Careers in Nuclear Medicine
The market, where the live openings are, and how to land them, in a field hiring faster than it can staff
Quick Answer
Nuclear medicine may be the strongest job market in imaging right now, precisely because demand for radiopharmaceutical therapy is outrunning the trained workforce. Academic centers are hiring nuclear medicine physicians directly out of residency for faculty roles, hospitals and private groups are opening theranostics services, and industry is expanding fast. This page frames the market and points to the live, authoritative job boards where current openings actually are — kept current by the field's own organizations, so the listings never go stale.
Why the market is this strong
The therapy transformation created a structural workforce gap: radiopharmaceutical therapy is projected to grow from ~$750M (2022) to ~$5.5B by 2028, and the Lancet Oncology Commission estimated global demand would need hundreds of new centers and far more trained experts. That gap is the job market. The shortage spans physicians, technologists, radiochemists, medical physicists, and radiopharmacists — but the physician who can lead a theranostics program is among the scarcest and most sought-after. Entering now means entering a field being actively built out.
Where the live openings are
The definitive, continuously-updated source for nuclear-medicine roles is the SNMMI Career Center — searchable by function (academic, hospital, industry) and location:
| Source | What it lists |
|---|---|
| SNMMI Career Center | The primary nuclear-medicine / molecular-imaging board — academic, hospital, and industry roles, filterable by state |
| ACR & RSNA career centers | Radiology-adjacent roles, including nuclear-radiology and molecular-imaging positions |
| EANM career resources | European and international nuclear-medicine openings |
| Academic institution pages | Faculty postings direct from departments (many hire out of residency) |
| Industry / radiopharma | Medical-affairs, clinical-development, and program roles at radiopharmaceutical companies |
Because these boards are maintained by the organizations themselves, they are always current — which is exactly why the atlas routes to them rather than mirroring listings that would go stale.
Types of roles
The field's roles have broadened with its transformation: academic faculty (clinical + research, increasingly offered straight from residency); hospital and private-practice nuclear medicine / theranostics; theranostics program leadership (building and running radiopharmaceutical-therapy services — a scarce, high-value skill); industry (medical affairs, clinical development, radiopharmacy/manufacturing); and research / physician-scientist tracks. Authorized-user status and program-building experience are the credentials that most differentiate candidates for the therapeutic roles.
How to land them
The practical path: complete a recognized training pathway (see Becoming a Nuclear Medicine Physician), build authorized-user eligibility for the therapies you want to deliver, and get hands-on theranostics experience — patient selection, dosimetry, and cycle management. Network through SNMMI and society meetings, where academic hiring often begins, and consider a fellowship (nuclear radiology, theranostics, or PET) to deepen a subspecialty. The scarcity is real enough that strong candidates have leverage.
A note on posting roles here
A native "post a role / browse openings" board on this site is a planned platform feature — it needs a backend for submissions, moderation, and automatic expiry so listings stay accurate. Until that exists, this hub deliberately routes to the live boards above rather than hosting static listings that would fill and go stale. When the platform is ready, the same structure hosts postings directly, and departments can list roles in a few fields.
Related pages
- Why Nuclear Medicine and The Therapy Transformation — the case and the market forces.
- Becoming a Nuclear Medicine Physician — training pathways and authorized-user status.
Key References
- SNMMI Career Center — the primary nuclear-medicine / molecular-imaging job board.
- Radiopharmaceutical-therapy workforce analyses (J Nucl Med 2025; Lancet Oncol 2024) — the demand/capacity gap driving hiring.
Evidence & sources
https://nuc.med/careers-in-nuclear-medicine/ Report an issue