Which Companies Pay MSLs the Most? Analysis of 910 MSL Job Postings
MSL salaries are known to be competitive, but if you’re looking to break into the field or maximize your earning potential as an experienced MSL, getting clear compensation data can be challenging. While many companies now post salary ranges, understanding who really pays top dollar requires analyzing actual job postings across the market.
I analyzed 910 Medical Science Liaison job postings from 33 pharmaceutical and biotech companies over the past 6 months (August 2025) to find out which employers are hiring most aggressively and offering the highest compensation.
Salary Transparency is Now Standard ¶
The good news is salary transparency is quite good. In this dataset, 73% of MSL roles included salary ranges in job postings, giving candidates much better visibility into compensation expectations.
Important caveat: These figures represent posted salary ranges, not final negotiated offers. I calculated the midpoint of each posted range to analyze market trends.
The overall median MSL salary: $186K
The distribution shows most roles clustering between $175K-$225K, with management positions commanding a significant premium. Director-level supervisory roles had a median of $219K, while individual contributor positions had a median of $179K.
Who Pays MSLs the Most (Individual Contributors Only) ¶
For non-management MSL roles, the top-paying companies are:
- Genentech - $224K median (23 positions)
- Gilead - $219K median (4 positions)
- AstraZeneca - $218K median (8 positions)
- Vertex - $214K median (15 positions)
- GSK - $210K median (14 positions)
Notably, biotech companies like Genentech (part of Roche) and Vertex compete effectively with traditional big pharma on compensation, while maintaining substantial hiring volume. MSLs are important!
Who’s Hiring the Most MSLs ¶
The companies posting the most MSL positions were:
- Takeda (160 postings)
- GSK (135 postings)
- Johnson & Johnson (98 postings)
- Novartis (96 postings)
- Sanofi (77 postings)
Key finding: ~77% of posted roles were individual contributor positions, which is encouraging news for those breaking into the MSL field.
Takeda’s surge in hiring was particularly notable, posting more MSL roles than both GSK and J&J, suggesting significant pipeline activity and expansion plans. See my previous newsletter for more analysis on Takeda’s hiring.
What This Means for Your MSL Career ¶
If you’re targeting top compensation: Focus applications on Genentech, Gilead, and AstraZeneca, where median IC salaries exceed $215K.
If you want more opportunities: Takeda and GSK are hiring aggressively, providing multiple chances to land a role even if median salaries are slightly lower.
Management premium matters: Director-level roles command roughly 33% higher compensation than IC positions, making internal advancement financially attractive.
Methodology ¶
This analysis covers 910 MSL job postings from February-August 2025 across companies tracked by PharmaPayWatch. Salary data was available for 73% of postings. All figures represent midpoints of posted ranges. Only companies with 4+ IC MSL postings were included in the compensation ranking.