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Hiring a CDO and computational biologist

Hiring a CDO and computational biologist

Case Studies

Hiring a CDO and computational biologist

A board-level appointment and a scarce technical hire for a clinical-stage biotech, both tied to its development strategy.

James Chippindale

Executive Search | Life Science & Medical Devices

3 min read

The client is a clinical-stage biotech, for which we also built a scientific leadership team from Chief Scientific Officer to board. It asked Invenia Search to appoint a Chief Development Officer, and later asked us to find a Senior Computational Biologist.

Two very different searches

The Chief Development Officer is a board-visible appointment, covering both the commercial and clinical sides of the business. The Senior Computational Biologist role calls for a scarce technical skill set, in a small market where most of the qualified people are already employed.

Many firms split that work across two desks, or two agencies.

Connecting the two appointments

We ran both searches with the same consultant. That meant the technical hire was briefed by someone who already understood the development strategy it was supporting.

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Senior leadership and specialist technical roles are often treated as separate searches. When the same consultant understands both, each appointment is briefed with the full picture of where the business is going. Book a consultation with a consultant who knows the market.

Written by

James Chippindale

Executive Search | Life Science & Medical Devices

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