Career profile · SOC ESC-22E94279

pharmacologist

Pharmacologists study the manner in which drugs and medicaments interact with organisms, living systems, and their parts (i.e. cells, tissues, or organs). Their research aims at identifying substances that can be ingested by humans and that exert adequate biochemical functions for curing illnesses.

pharmacologist pharmacologists study the manner in which drugs and medicaments interact with organisms, living systems, and their parts (i.e. cells, tissues, or organs). The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include life sciences, pharmaceutical legislation, microbiology-bacteriology, medicines, biological chemistry.

AI exposure
5.0/10
automation risk

Pay in the UK

UK: median £45,382 a year for Biological scientists (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)

UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2112). ONS rates this estimate acceptable: it rests on a small sample, so treat it as a rough guide. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)

Pay in India (occupation group)

Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only pharmacologist, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.

Urban India
₹42,717 a month
Rural India
₹30,424 a month
All India
₹38,466 a month

Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report

Top skills

life sciences pharmaceutical legislation microbiology-bacteriology medicines biological chemistry pharmaceutical drug development pharmacovigilance legislation pharmacology communicable diseases research design

Frequently asked questions

What does pharmacologist do?

Pharmacologists study the manner in which drugs and medicaments interact with organisms, living systems, and their parts (i.e. cells, tissues, or organs). Their research aims at identifying substances that can be ingested by humans and that exert adequate biochemical functions for curing illnesses.

What skills does pharmacologist need?

The most in-demand skills for this role include life sciences, pharmaceutical legislation, microbiology-bacteriology, medicines, biological chemistry, pharmaceutical drug development. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.

Will AI replace pharmacologist?

Our AI-durability model gives pharmacologist a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.

Take it further