Roles open in process engineering and business support; job-fit assessment this month, aptitude test in October, interviews in November
Youth hiring jumped 136% in two years as production expansion and portfolio diversification fuel virtuous cycle
Average pay reaches 114 million won; turnover rate at 1.9%; pharma-biotech employer-of-choice ranking for four consecutive years
Samsung Biologics has launched its second-half new-hire recruitment drive, stepping up efforts to secure young talent to lead the global contract development and manufacturing organization market. The move stands out at a time when many large South Korean companies are scaling back hiring amid economic uncertainty, as the biotech firm continues to expand aggressively and build out its production infrastructure.
The recruitment process, which opened Tuesday, covers two job categories: process engineering and business support. Candidates will sit a job-fit assessment this month, followed by Samsung's General Aptitude Test in October and interviews and a medical examination in November. Successful hires will go through structured on-the-job training and development programs designed to groom them into core talent for the global biotech industry.
South Korea's job market has been in a deep freeze amid mounting domestic and global economic uncertainty. According to corporate analysis firm Leaders Index, the 113 largest South Korean conglomerates hired 92,680 new employees in 2025, down 15.3 percent from 109,456 in 2023. The share of new hires aged 30 or under also fell from 56.4 percent to 51.1 percent over the same period.
Samsung Biologics has bucked that trend sharply. The company hired 484 young workers in 2025, a 136 percent jump from 205 in 2023. The surge reflects the company's push to build out what it describes as the world's largest biologics production capacity and to diversify its portfolio into areas such as peptides. As demand for specialized talent has grown alongside the company's expansion, hiring and business growth have reinforced each other in a self-sustaining cycle. The company's full-time headcount surpassed 5,000 for the first time in the industry in the first half of last year and stood at about 5,300 as of the first half of this year.
Alongside its hiring push, Samsung Biologics has steadily strengthened compensation and welfare benefits to help employees perform at their best in a stable environment. Average pay rose 44 percent, from 79 million won ($58,800) in 2021 to about 114 million won in 2025, while the overall turnover rate fell from 4.5 percent to 1.9 percent over the same period.
Particularly notable are the company's work-life balance benefits. Samsung Biologics operates the largest on-site childcare center in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, covering all costs beyond government subsidies, and offers parental leave of up to two years per child — six months longer than the statutory minimum. Given the company's location in Songdo, Incheon, employees who commute long distances receive free housing support. A dedicated welfare complex called Bio Plaza houses an in-house clinic, pharmacy and fitness center. Additional benefits include medical expense coverage for employees and their families and a personal pension scheme under which the company matches employee contributions won for won.
Samsung Biologics' standing among job seekers has become unrivaled, driven by its competitive compensation and growth prospects. In a survey of 1,811 university students nationwide by recruitment platform Incruit on the most desirable employers for 2026, Samsung Biologics ranked fifth overall — up eight places from 13th the previous year. In the pharmaceutical and biotech category, it has held the top spot for four consecutive years since 2023, cementing its reputation as the dream employer for young talent.
silverpaper@heraldcorp.com
