As a specialist life science recruitment agency, we have a privileged position of seeing the ways in which commercial organisations identify and nurture talented scientists. In October 2020, we were invited by the British Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (BSGCT) to give a presentation to an audience of academic professionals considering an industrial career.
Within the academic community, there are some preconceptions – and misconceptions – about working in industry. For our webinar, we teamed up with Sorcha Bangham (Head of HR at OXGENE, a pioneering gene therapy organisation) to cover a range of topics, leading to a detailed and informative Q&A discussion at the end and a number of follow-up conversations with scientists at different stages in their studies and job searches.
Our presentation covered an introduction to the Gene Therapy sector and the history of the broader ATMP world. We then moved on to describe the typical lab-based and non-lab-based career paths available within most commercial organisations, backed with likely salaries and longer-term career opportunities. These roles included Quality, Production / GMP, Project Management, Business Development, Medical Communications and Senior / Principal Scientist positions.
The full video can be watched by clicking this YouTube link or watching below: