Hiring in life sciences has long been shaped by a preference for sector experience. In digital hiring, familiarity with regulatory environments, exposure to compliance protocols and an understanding of scientific terminology have typically served as informal benchmarks for readiness.
This approach has shaped many hiring strategies across pharmaceutical, biotech and medical technology organisations. However, as technical capability becomes more central to the delivery of core functions, it is no longer clear that prior sector experience remains the best proxy for performance.
Increasingly, life sciences organisations are finding a need to hire IT and digital professionals who can modernise systems, manage secure data environments, and enable scalable platforms. As a result, capability in IT and tech functions increasingly outweighs prior sector-specific career history.
The Digital Reality of Life Sciences
Across the UK, the digital infrastructure of life sciences companies is undergoing marked development. From cloud-based quality systems and clinical data pipelines to cybersecurity and infrastructure upgrades, these organisations are investing heavily in technology. As investigated by Deloitte, hiring demand is on the rise. Areas such as IT compliance, secure platform design, data engineering and cloud architecture are having a significant impact.
The issue many hiring managers now face is one of availability. Sector-specific digital professionals are in short supply. Waiting for candidates who meet every criterion, including prior experience in life sciences, can delay key projects. In this environment, a more relevant question emerges: is it more effective to prioritise those who understand the sector, or those who can deliver the work?
What Sector Experience Leaves Out
Hiring from within the sector can seem like the more cautious option. However, it often narrows the pool unnecessarily. Candidates from outside life sciences regularly demonstrate the required technical strengths. They may have worked in other regulated settings, built and scaled similar systems, or delivered secure platforms under tight compliance constraints. What they lack in familiarity with scientific language, they make up for with transferable skills and strong delivery records.
According to a global Deloitte survey of over 1,200 professionals, organisations have been experimenting with alternative approaches to workforce planning. Instead of defining work strictly by job roles, some have broken it into tasks or projects, while others have framed it around solving problems, achieving outcomes or creating value.
For example, individuals may have led integration projects in finance, overseen data protection measures in the public sector or automated reporting processes in global consultancies. Their backgrounds differ, but their technical knowledge is often directly applicable to the needs of modern life sciences teams.
A rigid focus on sector experience tends to exclude these candidates. It increases time to hire in a labour market that already favours the candidate. It also reduces the likelihood of finding individuals with experience in emerging technologies and current delivery practices. In contrast, McKinsey research consistently shows that hiring for technical ability opens the door to a wider pool of competent and capable professionals.
What Actually Predicts Success
When reviewing candidates for digital roles, the most valuable predictors of success tend not to be job titles or previous industry exposure. Instead, they include an individual’s ability to solve problems under constraint, work across functions, and deliver in technically complex environments. These qualities are far more indicative of fit than a history of working within a specific sector.
Candidates with experience in IT-led transformation, secure cloud infrastructure or systems integration bring the types of skills life sciences employers increasingly depend on. These may have been developed outside the sector, but they are no less applicable. What matters is how someone has applied their knowledge, how they collaborate with stakeholders and how quickly they absorb new domain-specific requirements.
Sector context can be learned. Structured thinking, technical leadership and the ability to navigate ambiguity cannot be taught as quickly, and these are often what make the difference once someone is in post.
What to Look For Instead
Hiring managers seeking to bring in capability from outside the life sciences sector should adjust how they assess CVs and interviews. Rather than focusing on sector alignment, they can examine how candidates have approached complexity and delivered outcomes. Examples might include working within regulated data environments, adapting to unfamiliar domains or aligning technical implementation with business priorities.
Candidates who have transitioned across industries or taken on new challenges without formal retraining often bring evidence of adaptability. Professionals who have built systems, implemented secure platforms or led migrations in non-life sciences settings may be better prepared for delivery than a peer with nominal sector experience but little hands-on involvement.
Structured communication is another indicator. When digital teams need to collaborate with clinical or scientific counterparts, the ability to translate between technical and non-technical audiences becomes crucial. This skill is not industry-dependent but rather context-specific, and it should be tested directly rather than assumed from past roles.
Professionals who demonstrate curiosity about the life sciences sector also stand out. This might be evident through attendance at digital health events or interest in bioinformatics tools. While these indicators may not be evident in a formal job history, they signal intent and potential to make meaningful contributions.
Onboarding with Confidence
A common concern when hiring from outside the sector is that onboarding may be slower. In practice, this depends more on the quality of the individual and the onboarding process itself than on whether they have prior experience in the life sciences.
When hiring decisions are based on a delivery mindset and structured thinking, external candidates often integrate quickly. They may be new to the sector, but they are not new to complexity. Many are already familiar with working in regulated settings, adapting to organisational change and aligning with internal compliance requirements.
Well-planned onboarding frameworks can further reduce the time to contribution. Providing clear system access timelines, utilising sandbox environments for familiarisation, and involving IT leads in early-stage support enable new hires to gain fluency in specific tools without slowing down delivery.
Project-based assessments used at the hiring stage can also serve a dual purpose. By simulating real tasks during recruitment, employers give candidates a head start on understanding the challenges of the role. This means it is not about introducing unfamiliar concepts but about refining context and enabling early impact.
Broadening Access Without Lowering Standards
Companies that adopt a skills-first model report shorter hiring cycles, stronger digital capacity and better long-term retention. By removing filters that prioritise familiarity over capability, they access individuals who think clearly, build effectively and contribute quickly.
The message is clear for hiring managers
Life sciences expertise remains essential for understanding the core science, technological skills are increasingly vital for innovation and efficiency, and robust tech capabilities are crucial for success. Prioritising both areas, or even having a blend of individuals with both skill sets within a team, is the most effective approach.
Furthermore, the most relevant experience is not always written in sector-specific terms. It is reflected in how candidates have delivered in high-complexity environments, adapted to new contexts and communicated effectively across domains.
Life sciences organisations can enhance their digital capabilities by looking beyond conventional experience markers. Hiring based on structured thinking, delivery record and intent to contribute creates stronger teams and faster outcomes.
Connect with nufuture to explore how we can support your next phase of skills-focused hiring.