Whether you are interested in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotech, CMO/CDMO manufacturing, or bio-nutrition, the life sciences industry needs skilled professionals across engineering, quality, validation, manufacturing, regulatory, automation, and documentation roles.
These jobs are not only about keeping production running. They support safe, compliant, and consistent operations in highly regulated environments. For candidates, that means life sciences can be a strong career path if you enjoy technical problem-solving, attention to detail, documentation, cross-functional teamwork, and work that directly supports critical products and processes.
If you are considering a move into life sciences, or you already have regulated industry experience and are looking for your next opportunity, here are several roles to know.
Validation Engineers help confirm that equipment, systems, processes, and procedures perform as intended.
In regulated environments, validation work is essential. Companies need documented evidence that processes are controlled, repeatable, and compliant with required standards. Validation Engineers may support equipment qualification, process validation, cleaning validation, computer system validation, protocol execution, deviation documentation, and final reports.
This role may be a good fit if you enjoy structured technical work, documentation, testing, and problem-solving. Candidates with engineering, manufacturing, quality, or laboratory experience may find validation to be a strong path into life sciences.
Common skills and experience:
CQV stands for Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation. CQV professionals support the start-up and readiness of facilities, utilities, equipment, and systems.
These roles are especially important during facility expansions, equipment installations, line upgrades, manufacturing ramp-ups, and capital projects. CQV professionals help ensure that systems are installed correctly, operate as expected, and are ready for regulated use.
This role may be a good fit if you enjoy project-based work, hands-on technical environments, and seeing a facility or system move from installation to operation.
Common skills and experience:
Quality Engineers help life sciences companies improve product quality, reduce issues, support investigations, and maintain compliance.
They often work closely with manufacturing, engineering, operations, regulatory, and supplier teams. Their work may involve nonconformances, CAPA, root cause analysis, process improvement, risk assessments, supplier quality, audit support, and quality system documentation.
This role may be a good fit if you enjoy solving problems, working with data, improving processes, and collaborating across teams.
Common skills and experience:
Quality Assurance and Quality Control roles are both important in life sciences, but they often focus on different parts of the quality process.
QA professionals typically focus on systems, procedures, compliance, documentation, audits, investigations, and process controls. QC professionals often focus on testing, inspection, sampling, laboratory analysis, product verification, or incoming material checks.
These roles may be a good fit if you are detail-oriented, process-driven, and comfortable following defined procedures.
Common skills and experience:
Regulatory Affairs professionals help companies manage requirements tied to product approvals, submissions, labeling, compliance, change control, and market access.
This work is important because life sciences products often need to meet strict requirements before they can be manufactured, distributed, updated, or sold in certain markets.
This role may be a good fit if you enjoy detailed documentation, research, writing, compliance, and working with technical teams.
Common skills and experience:
Manufacturing Engineers support the processes, equipment, workflows, and improvements needed to produce life sciences products efficiently and consistently.
In regulated environments, manufacturing work must balance productivity with quality and compliance. Manufacturing Engineers may support troubleshooting, new product introductions, line improvements, process changes, production ramp-ups, equipment upgrades, and documentation updates.
This role may be a good fit if you like hands-on problem-solving, plant floor support, and improving how products are made.
Common skills and experience:
Process Engineers focus on how a product or material moves through production and how that process can be improved, scaled, controlled, or validated.
In pharma, biotech, medical device, and bio-nutrition environments, process performance can affect product consistency, quality, yield, cost, and production timelines.
This role may be a good fit if you enjoy technical analysis, troubleshooting, optimization, and improving manufacturing performance.
Common skills and experience:
Automation Engineers support the controls, systems, and technology used in modern manufacturing environments.
In life sciences, automation professionals may work with PLCs, HMIs, SCADA systems, equipment integration, controls troubleshooting, system upgrades, data collection, and production support. Because these systems may affect regulated manufacturing, documentation and change control awareness are important.
This role may be a good fit if you enjoy controls, software, equipment, troubleshooting, and technical systems.
Common skills and experience:
Packaging Engineers support the design, testing, improvement, and production readiness of packaging systems and materials.
In life sciences, packaging can play an important role in product protection, usability, labeling, regulatory requirements, shipping, sterility, shelf life, and manufacturing efficiency.
This role may be a good fit if you are interested in both product performance and manufacturing execution.
Common skills and experience:
Document Control Specialists help manage controlled documents, records, revisions, approvals, and procedures.
In regulated industries, documentation is central to compliance. Document Control professionals help make sure the right documents are available, accurate, approved, and properly maintained.
This role may be a good fit if you are organized, detail-oriented, process-focused, and comfortable working with quality systems.
Common skills and experience:
CAPA and deviation professionals support investigations into issues, nonconformances, process problems, customer complaints, or quality events.
They help teams identify root causes, document findings, assign corrective actions, prevent recurrence, and close quality records properly.
This role may be a good fit if you enjoy investigation, problem-solving, technical writing, and working with teams to improve systems.
Common skills and experience:
Project Managers in life sciences help coordinate work across engineering, validation, quality, operations, facilities, regulatory, procurement, vendors, and leadership.
Life sciences projects often have many moving parts. A Project Manager may support facility expansions, equipment installations, validation projects, product launches, manufacturing ramp-ups, remediation projects, or system implementations.
This role may be a good fit if you are organized, communicative, deadline-driven, and comfortable managing cross-functional priorities.
Common skills and experience:
Contract roles are common in life sciences because many companies need specialized support for defined projects, workload surges, facility expansions, validation efforts, product launches, or temporary team gaps.
For candidates, contract work can offer several advantages. It can help you gain experience in regulated environments, build exposure across different companies and project types, strengthen your resume, and develop highly marketable skills in validation, quality, manufacturing, regulatory, automation, or documentation.
Contract roles can also be a pathway into long-term opportunities. Many candidates use contract or contract-to-hire roles to get their foot in the door with life sciences employers, prove their capabilities, and determine whether a company or role is the right fit.
While each role has different requirements, several skills are valuable across many life sciences positions.
Strong candidates often show:
Even if you do not have direct life sciences experience, adjacent experience in food and beverage, chemical manufacturing, consumer products, packaging, industrial manufacturing, or other quality-driven environments may help you transition, depending on the role.
When interviewing for life sciences roles, be ready to speak clearly about your technical experience and how you work in structured environments.
Hiring managers may want to know:
Specific examples matter. Instead of only saying you have validation or quality experience, explain what you supported, what your responsibility was, what documentation was involved, and what outcome your work helped achieve.
Life sciences careers can take many paths. Some professionals grow in validation or CQV. Others build careers in quality, manufacturing, regulatory, automation, packaging, documentation, or project management.
The right path depends on your strengths, interests, technical background, and preferred work environment.
If you enjoy hands-on manufacturing and troubleshooting, manufacturing or automation roles may be a strong fit. If you enjoy documentation, compliance, and process control, quality, regulatory, or document control roles may align well. If you like project-based work and facility start-up activity, validation or CQV may be a good direction.
Sterling Engineering connects candidates with opportunities across pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech, CMO/CDMO, and bio-nutrition environments.
Our recruiting team supports roles in validation, CQV, quality, regulatory, manufacturing, automation, packaging, documentation, project management, technical operations, and engineering support. We help candidates understand available opportunities, prepare for hiring conversations, and find roles that align with their experience and career goals.
Whether you are already working in life sciences or looking to move into a regulated technical environment, Sterling can help you explore contract, contract-to-hire, and direct hire opportunities.
Ready to explore life sciences roles?
View Sterling’s current openings or connect with our recruiting team.
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