With so many bedside nurses looking for a career change to reduce burnout, biotech nursing jobs are gaining traction, offering nurses the chance to leverage their clinical experience in new and exciting ways.
“But what would I be doing exactly?” That’s one of the most common questions I hear from nurses who are curious about transitioning into jobs at biotech, health tech, or medical device companies.
You might be wondering how your nursing skills translate into roles in biotech, medical devices, or pharmaceuticals—industries that aren’t traditionally associated with nursing. Finding specific information on this topic can be challenging because oftentimes, the word ‘nurse’ isn’t included in the job title or in the job description.
The good news is there are a variety of biotech nursing jobs available that make use of the expertise and hands-on experience you’ve gained in your nursing career. Think about all the different things you interact with daily as a nurse, like IV pumps & supplies, cardiac monitors, medications you administer, surgical equipment, wound care or bladder scanners. All of those companies likely have nurses working there in various roles, contributing their clinical insights and ensuring that the products meet the needs of healthcare providers and patients.
Whether you’re looking for a clinical role, educational position, or something completely different, like sales or project management, there’s likely a biotech role that fits your skill set. A great place to do more research on types of biotech nursing roles is directly on company blogs, like this one at Stryker or this one at Merck.
Why Nurses are Valuable in Biotech
Nurses bring a unique skill set to biotech companies that’s hard to match. Your clinical experience, ability to understand and communicate complex medical information, and patient care advocacy skills, give you a competitive edge in this industry. Whether you’re providing direct clinical insights to a research team or helping to educate healthcare professionals on a new medical device, nursing experience in direct patient care makes you an invaluable asset.
For example, companies like Stryker and IQVIA hire nurses for roles such as clinical consultant specialists, medical device educators, and clinical research associates. In these roles, nurses leverage skills gained from bedside nursing like problem-solving, communication, and critical thinking to support things like product implementations, developing & monitoring safety standards, or educating medical staff that will be using the products or services.
If you’re interested in a deeper dive into what biotech nursing involves and want to explore some specific companies that hire nurses for these roles, you can find more details in my blog post, Which Biotech Companies Hire Nurses.
1. Nurse Educator
Nurse educators at biotech companies play diverse roles depending on the company. Responsibilities may range from educating healthcare professionals on new therapies, medical devices, or pharmaceuticals, to teaching patients how to manage their conditions or how to use new medical devices. Depending on the employer and job specifics, nurse educator roles can be fully remote, where patients or healthcare professionals call in for troubleshooting support.
Other nursing educator roles may involve local travel to visit patients at home, helping them understand new therapies or devices. Or the job might require travel regionally, nationally, or even internationally to provide in-services to your fellow healthcare professionals on a company’s product or service.
Many nurses break into biotech through per diem positions like Clinical Nurse Educator roles, either providing education virtually or traveling to healthcare facilities for hands-on training.
Example Nurse Educator Responsibilities
- Patient-focused education to help them understand their treatments and manage their conditions effectively.
- Provider-focused training to fellow healthcare professionals on specific products or protocols, ensuring they feel confident in using the product or service in their daily work.
Example Job Titles and Transferable Skills
Example Job Titles:
- Clinical Nurse Educator
- Patient Educator
- Medical Device Educator
- Healthcare Training Specialist
Transferable skills: strong communication, patient education, clinical teaching, adaptability (especially for travel), and technology proficiency.
2. Triage Nurse/Call Center Nurse
If you’ve ever been the nurse at the hospital who had to call a medical device company for guidance, it might surprise you that the person on the other end could have been a nurse, too. Triage nurses in biotech, health tech, or medical device companies take incoming calls from other healthcare professionals, providing clinical guidance or troubleshooting for medical devices or answering pharmaceutical-based questions (for biopharma companies). These positions often blend education and triage, requiring quick decision-making and strong communication skills.
Triage roles are usually remote and are ideal for acute care nurses who want to continue utilizing their clinical judgment in a less physically demanding environment.
Example Job Titles and Transferable Skills
Example Job Titles:
- Triage Nurse
- Clinical Support Nurse
- Medical Device Specialist
Transferable skills: clinical judgment, telephonic communication, patient assessment, strong communication skills, technology proficiency, specific clinical experience (for example, oncology, chemotherapy, neurology, etc)
3. Clinical Consultant or Liaison
In a clinical consultant or liaison role, nurses serve as the bridge between biotech companies and healthcare providers. For instance, clinical support specialists could focus on sharing clinical or product insights with the sales team, supporting healthcare teams in implementing new technologies & devices, or educating physicians and nurses on new therapies & devices.
These positions are a great match if you enjoy being on the cutting edge of healthcare but don’t necessarily want to stay in direct patient care. It’s common for these roles to involve some degree of travel, as well as a mix of education and sales support.
Example Job Titles and Transferable Skills
Example Job Titles:
- Clinical Consultant
- Healthcare Liaison
- Clinical Support Specialist
Transferable skills: clinical expertise, communication, relationship-building, liaison, and sales support.
5. Regulatory and Quality Assurance
Nurses in regulatory and quality assurance roles help ensure products and processes meet strict safety and compliance standards. They are involved in reviewing clinical data (such as clinical trial data), writing protocols, product safety reviews, quality review audits, quality improvement projects, and ensuring adherence to FDA and international regulations. If you’ve enjoyed detail-oriented work, risk management, compliance, or protocol development in your clinical practice, transitioning into regulatory or quality assurance roles can be a natural fit.
Example Job Titles and Transferable Skills
Example Job Titles:
- Regulatory Affairs Specialist
- Quality Assurance Nurse
- Compliance Officer
Transferable skills: attention to detail, protocol development, clinical data review and quality improvement, compliance knowledge, risk assessment, regulatory expertise
5. Sales and Sales Support
Have a passion for both patient care and business? Then sales or sales support roles in biotech might be a great fit. In these positions, you’ll educate healthcare professionals about company products or services, like medical devices or pharmaceuticals, helping them troubleshoot and understand how these tools can improve patient care, leading to bringing them on as clients for the company. This blend of clinical expertise and business strategy can take you into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, or private physician offices, often with opportunities for travel.
In sales roles, nurses can be directly involved in managing client relationships and sales, or they can work in sales support, offering clinical perspectives to clients and the sales team. Depending on the role and company, you could be assigned to manage a local or regional area or travel nationwide. For example, the Nurse Advisor role at IQVIA is one such position where nurses work alongside healthcare providers to advise on the use of medical products or treatments.
It’s important to understand that job titles like “Nurse Advisor” or “Medical Device Sales Specialist” may vary with different companies. Some may focus on a specific product, while others could have a broader portfolio, including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, or biotechnology solutions. For instance, roles like Medical Device Sales Specialist at IQVIA encompass everything from selling surgical equipment to providing training and technical support in high-pressure environments like operating rooms.
You’re going to want to take a close look at the job descriptions because the responsibilities can really vary from company to company. One “nurse advisor” role might involve something completely different at another company, so it’s important to make sure the duties align with what you’re looking for.
Strong relationship-building skills are needed in these roles, as well as your nursing clinical insights, to help answer questions and influence purchasing decisions within a variety of healthcare settings. Whether you’re managing clients or offering behind-the-scenes support, the mix of clinical knowledge and business acumen makes these roles rewarding and (lucrative) for nurses looking to impact healthcare beyond direct patient care.
Example Job Titles and Transferable Skills
Example Job Titles:
- Clinical Sales Specialist
- Medical Device Sales Representative
- Pharmaceutical Sales Representative
- Biotech Sales Consultant
- Sales Support Coordinator
- Clinical Account Manager
- Territory Sales Manager
- Product Specialist
Transferable skills: clinical expertise, relationship-building, communication, marketing, customer support, product or clinical knowledge.
6. Informatics and Project Management
In this role, nurses are known for ‘bridging the gap’ between patient care and technology at biotech, health tech, or medical device companies. Your job could involve being a consultant or liason on various projects, coordinating the implementation of new clinical software or devices, or analyzing clinical workflows. Companies like Philips value nurses because of their hands-on informatics experience at the bedside, especially those nurses who are skilled in implementing new monitoring devices in critical care or emergency settings. Your familiarity with the devices helps you communicate effectively with fellow clinicians, teaching them how to troubleshoot issues and integrate these tools into their workflows.
If you get the chance to volunteer on your unit for a new technology implementation, accept it! You’ll not only gain experience but you’ll be able to use this experience on your resume to easily market these skills to employers.
Project management role nurses often transition into and is a natural fit for nurses with multitasking, coordinating or leadership experience. You might oversee launches and timelines or coordinate different aspects of the project for multiple different types of professions involved in the project.
Keep in mind that these roles might not always have “nurse” or “informatics” in the title, so make sure to closely review the job descriptions to see how your skills align with the responsibilities.
Example Job Titles and Transferable Skills
Example Job Titles:
- Clinical Workflow Analyst
- Product Implementation Manager
- Clinical Systems Analyst
- Healthcare Solutions Consultant
- Project Manager, Medical Devices
- Technology Integration Specialist
- Clinical Project Coordinator
Transferable skills: workflow analysis, IT systems, data analysis, project management, clinical advocacy.
7. Data Science & Data Analytics
If you enjoy working with numbers and digging into data trends, you might find that a position in data science or data analytics is a great way to pivot your career. Nurses in these roles use clinical data to spot patterns, evaluate patient outcomes, and play a part in driving innovations in biotech and medical devices. Your hands-on experience in patient care equips you with valuable insights for analyzing large datasets and contributing to healthcare improvements.
Companies like Definitive Healthcare, IQVIA, and Apple often offer high-paying opportunities for nurses with expertise in data analytics. There are also opportunities in smaller health tech companies (or even some insurance companies), where your skills in data science and data analytics can be highly valuable in various roles, including quality assurance, clinical research, and data abstraction.
For a deeper dive into these high-paying biotech remote nursing roles, check out my blog post on the highest-paying remote nursing jobs. It includes job examples and tips on what to consider when searching for a well-paying remote role.
Example Job Titles and Transferable Skills
Example Job Titles:
- Nurse Data Analyst
- Nurse Clinical Research Data Coordinator
- Quality Control Analyst
- Clinical Data Manager
- Healthcare Data Analyst
- Clinical Quality Analyst
Transferable skills: data analysis, critical thinking, research methodologies, quality improvement, detail oriented, organization.
8. Navigator/Coordinator
The role of nurse navigators or coordinators can vary based on the company, because these types of jobs can fall under various departments, such as clinical research or patient education.
Nurse navigators or coordinators might organize patient care, coordinate clinical trials, or manage product rollouts. This position is ideal for nurses with strong multitasking abilities who thrive in orchestrating large-scale projects and overseeing various moving parts.
For example, as a clinical research coordinator, your responsibilities can vary depending on the company’s structure. You might handle everything from patient enrollment to ensuring compliance and collecting data during trials. Your ability to keep all aspects of the study organized and facilitate clear communication among team members is essential for success.
Example Job Titles and Transferable Skills
Example Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Patient Navigator
- Clinical Trial Manager
- Product Launch Coordinator
Transferable skills: Organizational skills, clinical trial experience, patient coordination, patient education, communication liason, multi-tasking.
10. Clinical Research Nurse
When many nurses think about biotech nursing jobs, the role of a clinical research nurse often comes to mind first—and it’s easy to see why! You could be overseeing patient care during clinical trials, making sure participants feel supported and well-informed (patient education) and comfortable navigating their treatement plan.
In this role, your daily responsibilities might include collecting and analyzing data to ensure compliance with regulatory standards. You could be directly involved in patient care, education, and coordinating different aspects of clinical trials, or you might work behind the scenes with data, overseeing various elements of research and the team.
This type of nursing role can vary significantly from company to company and is sometimes referred to as a Clinical Research Associate (CRA). For those starting out in the field, entry-level training programs, like the one offered by IQVIA, provide an excellent opportunity. Their CRA Training Program focuses on building essential skills through virtual learning, on-the-job training, and mentorship.
If you enjoy a research-focused environment and want to see the direct impact of your work on patient care, this role could be a great match for you.
Example Job Titles and Transferable Skills
Example Job Titles:
- Research Nurse Coordinator
- Clinical Research Associate (CRA)
- Clinical Trial Manager
- Product Launch Coordinator
- Clinical Trial Educator
Transferable skills: Organizational skills, clinical trial experience, patient coordination, patient education, communication liason, multi-tasking.
Your Next Steps in Biotech Nursing Jobs
If you’re starting your job search in the biotech, health tech, or medical device industry, be sure to check out my blog post, Which Biotech Companies Hire Nurses. It offers insights into organizations that value nursing expertise.
Also, don’t forget to check out the Free Remote Nursing Job Board, which includes filters specifically for biotech, health tech, and medical device roles, to help you quickly find the jobs you are looking for!
Exploring career options in biotech, health tech, or medical device companies lets you use your nursing skills in new ways. It’s possible to find a nursing job where you can still advocate for patients and contribute to advancements in healthcare while also finding a work-life balance to reduce burnout and support your own well-being.
Remote Nurse Connection is proudly Ad-free. All opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read full disclosure here.
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