Biotechnology technician jobs in Canada are hands-on lab and production roles, classified under NOC 22110, with a national median wage of about $29 an hour. The work is concentrated in a few hubs: vaccine and biologics plants in Toronto and Quebec, antibody and cell biology companies in Vancouver, and public research labs in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Ottawa. Below you will find the pay by province, the employers worth targeting in each city, the college programs that lead into these roles, and how to make your application fit the job.
Key facts
- Occupation code: biological technologists and technicians, NOC 22110.
- National median wage: $29.12 an hour (low $19.50, high $43.00), from Job Bank's 2025 wage data for this NOC.
- Highest provincial medians: Alberta ($33.52), British Columbia ($32.19), Ontario ($30.73).
- Typical entry credential: a two- or three-year college diploma in biotechnology or biological sciences technology, or a life sciences degree.
- Certification: voluntary for most roles, but OACETT, ASTTBC, ASET and the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists all offer technician or technologist designations.
What Biotechnology Technicians Do
Technicians carry out the repeatable work that research and manufacturing depend on. Your daily work depends mostly on whether the employer is a research lab or a regulated production site.
Research lab work
In a university, hospital or government research lab you will prepare buffers and media, keep cell lines and microbial stocks going, and run assays such as PCR, qPCR, ELISA, Western blots and gel electrophoresis. Protocols change as projects change, so you need clean notebook habits and the confidence to troubleshoot. For a duty-by-duty breakdown, see our guide to what a lab technician job description typically includes.
GMP production and quality work
At vaccine, biologics and pharmaceutical plants, technicians run upstream steps (cell culture and fermentation in bioreactors) and downstream steps (filtration and chromatography purification), or they test samples in QC labs. These sites work under Health Canada's Good Manufacturing Practices, so you follow the SOP exactly and record everything. Many plants run 12-hour rotating shifts, and shift premiums can raise your take-home pay.
Titles to search instead of the exact phrase
Few postings use the words biotechnology technician. Set alerts for these titles too:
- Research technician, research assistant, laboratory technologist
- Manufacturing associate, bioprocess technician, production operator
- QC analyst, QC microbiology technician, environmental monitoring technician
- Cell culture technician, molecular biology technician
- Animal health or plant science technician at agricultural research sites
What Biotechnology Technicians Earn in Canada
The numbers below are Job Bank's 2025 hourly wage figures for NOC 22110. For the latest figures in your city, check the Job Bank wage reports by occupation and region. Wages are updated regularly and differ by economic region.
Median wages by province
- Canada: $29.12 median, $19.50 low, $43.00 high
- Alberta: $33.52 median, $22.54 low, $46.05 high
- British Columbia: $32.19 median, $22.89 low, $43.71 high
- Ontario: $30.73 median, $21.08 low, $42.77 high
- New Brunswick: $27.89 median
- Nova Scotia: $26.18 median
- Manitoba: $25.57 median
The national median works out to about $57,000 a year at 37.5 hours a week. Expect to start nearer the low figure if you are a new graduate. Alberta's own 2023 Wage and Salary Survey (published on ALIS) puts the average starting wage for this occupation in the province at about $33 an hour.
What moves your pay up
GMP manufacturing roles with night or weekend shifts usually pay more than grant-funded academic roles, which follow university pay scales. QC and validation experience, a technologist certification, and experience with specific platforms such as HPLC, flow cytometry or single-use bioreactors all help when you negotiate. For how pay changes beyond the technician level, see our breakdown of biotechnology salaries at each career level in Canada.
Where the Employers Are
Hiring happens wherever biomanufacturing plants, research institutes and contract labs are located. These are the main employers to know in each hub. Check each company's careers page and current postings, since site plans and hiring needs change.
Greater Toronto Area
Sanofi's Connaught campus in North York is one of Canada's largest vaccine manufacturing sites. It hires manufacturing technicians, QC analysts and environmental monitoring staff on an ongoing basis. Mississauga and the 905 region add a large base of pharmaceutical manufacturers and contract labs. Hospital research institutes such as SickKids, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Sunnybrook employ many grant-funded research technicians.
Montreal, Laval and Quebec City
Moderna's mRNA vaccine facility in Laval and GSK's influenza vaccine plant in Quebec City are major GMP employers. Charles River Laboratories runs preclinical research sites in the Montreal area, and the National Research Council has a biotechnology research centre in Montreal. Many of these roles ask for working French, and Quebec postings often list the DEC in Techniques de laboratoire, biotechnology option, as the expected credential.
Vancouver
AbCellera (antibody discovery) and STEMCELL Technologies (cell culture media and tools) are two of the largest life sciences employers in the Lower Mainland. Both hire lab technicians, production staff and QC staff. UBC and BC Cancer research labs add steady academic openings.
Prairies, Ottawa and Atlantic Canada
- Winnipeg: the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory and Emergent BioSolutions' manufacturing site.
- Saskatoon: VIDO (Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization) at the University of Saskatchewan, plus agricultural biotech around Innovation Place.
- Edmonton: University of Alberta research labs and a growing biomanufacturing sector. Our guide to biotech employers and roles in Edmonton covers the city in detail.
- Ottawa: National Research Council labs and federal science departments.
- Charlottetown: BioVectra, a contract manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients and biologics.
Before you move for a job, compare regional demand in the Job Bank employment outlook reports. Alberta's provincial forecast rates this occupation as cool, with fewer than 1,500 people employed in the province. That means fewer openings, so it pays to be flexible about city and sector.
Programs That Lead to These Jobs
Employers mostly want proof that you have done the work in a real lab. Programs with large amounts of lab time and a co-op term give you that.
College diplomas
These are some well-known programs that lead directly into technician roles:
- Seneca Polytechnic, Biotechnology (Toronto)
- Centennial College, Biotechnology (Toronto)
- Durham College, Biotechnology - Advanced (Oshawa)
- NAIT, Biological Sciences Technology (Edmonton)
- Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Biotechnology (Saskatoon)
- Quebec cegeps offering the DEC in Techniques de laboratoire, biotechnology option
Check each school's current program page for intake dates, co-op options and admission requirements. Program names and options do change. If you want a shorter route, our guide to biotechnology certificate jobs in Canada covers one-year options.
University degrees
A BSc in biology, biochemistry, microbiology or molecular biology is common for research technician roles, especially at hospital institutes. If your degree had little lab work, put your honours thesis, summer research position or co-op term at the top of your resume.
Short training that employers notice
WHMIS training is expected nearly everywhere. Transportation of Dangerous Goods training, biosafety training for Containment Level 2 work, and an introductory GMP course are worth listing on your resume. Universities and employers often provide them for free or at low cost.
Provincial Certification for Technicians
Certification is voluntary for most biotechnology technician jobs. Even so, it shows an employer that your education and experience have been checked independently, and some public-sector postings list it as an asset.
Technology associations by province
- Ontario: OACETT awards the C.Tech. and C.E.T. designations.
- British Columbia: ASTTBC awards the CTech (based on a one-year accredited certificate) and the AScT (based on a two-year accredited diploma). Both require a certification exam where applicable and 24 months of relevant work experience.
- Alberta: ASET certifies technology professionals.
- Saskatchewan: SASTT. Manitoba: CTTAM. Quebec: the Ordre des technologues professionnels du Quebec (OTPQ).
Biology-specific registration in Alberta
The Alberta Society of Professional Biologists offers the Registered Technologist in Biology (R.T.Biol.) designation and a Biological Technologist in Training category. For applications received on or after March 1, 2026, the society requires a two-year diploma that includes at least five biology or ecology courses, three applied science courses, one communications course and one statistics course.
Credentials from outside Canada
If you trained abroad, start with the federal foreign credential recognition resources, then contact the association in the province where you plan to work.
How to Tailor Your Application
Research labs and GMP plants screen for different things. Write a separate version of your resume for each type of role.
Resume lines for a GMP or QC role
Put regulated work first. Strong lines look like this: 'Executed batch records for upstream cell culture under cGMP, with zero documentation deviations over six months' or 'Performed bioburden and endotoxin testing on in-process samples and logged results in LIMS.' Name the systems you used, such as LIMS, electronic batch records or a deviation-tracking tool, and mention any aseptic gowning qualification.
Resume lines for a research role
Lead with techniques and organisms: 'Maintained HEK293 and CHO cell lines, ran qPCR on 96-well plates, and analysed results in GraphPad Prism.' Principal investigators want to know that you can work on your own with minimal supervision. Mention any protocol you set up or improved.
Interview questions to rehearse
Technician interviews lean heavily on scenarios. Prepare answers for: what you do if a positive control fails, how you respond when you find contamination in a culture, how you document a deviation from an SOP, and what you do if you notice a calibration has expired partway through a run. Some GMP employers also test your reading of a batch record or ask you to check a calculation.
Search where the roles are concentrated
General job sites bury technician roles among unrelated listings. BiotechJobs.ca focuses only on biotech and life sciences openings in Canada. It is part of a network of 26 specialized Canadian job boards, including EmploisDuCanada.ca, our French-language national board. Set up alerts for several of the titles above on the BiotechJobs.ca job seekers page so you see new postings early.
Five Steps You Can Take This Week
- Look up NOC 22110 on the National Occupational Classification site and copy the example job titles into your saved searches.
- Pick two hubs from the list above and bookmark the careers pages of three employers in each.
- Write two versions of your resume, one for GMP or QC roles and one for research roles.
- Complete WHMIS training if your certificate has expired, and add the date to your resume.
- Check whether your diploma qualifies you to apply as a technician or technologist with your provincial association.
FAQ
How much do biotechnology technicians make in Canada?
Job Bank's 2025 data for NOC 22110 shows a national median of $29.12 an hour. The range runs from $19.50 at the low end to $43.00 at the high end. Alberta and British Columbia have the highest provincial medians.
Do I need to be certified to work as a biotechnology technician?
Usually not. Most private-sector employers hire on the strength of your diploma or degree and your lab experience. A designation from OACETT, ASTTBC, ASET or the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists can help you stand out, particularly for public-sector roles.
Which employers hire the most technicians?
Vaccine and biologics manufacturers such as Sanofi in Toronto, Moderna in Laval and GSK in Quebec City hire large production and QC teams. Vancouver's AbCellera and STEMCELL Technologies, along with public labs such as the National Microbiology Laboratory and VIDO, are also major employers.
Is a college diploma or a university degree better?
For manufacturing and QC roles, a college diploma with a co-op term is often enough and gets you working sooner. Research technician roles at hospitals and universities more often ask for a BSc. Either path works if you can show real hands-on lab experience.
Are there entry-level biotechnology technician jobs?
Yes. Manufacturing associate, QC technician and junior research technician roles regularly go to new graduates. Our entry-level guide to lab technician jobs in Canada covers how to land your first role.
Your Next Step
Biotechnology technician jobs reward careful, dependable people. Canada's vaccine plants, antibody companies and public research labs need those skills right now. Choose your hubs, tailor your resume for research or GMP work, and apply steadily. Ready to take the next step? Visit BiotechJobs.ca at the BiotechJobs.ca job seekers page to browse current openings and create a candidate profile.
