Ireland has a thriving health sciences industry. If you’re looking to get involved, these companies are all recruiting at the moment.
Health sciences is a huge business in Ireland. According to IDA Ireland, Ireland is the seventh-largest exporter of medicines in the world and 10 out of 10 of the world’s top pharmaceutical brands have substantial manufacturing facilities on the island.
The medtech industry also has an incredible presence in the country. According to the Irish Medtech Association, 38,000 people in Ireland are employed by the sector. Ireland manufactures one-third of the world’s contact lenses and 50pc of all ventilators in acute hospitals around the globe.
There are, therefore, myriad options for those aspiring to work in the industry. We’ve created this list of some of the incredible companies in Ireland that are hiring in health sciences right now.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS)
It’s difficult to talk about Bristol-Myers Squibb without mention of the company’s €1bn state-of-the-art biologics facility at Cruiserath in Dublin. It develops medicines for a broad swathe of therapeutic areas such as oncology, cardiovascular and fibrosis.
It is hiring for a number of different positions.
J&J Visioncare
J&J Visioncare is one of the many arms of Johnson & Johnson, a company that certainly needs no introduction. Covering everything from producing cutting-edge software to filling out your bathroom cabinet with at-home essentials, J&J has a finger in every pie.
At the J&J Visioncare site in Limerick, the company designs, manufactures and markets Acuvue, the number-one brand range of soft disposable contact lenses, among other things.
If you could see yourself working at J&J Visioncare, you can find out more about its available positions here.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals
Alexion Pharmaceuticals opened its first Irish facility in Dublin in 2013. Its speciality is the development of drugs for rare diseases. One such example of this is Soliris (eculizumab), a drug that can improve the quality of life in patients affected by certain life-threatening blood diseases.
The company has opportunities both in Ireland and across its offices dotted around the world.
MSD
MSD (or Merck as it is known in the US) is one of the world’s most visible pharmaceutical brands. It was first founded in 1891 in the US and arrived on Irish shores more than 50 years ago. It employs more than 1,800 people across its four sites in Ballydine (Tipperary), Brinny (Cork), Carlow and Dublin.
It has plenty of available roles for those looking to get their start in health sciences.
Shire
Shire is a global biotech company headquartered in Ireland. It focuses on producing medicines for especially rare diseases, ones for which there are often few treatment options. It has recently branched out into creating bespoke medicines that are optimally effective for patients.
It has also begun to work on providing earlier detection, an important task when you consider that in the rare disease area, it can take between five and seven years to obtain a diagnosis.
Shire is hiring now, more about which can be found on its careers page.
Amgen
Amgen started with a mere three employees in Thousand Oaks, California. It has since grown to become a world leader in biotechnology.
It has core competencies across a variety of health areas including (but not limited to) bone health, oncology, neuroscience and inflammation. Amgen focuses on providing therapies for illnesses for which there are limited existing treatment options.
You can check out the company’s job listings here.
Abbott
Pharma giant Abbott Laboratories was founded in 1888 and recorded 2017 revenues of $27.39bn.
Abbott recently made a splash in the news with the revelation that it is to recruit a staggering 500 people at its site in Donegal, which already employs 400 people. It first set up a plant in Lurganboy near Donegal town in 2006. There, it manufactures the worldwide supply of the FreeStyle and the FreeStyle Lite brands of blood glucose test strips.
This recent news has meant an increase in the variety of roles available at its plant.
Regeneron
Regeneron first arrived on Irish shores in 2013. Its EMEA headquarters based in Dublin was the company’s first office outside the US. It also has a manufacturing facility in Limerick, which it began developing when it arrived. This site recently received FDA approval and put the call out for applications for 300 new roles.
It is hiring now across a variety of disciplines.
BD
Medtech giant BD was originally founded as Becton Dickinson in the 19th century. It has three sites in Ireland: one in Drogheda, one in Dún Laoghaire and a recently unveiled 80,000 sq ft research centre in Limerick. This new facility primarily focuses on product development.
It is recruiting now for a number of different roles.
Are you interested in joining the top sci-tech employers building their profile on Siliconrepublic.com? Email our team at employers@siliconrepublic.com to learn more.
