Biological & Physical Sciences

Your career in the sciences likely begins in a classroom or a lab. As a secondary school teacher, you’ll spend your days guiding students through everything from frog dissections to chemical reactions, planning engaging lessons, and setting up lab equipment. Another path is postsecondary teaching, which involves more university-level lecturing, independent research, and mentoring future scientists.

With experience, you can advance into leadership. A seasoned teacher might become a department head, while a successful researcher can progress to become a natural sciences manager. This senior role shifts your focus to directing major research projects, managing budgets, and supervising teams. This progression brings significant financial rewards, as experienced managers earn well over double what teachers start at. While teacher growth is slow, tens of thousands of positions open annually, and management roles are expanding. You'll likely use AI to help analyze data or plan curriculum, but the hands-on lab work, student mentorship, and complex problem-solving at the core of these careers remain human-led.