Q3 Job Change Trends: pharma’s talent moves in six graphics
Every month, Athena BDA tracks senior moves across the commercial and medical functions of 250 pharma and biotech companies in the US and Europe. This review brings the third quarter together: 4,669 moves between July and September 2026, made up of 2,361 promotions, 1,728 job changes and 580 exits.
The quarter in six graphics:
Q3 pharma talent wheel. Every company with four or more moves, ranked by net talent gain, with arrivals and leavers split US and Europe.
Scope. Manager-and-above roles in the commercial and medical functions of 250 pharma and biotech companies in the US and Europe: marketing, market access, medical affairs, communications, patient services, insights and analytics, digital, strategy, business development, health economics and real world evidence, procurement, IT, data and AI.
Move types. A job change is a senior hire from another company. A promotion is a new role at the same company. An exit is a departure from the roles in scope, whether to another function at the same company or a company outside the analysis.
Arrivals, leavers and net. A company's arrivals are its job changes in. Its leavers are people who left a tracked role there, either for another tracked company or as an exit. Net is arrivals less leavers.