Impactful careers for biology degree graduates 

Considering a biology degree, currently studying, or already graduated? This guide will take you through some of the most promising career paths you could enter with a background in biology.

These aren’t just any careers. At Probably Good, we believe your career is one of the most significant opportunities you have to make a positive difference. With this in mind, in this article, we’ll explore some of the most impactful careers where a biology degree can open doors and potentially offer unique advantages.

Biosecurity 

Biosecurity is a field of work that focuses on researching and implementing measures to reduce or prevent the spread of infectious diseases, including global catastrophic biological risks posed by natural pandemics or engineered biological weapons.

Such risks threaten to take the lives of huge numbers of people, as well as cause enormous economic damage. And some of the most severe biological threats, such as pathogens with both very high levels of infectiousness and fatality, pose a chance of irrecoverably damaging civilization.

Biosecurity is a broad field spanning a number of job types. A background in biology might make you a particularly good fit for technical biosecurity research (though we anticipate that some roles may require additional training, such as a postgraduate degree). Relevant public health roles might also be a good fit – indeed, we talk about public health careers later in this article!

However, there are also other ways you might be able to contribute to biosecurity less connected to biology, for instance through working in relevant positions in policymaking, or advocacy.

How much impact could you have?

In short, the sheer scale of harm that pandemics can cause makes them a highly important problem.

Additionally, mitigating biological risks also seems to be quite neglected – that is, even following a global pandemic, the world is plausibly still not paying enough attention to combatting future pandemics – especially those that could cause the most damage. 

Furthermore, there’s lots of effective work that could be done to combat them which isn’t currently happening, making biosecurity a fruitful area for new projects and personnel. Promising work in this area could include improving disease surveillance systems and strengthening international cooperation in biosecurity, among other interventions.

For these reasons, jobs in biosecurity have the potential to have a significant positive impact, particularly if you’re able to focus on mitigating the worst-case pandemic scenarios.

Biosecurity salaries

Because biosecurity contains a range of sub-disciplines, we’ll give salary data for three related jobs: biochemistry, bioengineering, and epidemiology.

For biochemists, who might research viruses and pathogens in the context of biosecurity, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an average salary of $103,650 (as of 2024). Bioengineers, who work to create biomedical equipment, devices, and software – which can be relevant for biosecurity, earn a median pay of $106,950. Epidemiologists, who research how diseases spread and how they might be stopped, are reported to earn a median salary of $83,980.

Getting started in biosecurity 

Here are a couple of practical ideas for actions you can take now to test your personal fit and upskill for biosecurity careers.

• Learn more about biosecurity. BlueDot Impact’s pandemics course offers a good foundation in large-scale biosecurity concepts. Understanding the threat landscape and current countermeasures could help you identify where your engineering skills can be most valuable. Kevin Esvelt’s influential report on biorisks also contains a lot of ideas for how we can best combat future biorisks, many of which require engineering expertise to deploy.
• Learn about relevant technologies. Familiarize yourself with current biosafety policies and research. Reading industry publications and technical standards (like those from the CDC or WHO) can give you insight into existing solutions and their limitations.

Medical research

Medical research is a broad field, consisting of various kinds of research in both academia and private industry. Medical research can consist of more applied research, such as developing new pharmaceuticals, supplements, and diagnostic equipment, or more foundational research, such as research that helps us understand the nature of different diseases, or develop new tools and techniques to improve future medical research. 

A biology degree is a great background for medical research jobs. In a biology degree, you’ll get experience working in laboratories, learn how to conduct research and gain a strong knowledge of biological processes.

You will likely need to undertake postgraduate study for research jobs that let you direct and conduct your own research ideas – especially in academia – but some jobs within medical research will require only a bachelor’s degree.

How much impact could you have?

Medical research has the potential to be a job that lets you achieve a lot of good – the results of the most impactful medical research can improve and save the lives of millions of people globally.

For example, consider the development of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which was licensed for Covid vaccines that saved millions of lives during the pandemic. More generally, it’s been suggested that improved pharmaceuticals – the result of medical research – have played a significant part in the increases in life expectancy in the US in recent decades. 

However, there’s a huge amount of variance in how impactful careers in medical research will be. One reason for this is that lots of research isn’t optimized for impact – funding is often not directed to the most important, tractable, and neglected areas of research. It’s also really hard to know what the most impactful medical research will be before we’ve actually done the research, so there’s a degree of chance involved, too. Because of this, the majority of medical research probably won’t achieve the same huge positive impact as the recent mRNA vaccines did. 

On top of this, medical research careers – especially on the academic side – can be extremely competitive to enter, even once you have a PhD. This will make it both difficult to start a career in medical research and even more difficult to get onto specific projects that look promising in terms of impact. 

Our career profile on medicine contains more information about the possible positive impact of medical research careers.

Medical researcher salaries

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an average salary of $100,590 for medical scientists (as of 2024). Biological technicians, who help to conduct medical and other biology-related research, earn a median salary of $52,000. It’s worth noting that biological technician roles typically don’t require a PhD, unlike many roles in medical science.

Climate scientist

Climate scientists focus on the physical, chemical, and biological processes that affect the Earth’s climate, as well as understanding and working out how to mitigate the impacts of human activity on the oceans, land, atmosphere, ice sheets, and other parts of the environment. Climate scientists can be found in academia, government, and industry. 

In terms of the day-to-day, climate scientists might spend their time on a range of different tasks, such as analyzing data, working with mathematical models, and writing papers and reports. Academic climate scientists may also have teaching and supervision responsibilities.

Though some climate scientists engage in field work – performing tasks like surveying weather or collecting samples, this isn’t representative of typical climate science work.

A biology degree is a good option if you’d like to get a climate science job. Climate science covers a range of scientific sub-disciplines, such as natural science, physics, chemistry, geology, paleoclimatology, atmospheric science, statistics, computer science, and more.

A bachelor’s in biology will let you take postgraduate study in many of these subjects, which is a big positive as many climate science jobs require postgraduate education. However, it might not be quite as useful as getting an undergraduate degree directly in one of these subjects.

How much impact could you have?

Climate science is likely to allow some people to have a really big positive impact. For one, climate change is one of the most important problems facing our planet, and there’s a lot that needs to be done to solve it. Additionally, there is a track record of climate scientists making meaningful contributions to help tackle climate change and other climate-related problems. 

For example, climate scientist Syukoro Manabe pioneered the first-ever model of the Earth’s climate in 1967, forming the foundation for later work demonstrating CO2’s role in global warming, and likely bringing forward global awareness of climate change. Manabe was co-awarded a Nobel Prize in 2021.

As another example, scientists Joseph Farman, Susan Solomon, and Stephen Andersen discovered a hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica, leading to the 1987 Montreal Protocol banning the use of certain ozone-depleting chemicals to protect the ozone layer. It’s estimated this has prevented millions of cases of skin cancer and cataracts in the US alone. 

These are inspiring examples. However, with the increased funding and attention placed on the climate in recent years, it has become a less neglected problem, likely making it harder for individuals to make big breakthroughs and contributions than in the past (because of an effect known as “marginal impact”). 

We still expect that some climate scientists can have a big positive impact. However, to do the most good within climate science, it’s important to strategize about the most important problems within the climate as a whole, and work out where one can make the biggest difference. Our full career profile on climate science might be a good place to start.

Climate science salary

Climate science spans a variety of jobs, but here are the salaries for two relevant professions within climate science: atmospheric science and environmental science. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, atmospheric scientists earn a median salary of $97,450 (as of 2024). Environmental scientists have a median pay of $80,060.

Public health 

Public health focuses on improving health at the population level by preventing and protecting the public from ill health and injury. This is a broad career path, which can span various disciplines such as academic research, policy formulation and implementation, operations, advising, and advocacy (and roles often contain a combination of these). 

Public health roles can be found in a wide array of organization types, like governments, NGOs, think tanks, universities, and multilateral institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO).

A biology degree is a good first step for a career in public health. One reason is that biology majors can apply their scientific knowledge to understanding how various factors influence health, and can work to develop evidence-based interventions and policies that help improve public health outcomes.

Some research-focused roles within public health, such as epidemiology, might require a relevant postgraduate degree, and some jobs may require a specific master’s in public health (or related subject). Fortunately, an undergraduate degree in biology (and biomedicine especially) will make you eligible for most of these postgraduate degrees.

How much impact could you have?

Public health work can have a great deal of positive impact. One reason for this is that public health interventions are often highly cost-effective relative to other medical interventions, and some even save money while providing benefits by reducing the need for expensive treatments. Additionally, many public health roles grant large amounts of leverage – that is, influence over how large amounts of resources are spent.

However, there is quite a lot of variance within public health. Many roles, particularly those focused on people in high-income countries, are likely not to be focused on the most pressing health issues because these countries tend to already have robust public health systems. 

Because of this, public health roles within low- and middle-income countries are likely to allow for particularly large amounts of positive impact. Health problems are typically much more serious and widespread here than in high-income countries, and there are a variety of effective public health interventions, such as regulating dangerous substances or improving air quality, which could significantly help large numbers of people. Public health jobs within the field of biosecurity may also be a highly promising option within the public health field.

Public health salary

For epidemiologists, who research the spread of diseases, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an average salary of $83,980 (as of 2024). Medical and health services managers, who aren’t focused on public health but may take on some public health responsibilities, earn a median salary of $117,960.

Other relevant careers

The careers explored above are ones that may be particularly advantageous or impactful to explore for people with degrees or majors in biology. Here, we’ll give a couple of quick extra examples of careers that may also be a good fit.

Prioritization research

Prioritization researchers use tools from a range of disciplines – spanning economics, philosophy, and mathematics – to help work out what the world’s most pressing problems are, as well as the best ways of tackling them. These researchers work in nonprofits, think tanks, and sometimes government.

Some specific responsibilities and tasks of prioritization researchers include:

• Researching new problems and cause areas that could be high-impact to work on.
• Creating cost-effectiveness estimates of specific programs and interventions (for example, see GiveWell’s analysis of building footbridges in rural Africa and Latin America to increase access to healthcare and education).
• Writing public-facing or internal reports on your findings. 
• Assisting with grantmaking decisions.

A biology degree or biology major can be a good start for a career in prioritization research. For one, it will help you to understand and interpret empirical research and data, which is often essential for prioritization research. Some prioritization research may also benefit from the specific knowledge of biological processes that a biology degree will teach you, such as some research within animal welfare. Moreover, biology degrees commonly offer quantitative components – such as statistical analysis – that may set you up for some of the more data-driven research within prioritization research.

Roles that build career capital

Regardless of the exact career path you go down, often the best way to have an impactful career over the long term is to focus on building skills and experience, known as career capital, while you’re still early in your career. Counterintuitively, this can mean taking jobs that aren’t directly impactful, but that might put you in a better place to take highly impactful jobs later on. 

Here are a few guidelines for opportunities that can offer strong career capital:

• Jobs that offer strong development. Some roles will let you develop skills more quickly than others. For instance, graduate schemes are often focused on professional development. Small, early-stage organizations can often offer more personal mentorship and opportunities to contribute. 
• Jobs in prestigious organizations. Roles in organizations with strong reputations for excellence will look impressive on your CV; they’ll also often give you experience in a high-performing environment, developing your general professional skills.
• Postgraduate education. Getting further education in your chosen field can unlock more, and sometimes better, opportunities. In biology, it could help you get roles with even more capacity to make a positive impact–though it’s always worth bearing in mind if it’s worth the financial and time costs.

How does biology compare to other degrees?

We think a background in biology is a solid foundation for several high-impact career paths. A biology degree teaches some great transferable skills that can help you with many different careers. Here are some of the skills you’ll get in a biology degree:

• Research skills. A biology degree will teach you how to gather and analyze data, as well as design experiments. It will also help you learn how to read and understand academic research and draw relevant conclusions. 
• Laboratory experience. During a biology degree, you’ll likely spend lots of time in labs, learning how to use scientific equipment as well as the various norms and procedures involved with working in a lab.
• Communication skills. You’ll generally be expected to participate in group projects and discussions, as well as give presentations during the course of a biology degree. This will help develop your ability to communicate externally and within a team.

However, it’s worth noting that biology might not be as flexible as some other degree subjects or majors. You’ll gain a solid understanding of biology-specific topics, but might not gain as many general skills as in some other paths. One of these is writing–something that’s helpful in pretty much any career path. It might be worth finding ways to develop your written communication skills if you pursue a biology degree or already have one.

Our full list of career profiles gives lots of ideas for other career paths where these skills might be put to use, with a focus on having a positive social impact.

Expanding your options

It’s important to note that this is just a small selection of the careers that you’ll be in a good position to pursue with a degree in biology. These are careers that we think have a potential for high positive impact and personal fulfillment, and your degree will put you in a good place to pursue these kinds of jobs.

However, don’t feel limited by these options. Careers are flexible and often take unexpected directions. Your degree will provide a great first step for the jobs discussed in this article, but your true list of options is much larger than it might seem. 

In fact, most graduates (as many as 74%) go into careers unrelated to their degree subject or major. Because of this, it’s well worth keeping an open mind and exploring other paths, too, even if they don’t immediately seem relevant to your education.

What should you do next?

Here are a few suggestions for steps you can take next to plan your career and find great opportunities.

• Read our career advice series for a step-by-step guide on building a career that’s good for you and the world.
• Find great job opportunities on our high-impact job board and explore great internships and fellowships.
• See our career profiles for a full list of impactful careers that we’ve researched.
• Consider applying to our free 1-1 advising service, where we can give you helpful, tailored career advice.