Raleigh-Durham, NC · Life sciences & tech hiring
The Triangle is in the middle of a drug-plant building boom, and every plant that opens needs a trained workforce. Careerscape is a national staffing agency whose recruiters specialize by industry and fill biomanufacturing, lab, engineering and tech roles for Raleigh-Durham employers remotely.
Federal statistics split the Triangle in two: the Raleigh-Cary metro and the Durham-Chapel Hill metro. Commuters and employers treat it as one market. Research Triangle Park, founded in 1959, sits on 7,000 acres between the three research universities that feed it: NC State in Raleigh, Duke in Durham and UNC in Chapel Hill.
The story of 2026 is construction. Fujifilm, Amgen and Genentech have each committed $1.5 billion or more to plants in Holly Springs, and the federal payroll numbers show the order of events. Raleigh-area construction jobs are up 6.9% in a year. Manufacturing jobs are down in both metros. The steel goes up first; most of the operator, quality and engineering hiring comes as each plant ramps, with Genentech planning to hire from 2028 to 2032.
For employers, that means competing for GMP-trained people against plants that are still adding headcount. For job seekers, it means a long runway into an industry where a short community-college certificate can get you hired. Careerscape recruits for both sides from a national, remote team, across life sciences, tech, engineering, construction, finance and operations. Start with how we fill roles or browse open jobs.
By the numbers
BLS figures for the two metros, not seasonally adjusted. The most recent months are preliminary and will be revised.
Project status tracker
Announcements make headlines; hiring follows the build schedule. Here is the latest public status of the projects people ask about. Named as market context only.
The cell-culture plant opened in September 2025 with eight 20,000-liter bioreactors and more than 680 employees at the time. Finished-goods capability was slated for 2026, a second phase adds eight more bioreactors, and the company targets 1,400 employees by 2031.
Amgen opened a drug substance facility in January 2025, expected to employ more than 350 people, and broke ground the same day on a $1 billion expansion. It expects more than 700 jobs at the site by 2030.
Groundbreaking was August 2025 and the frame topped out in August 2026. Genentech raised its investment to about $2 billion, plans more than 500 manufacturing jobs, expects to be operational by the end of 2029 and plans to hire from 2028 to 2032.
The Johnston County plant makes semaglutide and packages it for U.S. supply. Reuters reported layoffs there in October 2025 during a global restructuring, and reports at the time said it was unclear whether the $4.1 billion expansion announced in 2024, planned to add 1,000 jobs with a first phase due in 2027, would go ahead on schedule. Check the latest status before planning around it.
Apple paused its planned RTP campus in June 2024 before construction began. In November 2025 the state gave it four more years to meet the hiring and investment goals tied to its incentives, so 2027 now counts as the first year of its hiring schedule. The original plan called for up to 2,700 jobs.
The silicon carbide maker emerged from Chapter 11 on September 29, 2025. In its fiscal year ended June 2026 it closed its Durham 150mm device fab, kept substrate production in Durham and continued ramping its Siler City plant.
Pay benchmarks
Median annual wages from the federal Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025, for the Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill metros. Plant operator pay here runs well above the state: chemical equipment operators have a $49,650 median across North Carolina.
| Role | Median annual pay | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Natural sciences managers | Raleigh $173,510 · Durham $183,540 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Software developers | Raleigh $132,770 · Durham $135,620 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Medical scientists (except epidemiologists) | Raleigh $104,500 · Durham $96,430 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Industrial engineers | Raleigh $104,030 · Durham $102,890 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Chemical technicians | Raleigh $63,640 · Durham $64,500 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Biological technicians | Raleigh $64,200 · Durham $58,400 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Chemical equipment operators and tenders | Raleigh $60,440 · Durham $60,080 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
| Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers and weighers | Raleigh $49,460 · Durham $49,390 | BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine (U.S. DOL), May 2025 |
Medians cover all employers, shifts and experience levels. For comparison, state officials said the Holly Springs jobs Genentech first announced are expected to average about $120,000 a year, an incentive commitment rather than survey data. For ranges by seniority, see the 2026 Salary Guide.
For job seekers
You do not need a biology degree to work in biomanufacturing. You do need to show you can follow a procedure exactly and document it.
BioWork is North Carolina's entry course for process technicians. It covers cGMP, workplace safety, aseptic processing, process equipment, quality control, and fermentation and cell growth. Wake Tech, Durham Tech, Johnston Community College, Central Carolina and Vance-Granville all offer it. You need a high school diploma or equivalent and placement tests.
Plants post manufacturing associate or technician (upstream, downstream, fill-finish), QC analyst, validation or commissioning specialist, and maintenance or automation technician. Search all of them; the same work goes by different names.
NC State's Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC), on Centennial Campus in Raleigh, trains students and working professionals in an 82,500-square-foot building. Ask about its courses if you are changing careers.
Production runs around the clock, so entry roles are often on rotating or night shifts, working in cleanroom gowning. Ask about shift pay and the training period before you accept.
Name the SOPs, equipment and documentation systems you have used, and any deviation or CAPA work. Warehouse, food or chemical plant experience transfers better than many people think. Send us your resume; it stays confidential.
Where the work is
Biomanufacturing has moved south of Raleigh, while tech and research cluster around the park and the campuses. I-40 ties it together, so commute direction matters more than distance.
Fujifilm, Amgen and Genentech have built or are building here. Expect plant, construction, validation and quality work, drawing on nearby Fuquay-Varina, Apex and Cary.
The 7,000-acre park between Durham and Raleigh, home to hundreds of companies. Apple's planned campus here is on hold.
Red Hat, an IBM subsidiary, is headquartered downtown. NC State's Centennial Campus houses the BTEC training plant.
Headquarters of SAS, the privately held analytics software company, and a short drive from RTP.
Duke's home and Wolfspeed's headquarters. Durham Tech runs BioWork, and the city draws lab and research talent from both Duke and nearby RTP.
UNC anchors Chapel Hill. To the south and west, Chatham County includes Wolfspeed's Siler City plant; Central Carolina Community College offers BioWork.
Novo Nordisk's Clayton plant and Johnston Community College's BioWork program sit on the region's eastern side, along I-40 toward Smithfield.
For employers
Practical points for Triangle employers, current as of October 2026. General information, not legal advice.
The N.C. Wage and Hour Act requires written notice of promised wages and the day and place of payment at hiring, and written notice at least one pay period before any wage cut.
Private employers with 25 or more employees in North Carolina must run every new hire through E-Verify. Employees hired for less than nine months in a calendar year are excluded.
North Carolina does not require salary ranges in job postings. Remote roles open to people in states that do require them may still need ranges.
North Carolina's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. The real floor for plant and lab work is the local market; see the medians above.
The state income tax is a flat 3.99% for 2026. A July 2026 law cuts it to 3.49% for 2027 through 2029 and steps it down to 2.99% by 2033. Useful when recruiting from higher-tax states.
With several plants ramping at once, trained operators and QC analysts weigh offers. Contract-to-hire or temporary staffing can cover a startup surge while you build a permanent team; a retained or executive search fits site-head and QA director roles.
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