Not sure if this is the right forum for this post, but its ‘employment’ related so thought I’d give this one a shot.
The family will be moving to Switzerland in summer 2026, and I’m trying to tap into local life sciences networks to look for jobs. I’m in the drug development space, so pharma/biotech (e.g. Novartis), diagnostics (Roche) and data/AI (Isomorphic) players are of highest interest. Basel is understandably THE hub in CH, but I’m trying to meet people and learn about opportunities in both the Basel/Zurich/Zug area and the Geneva/Lausanne area.
Questions for this group:
Are there professional networks/associations you would recommend I join?
Are there local recruiting companies you would recommend?
Are there specific companies you would recommend in this space across both german-speaking and french-speaking CH?
Are you yourself in this field in CH? Please DM me!
Any general guidance/tips for looking for jobs in CH, and commentary on the general market sentiment right now?
Well, first you need to decide what area to be looking for jobs. There’s not really any point in applying for jobs in Lausanne/Geneva unless you want a several hour daily commute from Zurich for example. Or you could rent a place in there and only go back to Zurich at weekends.
What Swiss languages do you speak? That again may decide where’s best to apply since I suspect you’d need to speak at least one for your new job.
To answer your question: I speak French. For many of the multinational life sciences companies, English seems to be sufficient with Swiss languages as a plus (although some roles will require the local language e.g. German for local Marketing roles in Zurich).
Commuting between Zurich and Lausanne/Geneva is certainly not an option, nor something I would consider. I am open to both suisse alemanique (Basel, Zurich, Zug) and suisse romande (Geneva, Lausanne), and would live in or close to those respective cities.
Then you need to concentrate on Swiss Romande because otherwise you will have a long commute from the other cities you mention assuming you need to have a Swiss language as well. That’ll depend on the job of course.
You might need a second language for the work, you likely will need a second language for dealing with your employer and colleagues and you will need a second language to actually live here. None of the above is fixed in cement but quality of life is important too.
There’s no requirement for local language working in Basel Pharma, and you’ll hardly find any colleagues that even speak it. Everything is in English. Unfortunately job opportunities are slim on the ground at the moment, it’s not a good time to be looking.
thanks for the response mountainmad and yes Basel is most likely where we will end up given the space I play in.
Could you say more about “its not a good time to be looking” - whats driving the life sciences market/hiring being bad right now? how long has this been the case? are there particularly industries (pharma vs medtech vs other) that are doing better or worse than others?
Two of the big players (Roche/Novartis) have been restructuring over the last year or so, but the whole industry seems impacted. I know people who have been made redundant or have been told they need to move back to the US, as their position here no longer exists. My employer hasn‘t been hiring in some years, and anyone who leaves is not replaced. Very few people are leaving for another job because there is nowhere to go. I have friends who have been made redundant due to restructuring who have now been unemployed over a year.
I would not move here without securing a job offer first.
For generalist R&D roles, that’s absolutely true. However, for more specialised EU or rest-of-world (ROW) functions, it remains the case that these roles are not typically handled from the US. Take safety or regulatory affairs, US teams tend to be almost exclusively FDA-focused and rely heavily on their colleagues in European offices to manage European and broader ROW regulatory work.
Generally speaking it has been a torrid year in Pharma, but we’ve seen these before and there is usually a bounce-back after the reset. I believe what has contributed to this particular downturn was.
Declining block buster drug revenues and patent cliffs
A post-COVID correction following a massive hiring surge
Reduced investor appetite for early-stage biotech funding
Strategy refocus e.g. conventional pharma to gene therapies
Increased outsourcing of many roles to cheaper countries + growing belief and reliance on Ai and automation.
And as you mentioned, we’re also witnessing a giant game of musical chairs. The music stopped, and many people are staying put in their roles, despite being overworked or unhappy. This reduced turnover creates fewer opportunities in the job market, but it’s not a dynamic that can persist indefinitely.