Beyond the Lab: Commercial Careers in Life Science

WEBINAR – Beyond the Lab: Commercial Careers in Life Science

Building networks is crucial for Early Career Professionals as they navigate the vast collaboration and career options ahead of them. When looking to your next career step, whether it be following on from study or moving from a lab role, it is important to know that there are Life Science commercial routes that can be considered to build a career outside of the lab.

We’re delighted to introduce our Career Development Partner, SRG, who are supporting our Early Career Professional community. SRG is the largest life-science recruitment company in the UK & the leading recruiter of permanent and temporary talent for scientific, clinical and engineering businesses.

We invited an expert panel of expert speakers across a variety of commercial Life Science roles to share their experience & insights. Learn more about roles like:

Business Development
Application Scientist
Product Management
Partnering

Watch the video below to hear their insights:

Speakers

Chair – Catherine Wark – BMG LABTECH Ltd. – Managing Director

Eligio Ianetti – Beckman Coulter (Valitacell) – Business Development Manager

Manoja Sivakumar – BMG LABTECH ltd. – Senior Application Scientist

Sybil Wong – Basecamp Research – Head of Partnerships

Joel Cresser-Brown – Bio-Techne (Tocris) – Product Manager

Philippa Clark – SRG Talent – Senior Client Development Manager

Q&A: Your questions and answers from our panelists during the live session

Chair: Catherine Wark – Managing Director, BMG LABTECH Ltd
Catherine Wark is the Managing Director of BMG LABTECH UK & IRE, a microplate reader specialist company. Her team is responsible for sales, and the technical support of BMG LABTECH products to customers in UK and Ireland. Catherine is a business leader with 20 years’ experience within BMG LABTECH, working in sales, sales management, business development, application science and technical support, and has drawn from her previous experiences in both academia and industry working in the fields of cell and molecular biology.

Eligio Ianetti – Beckman Coulter (Valitacell) – Business Development Manager
Eligio has a PhD in drug discovery and MSc in Business Leadership & Management coupled with experiences in different biotech startup companies around Europe.
Currently senior business development manager with Beckman Coulter Life Sciences where facilitates the adoption of complex bioprocessing technologies into easy-to-use products. Energized by meeting and talking with new people!

Joel Cresser-Brown – Bio-Techne (Tocris) – Product Manager
Joel completed a PhD in Chemical Biology at Cardiff University followed by a postdoctoral research position at University of Bristol, before joining Tocris / Bio-Techne Bristol as a Product Manager in the innovation team developing new tools and technologies for life science research.

Manoja Sivakumar – BMG LABTECH ltd. – Senior Application Scientist
Dr Manoja Sivakumar is a senior application scientist at BMG LABTECH UK & Ireland. Joined BMG LABTECH after completing her PhD in the department of Infection and Immunity funded by BBSRC from St George’s University of London and The Pirbright Institute. In her role as a senior application scientist, she supports BMG LABTECH’s users on optimising their applications and producing scientific content for the company.

Sybil Wong, PhD – Basecamp Research – Head of Partnerships
Sybil is Head of Partnerships at Basecamp Research, the world leader in AI-based design of enzymes and therapeutics from genomic mapping of global biodiversity. She has spent over 10 years building multidisciplinary teams and establishing strategic partnerships between life science R&D teams and cutting-edge software firms.

Sybil is experienced in business development and operations at series A to C startups, including alliance management with biotech and pharmaceutical partners. She completed her PhD in Biochemistry in the area of microRNA-mediated gene silencing with a focus on oncology

Philippa Clark -Senior Client Development Manager SRG Talent
Philippa joined SRG 20 years ago following her Biomedical Sciences degree. She began her career as a consultant supporting the Life Sciences market, sourcing candidates for early talent through to executive level. In 2007 Philippa opened the SRG Cambridge office, supporting Biotech’s and start-ups across the Oxford, Cambridge & London Bioclusters. Since 2022, Philippa has moved into Client Development supporting companies with a range of bespoke client solutions, talent skill mapping and market analysis. Philippa is a passionate networker, involved in a number of panel discussions and accelerator programmes across the UK Life Sciences market.

An Early Career Professional (ECP) can be a student in higher education undertaking an undergraduate or postgraduate degree (including PhD), or within 5 years of finishing higher education and starting their career in life sciences and drug discovery. An ECP could be one of the following

Undergraduate student
Postgraduate student (including PhD)
Starting their career in life sciences and drug discovery

I would breakdown your CV to focus on your technical skills and then have a section for competencies. With key competencies ensure you have some good examples for each. Be sure to highlight any customer facing example, however small that you have gained either during your lab work or around your career, perhaps during or before your studies. Be sure to add a CPD section to highlight your ongoing learning and development.

Phillipa Clark: is difficult to fully answer as it depends on the commercial role you apply for after the lab. Potentially yes if it is a more junior/trainee position but potentially it may offer a pay rise if the role requires a strong lab background as part of the requirements.

Joel Cresser-Brown: I enjoyed lab work, I fortunately work in a team containing 2 product managers and 4 research scientists so it’s very scientifically focused. I am now driving R&D projects from outside of the lab which brings new challenges.

Joel Cresser-Brown: That sounds like a fantastic masters project. I would recommend taking a step back to look at the soft skills you developed working in a CRO e.g. strategic thinking, leadership etc, and apply those examples to the particular role you are interested in. This will enable you to justify that you have developed some of these skills already and make you stand out as a candidate

While a PhD can be helpful for both lab-based and non-based roles, it shouldn’t be a barrier to get into commercial roles. The key focus should be on the science you have so far and to highlight the key competencies and passion you can bring to a commercial. Focus on how you would use skills to develop customers, understand the market and build relationships.

While a PhD can be very helpful if you work in the lab or in a commercial role, there are plenty of opportunities to start your commercial career after your MSc. Commercial roles ideally require a good technical background but the competencies are just as important. Be clear about the key competencies you can bring to a commercial role and seek positions that allow you to grow and develop your skills further. Be sure to highlight any customer facing experience you may have already on your CV, even if it’s not in the pharma industry. Reach out to your network to seek opportunities to work alongside people in the required field even on a voluntary basis.

Phillipa Clark: SRG attends a number of conferences and networking events throughout the year and we would always encourage candidates to approach us with any questions you may have on the day. Otherwise, i would advise that you reach out to an SRG consultant to speak with them one to one to discuss your career pathway so we can offer tailored support.