Updated March 07, 2014.
Whether you work, or want to work, in a research lab for a university, hospital, or corporation, the life sciences industry in Raleigh-Durham offers many options. Not a research-kind-of-person? Prefer to grow your career on the manufacturing side of life? No problem. Raleigh-Durham has opportunities for you too.
Life Sciences Jobs in the Raleigh-Durham Area
Raleigh-Durham is ranked as the fourth largest biological, medical, life sciences cluster in the United States by various data collected by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The weighted statistics include:
- Life sciences employment, which measures what percentage of the area's population the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics has found to be working in these industries;
- The percentage of the Raleigh-Durham's organizations (businesses, hospitals, universities, etc.) are affiliated to the biotech and life sciences fields;
- The amount (dollar figure) that venture capital firms invest in the biotechnology and medical device sector in that regional cluster;
- The amount (dollar figure) of grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Across these four measurements, the various clusters are measured and weighed so that we can create a baseline to compare the regions to each other.
For example, Raleigh-Durham:
- has a larger percentage of its organizations in the life sciences industry than any other city, including even the overall #1-ranked Greater Boston Cluster;
- #1-ranking in life sciences organization/building density has earned it the nickname, "Research Triangle";
- ranks ahead of the overall 3rd place-ranked San Francisco in the percentage of its workforces employed in the life sciences sector;
- ranks 10th in attracting venture capital (VC) funding, certainly a healthy number, averaging around $155 Million each year in VC investment;
- receives more funding from the National Institutes of Health than the overall 2nd place-ranked San Diego;
San Diego Sub-Markets:
Research Triangle
- So-named due to the regional locations of research powerhouses Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University;
- These universities create a triangle, and located in the center of them is "Research Triangle Park", a 7,000-acre business park created by the state of North Carolina to attract jobs and keep these competitive and innovative graduates in the area;
- Lots of small start-ups and research lab incubators in this region, many of them are spun-off from the university research system;
- Home to the largest concentration of contract research organizations (CROs) in the United States;
- Major agricultural technology companies are well-represented here, including Syngenta, BASF, Monsanto, and Bayer CropScience;
- Other major employers include Eisai, Medicago, Monsanto, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Medical Supplies and Bio Med Job Search
In addition to the direct company links in this article, you can also find broader job-search functions in the following resources provided by About.com's Job Search Expert, Alison Doyle:
Best Job Websites
Best Job Search Engine Sites
?Additional Job Search Tips
Best Job Search Tips
Top 10 Strategies for a Successful Job Search?
How to Apply for Jobs Online
Job Search and Career Networking
How to Build Your Personal Brand
How to Prepare for an Interview?
What to Wear to an Interview
The San Diego bio med cluster provides a healthy assortment of opportunities in office-based employment, research lab positions, and manufacturing jobs. Company sizes range from small start-ups from recent University of California San Diego graduates to well-established, mature, publicly-traded corporations.