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Hidden gem employers, November 2026

Hidden gem pharma, biotech and CRO employers in DACH: where to apply this month

This month in numbers

My read this month

Where the roles are

Each opening is assigned to one area by its job title. Apprenticeships, internships and student jobs are counted separately, whatever the function.

By type of employer

The list

Filter by country, type, size or area. The employer name links to its own career portal, so you can search there directly. Rank follows the hidden gem score explained in the methodology.

75 employers shown

Why I built this

Most job seekers in pharma apply to the same famous names. I built this page to show the employers that fewer people think of, with their open roles counted and linked, once a month. I've worked in recruitment for 17 years, 14 of them in pharma and CRO environments.

Related: Pharma job market pulse DACH, DACH pharma salary bands and Pharma interview index.

Methodology

  • Who qualifies: pharma, biotech, CDMO, active ingredient, CRO and pharma lab service companies with at least one site in Germany, Switzerland or Austria, fewer than 10,000 employees worldwide, and at least 3 open roles in those three countries on their own career portal on the data date.
  • Who's left out on purpose: the 20 largest pharma companies, the large CROs (IQVIA, ICON, Syneos Health, Parexel, PPD, Fortrea, Labcorp, Medpace) and the DACH names with the highest public profile, including Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck KGaA, Roche, Novartis, Sandoz, Lonza, BioNTech, CureVac, Evotec, Stada, Fresenius and Octapharma. Medical technology isn't covered. Pierre Fabre was checked and left out because it states 10,000 employees.
  • How I counted: I read the openings from each employer's own career portal or its applicant system (Workday, SuccessFactors, Personio, softgarden, rexx, d.vinci, onlyfy, SmartRecruiters, Workable and others) on 14th November 2026. Roles outside Germany, Switzerland and Austria are removed. Language duplicates of the same ad and open applications aren't counted. A posting listed for several sites counts once.
  • Areas: my own classification by keywords in the job title. Each opening sits in one area only.
  • Employees: worldwide headcount as published by the company on its website or in its annual report, or as given on Wikipedia. For 40 employers I found no published figure and used my own estimate. These carry an asterisk.
  • Hidden gem score, 0 to 100: 60% hiring intensity (open roles in DACH per 100 employees) and 40% the number of open roles in DACH, both as percentile ranks among the listed employers. A high score means many openings for a company of that size.
  • Limits: career portals change daily. Employers that advertise mainly through job boards or recruiters are under-counted. This month the list covers the portals I could read reliably, and it grows every month towards 100 employers. Employers with only one or two openings stay in my candidate pool and return when they hire more.
  • Interpretation: the section "My read this month" is my opinion. Everything else is counted data.

Changelog

  • 14th November 2026: first edition with 75 employers and 1,190 open roles, career portals checked on 14th November 2026.

Download and cite

My compilation and the CSV file are licensed under CC BY 4.0. The CSV holds counts per employer, not the job ads, which belong to the employers. Download the CSV.

Frequently asked questions

What makes an employer a hidden gem on this list?

It's a pharma, biotech, CDMO or CRO employer with fewer than 10,000 staff worldwide, a site in Germany, Switzerland or Austria, and at least 3 open roles there on its own career portal. The biggest and most famous employers are left out on purpose, because that's where most applications go.

Why aren't Bayer, Roche or Novartis on the list?

They're excluded on purpose, along with the other largest pharma companies, the large CROs and the DACH names with the highest public profile. The full exclusion list is in the methodology.

How often is the list updated?

Once a month. Every edition counts the open roles again on each employer's career portal, so the ranking can change from month to month.

How is the ranking calculated?

With a hidden gem score from 0 to 100: 60% open roles per 100 employees and 40% the number of open roles in DACH, both as percentile ranks. Smaller employers that hire a lot for their size come out on top.

Did any employer pay to be listed?

No. Inclusion follows the criteria in the methodology, and no employer paid for a place in this edition.

Can I use the data?

Yes. My compilation and the CSV are under CC BY 4.0, so you can reuse them with a link to this page.

Company names and job ads belong to the employers. This page is information for job seekers. It involves no job placement or recruitment, and no employer paid to be included.

Next step

Found three employers worth a closer look?

I spent 17 years in recruitment, 14 of them in pharma and CRO environments at Bayer, ICON and Syneos Health. The first conversation is twenty minutes and costs nothing.