Cheeky Logo
Ready To Get Hired?
Apply To Book A Free Call With Our Transition Specialist Team

11 Most Coveted PhD Careers & Their Job Descriptions

What is the difference between a Data Analyst and a Data Scientist?

Well, salary, for one. 

Data scientists get paid more. 

Transferable skills for another. 

Data Scientists have the ability to not only understand and communicate technical data, but business data as well. 

In fact, they can translate technical data into business data. This ability to translate, to “speak nerd and normal person” as I like to say, is the differentiator for most of the top industry PhD careers available right now. 

Finally, job candidates with Bachelor degrees and Master’s degrees only are often hired into Data Analyst roles, while Data Scientist roles are most often reserved for PhDs. 

Of course, there are key technical skills required for a Data Scientist position that are not required for Data Analyst positions too, but these skills can be learned on the job by PhDs and employers know this.

A lot of PhDs, unfortunately, will get hired as Data Analysts, or other lower level roles, because they don’t believe in their own value. Or, they don’t believe in the importance of transferable skills in addition to technical skills. 

If you have a PhD and you want a PhD-level role in industry, you must dedicate yourself to standing out from other job candidates by being the rare candidate who has both high-level technical skills and high-level transferable skills.

You must be able to communicate technical findings with non-technical team members, including executives, investors, and other key stakeholders. 

If you refuse to differentiate yourself in this way, you will never get into the following coveted PhD careers. 

Differentiate Yourself To Get Hired Into Top Cross-Departmental Roles

In industry, nearly all companies rely heavily on cross-departmental collaboration. This means that all top industry PhD careers, require you to work cross-departmentally. 

Cross-departmental collaboration allows companies to stay ahead in their market, produce topline products, services and treatments, take care of their team members, provide exceptional customer services; become more efficient, and build trust in the organization – all at once.

For this to be successful, PhD employees in top industry roles must excel in communication and teamwork. They must also understand all departments within a company, as well as all common departments within an industry.

PhD careers

A recent report by McKinsey Global Institute showed that employees who are more connected with one another are 20-25% more productive. The study found that this productivity has the potential for additional revenues amounting to $1.3 trillion per year.

McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) finds that twice as much potential value lies in using social tools to enhance communications, knowledge sharing, and collaboration within and across enterprises. MGI’s estimates suggest that by fully implementing social technologies, companies have an opportunity to raise the productivity of interaction workers—high-skill knowledge workers, including managers and professionals—by 20 to 25 percent.”

If you want to get hired into a top industry role, you have to show the business acumen they are looking for to continue this open collaborative environment. 

In particular, you must be able to communicate with every type of employee in every department, whether that employee is technical or non-technical. This— above all else— is the key to rising above industry roles that any non-PhD can do and into top roles that PhDs can do best. 

Understanding The 11 Most Popular PhD Careers

1. Patent Analyst

The Patent Analyst position is similar to a Patent Examiner position, but is more advanced as it requires more research, analysis, and innovation skills. 

PhDs are being hired into this role aggressively. Patent Analysts sit under the intellectual property umbrella and their job is to review potential patent applications. They work for companies that are developing products, often before a new product is created, to see if the company’s products or potential products can be patented. 

This requires a lot of investigative work, which is why the Patent Analyst role will leverage your skills as a PhD, no matter what your PhD background is. It is your research analysis skills, your understanding of innovation and the difference between mastering a field and pushing a field forward that will make you a successful Patent Analyst.

2. Medical or Scientific Writer

Workforce decentralization has made the world rely even more on content, which is why Technical Writers, Scientific Writers, Marketing Education Writers, writers and editors of all kinds are flourishing in the new economy. All of these writing and editing job titles sit under a job title that has become increasingly popular even outside of biotech and pharma companies – Medical Writer. 

Under the Medical Writing career umbrella, there are at least 20 to 30 different job titles. You can simplify this career path, despite all of these job titles, by thinking about all of the individual roles as sitting on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum, you have highly technical writing, the kind of writing where a PhD writes down the label that would go on a Tylenol or Advil bottle. On the other end of the spectrum, you have writing that would appear on social media or on a blog at a hospitality company, retail company, or any company. 

Your PhD training is highly valuable in industry because you have been trained at the highest level on the ability to know whether or not information is real or fake. We are in an information war where the average person can no longer tell what is credible information and what information is completely false. 

As a Medical Writer you will effectively communicate high level information to different audiences and your PhD will help ensure these audiences trust you and the company you represent. 

3. Data Scientist

DJ Patil and Jeff Hammerbacher were the first two people to coin the term Data Scientist in 2008. Since then, this role has become one of the most coveted roles in industry by PhDs, and also one of the highest paid. 

At the highest level, there are two types of data scientist jobs. Those that require a lot of data modeling, machine learning, and strong knowledge of programming languages like R, Python, Java and more, and those that mainly require you to analyze large data sets and help develop algorithms (which you can do even if you don’t currently have experience coding). 

As mentioned at the start of this article; however, the biggest key to getting hired as a Data Scientist, that will separate you from lower paid Data Analyst positions, is the ability to translate your technical findings into actionable business results; to work cross-departmentally with key stakeholders who lack your technical training.  

Can you translate technical data into business data? Can you understand the algorithms in theory and be willing to teach yourself new programming languages or learn these languages on the job? Do you have a PhD? If so, you can get hired as a data scientist. 

4. Application Scientist

The number one non-bench role that PhDs are hired into today is the Application Scientist role. Or Application Engineer, or Application Specialist.

As we have been discussing over and over and over again, the most important skill you must have to get into an Application Scientist role is the ability to speak nerd and speak like a normal person. You have to be able to communicate complex technical concepts into simple, actionable results that will help a business grow. 

As an Application Scientist, you are a liaison between a company that produces, for example, a medical device, and a company that buys this medical device. You will spend a lot of time in the field at Research Institutes, Hospitals, or individual clinics and labs who are buying products from biotech companies. 

Not only do you help customers apply your company’s product to their work, you also help your company better understand the needs of the customer. These PhD careers require you to communicate these needs to the management teams, sales and marketing teams, executives, investors and other key stakeholders. You will be required to work cross-departmentally from R&D to marketing to customer service to ensure that your product continues to meet customer needs. You will be required to ensure your product continues to perform, and develop, properly.

5. Product Manager

A Product Manager manages the entire lifecycle of a product developed by a company. They could also be managing an entire product portfolio. 

To put the role of a Product Manager into perspective, let us take the instance of laboratory antibodies for doing experiments. There might be a hundred antibodies in a portfolio, and a company could hire a Product Manager to manage the entire portfolio of antibodies. 

Or, a Product Manager could manage one feature of a software program. For example, at Google, there is a product manager for every feature of Gmail, for every feature of Google search, and so on. 

Product Managers work cross-departmentally with a company’s R&D department, marketing department, and many other departments to analyze market trends and to help keep the product positioned appropriately in the marketplace. 

6. User Experience Researcher (UX Researcher)

The next role is a User Experience Researcher or UX Researcher. This is very exciting PhD careers because PhDs have been identified by employers as the perfect candidates for this role and not just at biotech or pharma companies, but at companies as diverse as the Hilton Hotels, to Home Depot, McDonald’s, Bed Bath, and Beyond. That’s right – companies in the retail sector, hospitality sector, and even the restaurant or confectionary sectors (eg, Hershey’s) are hiring PhDs into UX Researcher roles.

UX Researchers are essentially Market Analysts. The key difference is that UX Researchers collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data to better understand the reasons and the rationale behind the user, rather than just consumer behavior. 

Since every company now has its own website and many have their own mobile applications, most of the quantitative data stream into a company’s “user data.” That being said, companies still rely heavily on focus groups and surveys to understand the customer’s story, customer lifestyle, and/or “customer journey.”

7. Project Manager

Project Managers differ from Product Managers. While Product Managers own a company’s product, or a portfolio of products, a Project Manager owns a project or portfolio of projects. It is important to understand that projects are different from operations. You may not understand the difference yet, but essentially, a project has a completion point whereas an operation continues. 

Project Managers implement company projects to a very structured methodology and a documentation process (eg. project charters, statements of work). They work cross-departmentally and will often tell executives at the company what to do and when to do it (the executives want them to do this so they stay organized).

As a whole, Project Managers will manage people and aspects across departments, making this role very cross-functional and collaboration-intensive.  You can be working with quality control, sales, marketing, purchasing, finance, operations, manufacturing, and external vendors all on one project. You will manage a project scope, budgets, timelines, produce status reports, and much more. 

8. Regulatory Affairs Specialist

The one thing that will always increase is the number of government regulations that companies have to follow. Sure, some regulations may be cut year over year, but there will always be a net increase. This is why the Regulatory Affairs Specialist role in industry is so popular with PhDs and employers alike. 

As a PhD, you must understand that your ability to read complex documents and translate them into actions that other people can follow is extremely valuable to employers. In industry companies, the regulatory affairs department maintains knowledge of all applicable laws and regulations. 

These Specialists will investigate laws, guidelines, and processes. They will also review data, update documents, check products, observe staff, and even write and record documents. They ensure that the company’s internal teams are functioning and will oversee the organization cross-departmentally to ensure that all relevant regulations are followed.  

Through a constant review process, Regulatory Affairs Specialists establish guidelines and standard operating procedures for specific tasks to make sure they are executed correctly and legally. They also ensure that all departments of a company comply with the set guidelines. 

9.  Medical Science Liaison

Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) work in the field and communicate directly with clinicians. The MSL is a very, very popular role for PhDs right now and more PhDs are getting  hired into MSL roles than ever before. 

So what does MSL do? They liaise. They communicate. They translate. In this case, they liaise between the healthcare officials, or clinicians, and their team members at the pharmaceutical company’s various departments. Specifically, MSLs cultivate new relationships with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) such as clinical researchers, clinicians practicing medicine, and other thought leaders. 

MSLs deliver information, from news about recent research developments, clinical trial activities, and therapeutic approaches. Due to increased regulations, sales professionals at pharmaceutical companies can only talk about “on label” topics with clinicians now. MSLs; however, can have “off label” conversations and discuss the science behind therapeutics with clinicians, which is why PhDs are in such high demand for this role.

These KOLs in turn share information, patient information and otherwise, with the MSLs who share it with the pharmaceutical company’s product teams and the marketing teams to improve their current therapeutic products and to help develop new treatments.

10. Clinical Research Associate

Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) participate in the design, administration, and monitoring of clinical trials. They visit clinical trial sites, and analyze and evaluate clinical data gathered at these sites during the research phases. 

The majority of CRA work for Contract Research Organizations (CROs) who themselves are responsible for helping pharmaceutical companies manage the compliance aspect of a clinical site. Knowledge of the FDA or other regulatory bodies is required for this role. You might also need to sit for different regulatory exams like  ACRP, COC, or RA. 

As CRAs are tasked with ensuring compliance, the role is similar to Regulatory Affairs Specialist roles. The one key difference is that these PhD careers are very specific to clinical research. As a CRA, you will ensure that clinical sites comply with the protocols and are going after the overall clinical objective. 

To get hired as a CRA, you must be open to gaining a strong understanding of clinical trials, data management and documentation. You will also be tasked with closely managing clinical trial sites and site projects related to these sites. 

11. Research Scientist or Engineer

R&D Researcher, Research Scientist, Research Engineer, and R&D Analyst roles are still extremely popular PhD careers with the industry employers as well . In these PhD careers, you will work in every area of a technical discipline, whether in science, engineering. or other technical field. 

As a Research Scientist, you can work in fields as diverse as medical research, geoscience, immunology, meteorology, pharmacology and hundreds of other fields that are as diverse as the fields available to you in academia. However, the job titles in industry are very generic by comparison, often called simply Scientist roles, or Principal Scientist, Principal Engineer, or even just Researcher or Analyst.

As a Research Scientist, you will plan and conduct experiments, recording and analyzing data, carrying out field work, collecting samples, presenting results, writing research papers, reports, and review summaries. Importantly, and unlike in academia, Research Scientist roles in industry are very cross-departmental. You will deal with data produced in your lab, but also data flowing into your lab (or it’s cloud-based informatics system) from other internal departments and from external CROs. 

You will have advanced robotics systems and teams of technicians producing gobs and gobs of data, while automated systems do initial analysis and document these analyses for you. More than anything else, your job in this role will be to strategize and manage experiments, and draw actionable conclusions.

Additionally, and also unlike in academia, in industry PhD careers getting published is not your goal. Instead, you will work towards getting patents and developing products that are proprietary and can be protected.

Concluding remarks

As a PhD, you may covet the above high paying industry PhD careers but remember, employers are also coveting you for these roles. You are more valuable in industry than ever before. The problem, though, is that you are very likely invisible to employers. You can increase your visibility by better communicating your transferable skills. Specifically, your ability to translate technical information into business information and to work cross-departmentally within an organization.

If you’re ready to start your transition into industry, you can apply to book a free Transition Call with our founder Isaiah Hankel, PhD or one of our Transition Specialists. Apply to book a Transition Call here.

Book a Transition Call
Get Free Job Search Content Weekly

ABOUT ISAIAH HANKEL, PHD

CEO, CHEEKY SCIENTIST & SUCCESS MENTOR TO PHDS

Dr. Isaiah Hankel is the Founder and CEO of Cheeky Scientist. His articles, podcasts and trainings are consumed annually by millions of PhDs and other professionals in hundreds of different countries. He has helped PhDs transition into top companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, Intel, Dow Chemical, BASF, Merck, Genentech, Home Depot, Nestle, Hilton, SpaceX, Tesla, Syngenta, the CDC, UN and Ford Foundation.

Dr. Hankel has published 3X bestselling books and his latest book, The Power of a PhD, debuted on the Barnes & Noble bestseller list. His methods for getting PhDs hired have been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Nature, Forbes, The Guardian, Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine and Success Magazine.

Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Similar Articles

The Ideal Keyword Density For Targeting Your PhD Resume To An Industry Job Posting

The Ideal Keyword Density For Targeting Your PhD Resume To An Industry Job Posting

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Writing a resume for an industry job is one of the biggest sticking points I see with PhDs entering the job market.  What worked even a year ago is not working today due to recent and rapidly accelerating advances in Applicant Tracking Systems.  These systems, called ATS or just AI today, are software tools used by companies to filter resumes.  They scan for specific keywords related to the job role, abilities, credentials, and qualities desired in a candidate.  As a PhD seeking very competitive roles, including relevant keywords in your resume is essential to pass through these systems and get…

AI Is Replacing Recruiters. Here’s How PhD Job Seekers Should Adapt

AI Is Replacing Recruiters. Here’s How PhD Job Seekers Should Adapt

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

“I had a recruiter reach out to me, Isaiah, and after I gave them my resume and answered their questions, they never got back to me. What should I do?”  I hear this a lot.  I also hear, “Isaiah, I was on the phone with a recruiter and as soon as they heard that I needed a visa, they hung up” …”or as soon as they heard I had no industry experience, they hung up.”  Man, I personally hate this. What a waste of time. The recruitment industry is broken.  The good news is its being devoured by Artificial Intelligence,…

Why PhDs Are Powerhouses Of Productivity (& How It Can Get Your Hired)

Why PhDs Are Powerhouses Of Productivity (& How It Can Get Your Hired)

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

“Nothing makes sense today in the job market”, a PhD expressed to me recently.  “No one is responding to my resumes. I don’t understand why they would ask for a scientist at the company and then not even want to talk to me”, they said. They went on: “I’ve even had some friends refer to me, but still didn’t get an interview. I feel like I made a mistake getting my PhD.”  It’s hard hearing this from PhDs who invested so much in their education and in advancing research for humanity.  Still, I hear it a lot.  My response is…

Employers Are Hiring PhDs Because They Learn Faster Than Other Job Candidates

Employers Are Hiring PhDs Because They Learn Faster Than Other Job Candidates

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

“Why would any employers hire me… I don’t have industry experience, my skills don’t match the positions I want, and I’m not hearing back from any positions I’ve applied to… Plus, I don’t know anyone in industry.” I heard this from a PhD recently who was mentally broken from their job search.  They had been applying to jobs for months and either hearing nothing back or getting rejected very quickly.  When they asked their peers for insights as to why, they heard the usual stuff, “maybe you’re overqualified?” Or… “Actually, you’re underqualified because you don’t have industry experience.” “You can’t…

What Are Ghost Job Listings & How PhDs Should Handle Them

What Are Ghost Job Listings & How PhDs Should Handle Them

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

“I’ve applied to hundreds of job postings” a PhD recently told me. “Using the same resume?” I asked.  “No.” they replied.  “I targeted every resume. I’ve heard nothing back. In some cases I was sent a rejection email within the hour. What’s happening?!”, they wailed.  “Ghost job listings.” I replied.  They asked me what a ghost job listing is and I explained that ghost job listings are jobs posted by real companies but they’re jobs that these companies have no intention of actually filling. Of course, this PhD wanted to know why and I told them that the answer is…

Haven’t Heard Back From An Employer? Maybe It’s Your Digital Footprint

Haven’t Heard Back From An Employer? Maybe It’s Your Digital Footprint

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

I was talking to a job candidate who had everything on paper.  3 advanced degrees. Industry experience before getting their degrees.  A long list of skills that were easily matched to a variety of job postings.  But, the same negative thing kept happening.  They’d get to the first or second interview, and then, after the interview went really well, not hear back.  This happened 22 different times. Now, they’re not even getting interviews.  That’s when I asked if they’d reviewed their digital footprint.  “My what?”, they said?  Your digital footprint – a review of everything you’ve posted online that employers…

White Collar Jobs For Degree Holders Contract Steeply

White Collar Jobs For Degree Holders Contract Steeply

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Robert has had 7 final stage interviews for R&D positions and been rejected every time.  He has a PhD and the exact skills these employers were looking for.  Sarah has a Masters and was looking forward to making a good paycheck to pay off her student loans.  But she’s been uploading resumes for 6 months without getting one single interview.  What’s happening?  The skilled, or white collar job market is contracting sharply and shows no signs of expanding again over the next decade.  A recent report in Forbes discussed news that UPS drivers can earn up to $170,000 annually and…

5 Tough But Common Interview Questions For Research-Based Jobs

5 Tough But Common Interview Questions For Research-Based Jobs

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

“I can’t get hired because of my technical skills.” “I’m nervous about the technical questions.” This is what many PhDs obsess over before interviewing for a research role.  The problem is that interviewers are rarely going to ask highly specific technical questions, even for research-based roles.  I had a PhD who was up for an interview at Baxter and told me that they appreciated the advice, but because it’s Baxter they know the interview will be mostly technical.  “Like what?” I asked. “Do you think you’re going to have to create a buffer in front of them?” “Are they going…

Adjunct, Postdoc, Or Amazon Warehouse Worker: Where PhDs With No Plan End Up

Adjunct, Postdoc, Or Amazon Warehouse Worker: Where PhDs With No Plan End Up

By: Isaiah Hankel, PhD

My PhD story is a cautionary tale.  I got my PhD against the backdrop of today’s contracting skilled, or “white-collar” job market.  Armed with my doctorate and an unwavering passion for research and academia, I had set my sights on a future brimming with intellectual pursuits.  Little did I know that the unpredictable twists of fate would lead me down a path I detested—donning the uniform of an Amazon warehouse worker. This is not a slight against those I currently work with. It’s just not what I thought my years and years of PhD-level training would bring me.  Sadly, after…

Top Industry Career eBooks

63 Best Industry Positions For PhDs

63 Best Industry Positions For PhDs

Isaiah Hankel, PhD & Arunodoy Sur, PhD

Learn about the best 63 industry careers for PhDs (regardless of your academic background). In this eBook, you will gain insight into the most popular, highest-paying jobs for PhDs – all of which will allow you to do meaningful work AND get paid well for it.

Complete LinkedIn Guide For PhDs

Complete LinkedIn Guide For PhDs

Isaiah Hankel

The LinkedIn tips & strategies within have helped PhDs from every background get hired into top industry careers.

Industry Resume Guide for PhDs

Industry Resume Guide for PhDs

Isaiah Hankel, PhD

Learn how to craft the perfect industry resume to attract employers. In this eBook for PhDs, you will get access to proven resume templates, learn how to structure your bullet points, and discover which keywords industry employers want to see most on PhD resumes.