Desk · Biotech
Biotech leadership seats, before the search starts.
A biotech needs a different team at every stage: a CMO before the clinic, a CFO before a listing, a chief commercial officer before launch. The biotech desk shows your partners which seats each company is about to need, and who will make the hire.
Who we cover
Preclinical and clinical-stage biotech, cell and gene therapy and new-modality developers, and platform companies with their own pipeline, from the first institutional round to the first launch. Non-US companies when the seat is in the United States.
The seats
CEO and president, CFO, COO, chief medical officer, chief scientific officer, chief development officer and head of R&D, chief commercial officer, chief business officer, chief technical officer and head of CMC, chief regulatory officer, chief quality officer, chief people officer and general counsel; VPs in clinical development and operations, regulatory, CMC, medical affairs, market access, sales, marketing, finance and investor relations; US presidents of non-US companies and independent directors.
What opens them
Who usually decides
The board chair, often a partner at the lead investor, for the CEO. The CEO for other C-suite seats. At a small company, the lead investor's talent partner often runs the process.
- A financing closes, or a company launches out of stealth with an interim CEO from its investor.
- A program enters the clinic, reports positive data or starts a pivotal trial.
- The FDA accepts a first application, or approves a first product.
- A company licenses a late-stage asset, or gets rights back from a partner.
- A non-US company sets up its US business.
- A leader leaves, a founder steps aside, or an investor reshapes the board.
- A trial fails, or a restructuring follows.
The Signal Brief · October 2026
From the latest brief: biotech
Hexagon Bio
VP Clinical Operations$62 million Series C closed to take HEX-360 into the clinic (first-in-human planned H1 2027); no seat stated
Dren Bio
CFO$350M private financing closed to fund late-stage development, filing and planned launch of dibotatug; two investor partners join board
Etcelera
Chief Business OfficerFlagship Pioneering merges Cellarity, Etiome and Empress platforms into Etcelera; no leadership beyond CEO and chair named
See who's about to hire on your desk.
FAQ
What triggers a biotech to hire a CFO or chief commercial officer?
A CFO usually follows a large financing or comes ahead of a listing. A chief commercial officer usually follows positive pivotal data, or an FDA filing the company plans to launch itself.
How often do life sciences CEOs change?
Turnover is rising. Among 125 public biopharma, MedTech and pharma services companies, 2025 saw a record number of CEO departures, and nearly four in ten new CEOs came from outside the company. (Egon Zehnder)
Other desks:Hospitals and health systems · Post-acute and long-term care · Outpatient and specialty care · Academic medicine · Pharma · MedTech and diagnostics · CDMO and CRO