What is different about applying for a pharma role on the other side of the Atlantic?
The document changes, the vocabulary changes and the way seniority is read changes. The substance does not. A US resume is a one-page impact document with no photograph and no date of birth; a CV for Germany, Austria or Switzerland is longer, often carries both, and is read alongside reference letters. Regulatory experience has to be translated rather than listed, because an FDA submission history and an EMA-facing team describe the same work in different words. Underneath that, the hiring machine is the same one: the same applicant tracking systems, the same short screening window, the same question from the hiring manager about what you actually delivered.
Coming to Europe from the US
Four things decide most of these applications.
- The document. One page is too short for a European pharma CV above entry level. Two pages is the working default, three or four at director level and above. Impact statements stay, but the reader also wants dates, employers and scope without having to infer them.
- Regulatory translation. IND, NDA and BLA experience is valuable in Europe and it is not self-explanatory to every reader. Naming the equivalent process, the agency interaction and the therapeutic area does more than the acronym alone.
- Title inflation, in both directions. A US Director can carry a span that reads as Senior Manager in a European matrix, and the reverse happens too. This is worth getting right before an interview rather than during a salary conversation.
- Work authorisation and language. Many roles in Germany and Switzerland are workable in English, especially in clinical development, regulatory affairs, data and global functions. Site-based quality and production roles usually are not. Being clear about which category your target role sits in saves months.
Going to the US from Europe
- Cut the document down and take the personal data out. No photograph, no date of birth, no marital status, no nationality. One page for early career, two for senior, and every bullet earning its place.
- Quantify harder than feels natural. European CVs describe responsibility; US resumes are read for outcome. The same job, described in the same words, reads as less on a US screen.
- Expect a longer, more structured interview loop, often with a presentation and a panel, and expect the behavioural questions to be scored rather than chatted through.
- Compensation is structured differently. Base, bonus, equity and benefits do not map cleanly onto a European package with a thirteenth month and a pension contribution. Comparing headline numbers alone will mislead you.
What transfers unchanged
Applicant tracking systems. Workday, SuccessFactors and Eightfold are configured in similar ways on both sides, and the way they parse a document does not care which continent you are on. So does the shortlist logic: a recruiter is looking for a small number of signals in a very short time, and an application that buries them loses to one that does not. So does the interview evidence a hiring manager wants, and so does the fact that an offer is assembled from components, some of which have room in them and some of which do not.
That is the part of the work I can do for either direction with equal confidence, because it is the part I did for seventeen years from the hiring side, fourteen of them inside Bayer AG, ICON and Syneos Health, with searches run in most European markets and in the United States.
How the sessions run
By video call in English. Berlin afternoons overlap with US East Coast mornings, so 16:00 in Berlin is 10:00 in Boston or Philadelphia, which is the slot most transatlantic clients use. West Coast clients usually take an early Berlin evening. Documents come back as editable files with the reasoning attached, not just the edit.
Which service fits which stage
- Students, doctoral researchers and career changers
- Professionals and managers with two or more years in the industry
- Directors, VPs and C-level
If you want the search run for you rather than doing it yourself, reverse recruitment covers the market scan across LinkedIn, Google Jobs and company career pages, the shortlist with my read on each role, and the application submitted in your name once you green-light it.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have a network in the United States?
Yes. I have run searches in the US and worked with US-based hiring teams from the CRO side, where delivery is organised by study and by client rather than by country. Where an introduction makes sense and the match is genuine, I make it.
Which functions move most easily across the Atlantic?
Clinical development, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, biostatistics and data, medical affairs and global commercial roles, because the work is already run across both regions. Site-based manufacturing, quality and country-specific commercial roles move less easily, mostly because of language and local regulation rather than skill.
Can you advise on visas or work permits?
I can tell you how employers treat the question in a screening process and how to position it in an application. The legal route belongs with an immigration specialist, and I will say so rather than guess.
What is the first step?
A free 20-minute getting-to-know call. We look at the target market and your record, and I tell you which service makes sense, or that none does.
Book a free getting-to-know call