Biotech Executive Recruitment
Biotech Executive Recruitment
Specialist executive recruitment for biotech and life sciences companies — CEOs, CFOs, CSOs, CMOs, heads of regulatory and commercial directors.
Biotech CEO recruitment and biopharma executive search connecting deep sector expertise with fractional, interim and permanent leadership across the UK's life sciences cluster.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a fractional Biotech Executive
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Biotech Executive candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Fractional executive jobs on the board
- FractionalSyndicatedPart time / Fractional Finance Director
PHIX · United Kingdom
est £650/day3 d/wk - InterimSyndicatedFractional Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Algorithmiq Oy · United Kingdom
est £2,000/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicatedAcquisition CFO / Finance Director (Fractional)
CivSec Group · London
est £1,500/dayLondon - FractionalSyndicatedBusiness Affairs Executive (Fractional / Per-Project)
Twenty-Nine Palms Entertainment · London
est £1,100/dayLondon - FractionalSyndicatedFinancial Controller (fractional)
Fermtech · Oxford
est £550/dayOxford - FractionalSyndicatedFractional IT Director – Technology & AI (FTC)
Flat Iron · London
est £1,000/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicatedFractional Chief Medical Officer - Tricorder Systems
Founders Factory · Bristol
Rate not statedBristol - FractionalSyndicatedFractional People Director
People Puzzles Ltd · Cambridge
Rate not statedCambridge - FractionalSyndicatedFractional CFO
KeelCFO · England
Rate not statedEngland
Current biotech executive opportunities
Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a Biotech Executive brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
Biotech Executive Recruitment Landscape
Biotech executive recruitment serves the UK's thriving life sciences sector, connecting companies with senior leaders who understand drug development, regulatory pathways, clinical trials, and commercial strategy.
The sector requires deep expertise across scientific, regulatory, and commercial domains.
The UK biotech sector clusters in a few places, with Cambridge and Oxford as innovation clusters, London providing financial and commercial expertise, and Edinburgh contributing research excellence.
Companies range from university spinouts to global pharmaceutical corporations.
Key biotech executive roles in demand
Chief Scientific Officers (CSO) lead research and development strategy.
Chief Medical Officers (CMO) oversee clinical development and medical affairs.
Heads of Regulatory manage compliance and approval processes.
Commercial Directors handle market access and business development.
CFOs navigate complex funding and partnerships.
02/ scope
Essential Expertise for Biotech Executives
Drug development and regulatory expertise
Biotech executive recruitment focuses on leaders with deep experience in drug development, clinical trial management, and regulatory affairs.
Understanding MHRA, EMA, and FDA approval processes is essential for navigating complex pharmaceutical landscapes.
Commercial strategy and market access
Biotech executives need expertise in pharmaceutical commercialisation, market access strategies, and partnership development.
This includes intellectual property management, licensing negotiations, and alliance building across the biotech ecosystem.
Funding and business development
Biotech executive recruitment prioritises leaders experienced in fundraising, investor relations, and M&A activities.
The sector's complex funding cycles require executives who understand venture capital, pharmaceutical partnerships, and exit strategies.
03/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 9 roles · Fractional executive
Engagement
- Fractional8
- Interim1
Seat
- CFO2
- Finance director1
- COO1
- General counsel1
- Financial controller1
- CTO1
- Other seats2
Days a week
- Stated in the posting3
- Not stated6
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)6
- Rate not stated3
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid6
- On-site3
Newest posting on the board: 12 Oct 2026.
Postings per week on this board, last 90 days
8 postings on this board in the last 90 days, counted by the week each was published.
04/ vetting
How we vet fractional Biotech Executives
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Biotech Executive tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
05/ Biotech CEO recruitment
Biotech CEO recruitment — what the board settles first
Biotech CEO recruitment starts with the board, not the candidate list.
The chair and the lead investors need to agree what the next chief executive is there to deliver — a clinical readout, a financing, a partnering deal or the move towards commercialisation — because each points to a different profile.
The founder-scientist who built the platform is rarely the person who takes a company through a regulatory filing and a later-stage raise, and a leader from a large pharmaceutical group may not suit a company whose whole strategy turns on one programme.
Listed companies run the appointment through a nomination committee under the UK Corporate Governance Code, whose section on composition, succession and evaluation governs how boards appoint and plan succession; many companies outside its scope choose to follow it anyway.
Before the search opens, write down the capital plan the new CEO inherits — growth-stage equity is a recognised gap for UK life sciences companies, which is why the British Business Bank's Life Sciences Investment Programme exists — and the route to market, since the CEO will own the relationship with the MHRA and, for NHS adoption, the company's evidence submission in NICE's technology appraisal process.
Where the board needs cover while a permanent search runs, an interim CEO or a fractional CFO for board reporting and fundraising can hold the line.
Brief us with the stage, therapeutic area and runway and we come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each through our five-stage vetting.
06/ Life sciences executive search
Life sciences executive search — regulated seats, named accountabilities
Life sciences executive search reaches beyond biotech into pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics and the service companies around them.
The seats that decide a search are often the regulated ones — regulatory affairs, quality, clinical development — where a candidate's record with regulators matters as much as their commercial record.
A good brief names the approvals the role will own: clinical trial authorisation from the MHRA, HRA Approval for research in the NHS in England and Wales, and the evidence a company puts to NICE.
The government's Life Sciences Sector Plan, led through the Office for Life Sciences, sets out the growth ambitions behind much of the sector's senior hiring, and its companion Life Sciences Jobs Plan names hiring as one of its pillars alongside skills and good jobs.
Early-stage science is often still grant-funded — the Medical Research Council funds discovery and translational research — so a leader who can carry a programme from academic funding to venture investment is a distinct profile, and worth briefing for by name.
For the firms that run these searches, see fractional executive search firms compared.
For part-time scientific or clinical leadership, see chief scientific officer jobs and fractional chief medical officer roles.
Every brief we take sets out its IR35 position.
07/ Biotech executive search
Biotech executive search and biotech executive recruiters — what to compare
Biotech executive search is usually retained: a firm is engaged to run one senior appointment from brief to offer, typically a chief executive, finance chief or chief scientific officer.
Biotech executive recruiters also take interim and contingent briefs below board level.
When you compare biotech executive search firms, ask which modalities and development stages the consultant has recruited for, who runs the search day to day, and how candidates are referenced.
For executive search, biotechnology companies need a consultant who can discuss a clinical programme with a candidate as credibly as a pay package.
Biotech CEO search is the sharpest test.
Biotech CEO recruiters should be judged on whether the shortlist fits what the board agreed the chief executive must deliver, which is why biotech CEO recruitment starts with the board.
Biotech CEO recruiting often runs alongside interim cover, so the company is not leaderless while the search runs.
Our part is narrower than a retained biotech executive search firm's, and we say so.
We take fractional, interim, part-time and permanent briefs and come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.
If a retained search suits the seat better, compare the firms on fractional executive search firms.
08/ questions
Fractional Biotech Executive FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a fractional Biotech Executive.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
