uncertainty.

The growth cycle is here. The pace is exactly what many of us projected over a year ago.

The organizations that thrive will be the ones that start preparing today—before the scramble, before the bottlenecks, and before the competition for specialized talent reaches full strength.

Success next year will not be determined next year.

It will be determined now.