Operator-Led Executive Search

The decision system
behind high‑conviction
executive hires.

For founders and leadership teams at early and growth-stage life sciences companies making the hires that will define what comes next.

Alignment before outreach Evidence before opinion Clarity before commitment
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The Problem

You already know the hire matters. The question is whether your process can match the stakes.

Most executive search delivers activity—sourcing, scheduling, slide decks—and then leaves the hardest part to you: making a clear, defensible decision under real uncertainty.

“Criteria drift midstream. Your team learns what they want by interviewing. The cycle stretches. Alignment fractures. And the cost of a wrong call at this level compounds for years.”

Our Approach

We front-load the decision,
then engage the market.

Before a single candidate is contacted, we work with you to lock in what actually determines whether this hire succeeds: stakeholder alignment, success outcomes, constraints, decision rights, scorecard, and interview structure. Only then do we go to market.

What you receive is a decision-ready slate—a small set of candidates you can confidently hire from, supported by comparable evidence and explicit tradeoffs. A disciplined no-hire is a successful outcome when your bar is not met.

Success Outcomes

Defined up front with you, including the constraints that shape the role—before outreach begins.

Structured Evidence

Normalized across candidates so you can compare signal, not anecdote. Every data point tied to your agreed bar.

Clear Tradeoffs

Downside exposure examined, not glossed over. Risk is surfaced so you can weigh it, not discover it post-hire.

Decision Packet

Scorecard, interview plan, calibrated questions, and synthesis—everything you need to make and defend the call.

When You Call Us

The hire ahead of you will
reshape your company.

We work with founder-CEOs, board chairs, chief science officers, CTOs, heads of informatics, and CHROs at AI-enabled biotech, computational biology, life sciences platforms, and biopharma companies—teams of 1 to 500 people where the science is strong, growth is accelerating, and the leadership team is still taking shape.

First AI / data leadership hire The role has never existed inside your company. There is no calibration, no internal comp, no institutional memory of what good looks like.
Replacing a failed executive The cost of the last decision is still visible. Your bar is higher and your tolerance for getting it wrong again is zero.
R&D-to-product transition Your technical leadership was built for discovery. Now you need someone who can deliver commercially.
Rapid scaling after funding Board pressure to professionalize meets a founding team that has never hired at this level before.
CEO fatigue from technical disagreements A leadership gap that has been absorbed rather than filled—and the next hire is already overdue.
Failed or stalled search You need scaffolding around the decision, not more candidates. Structure first, then sourcing.

Roles Where the Playbook Doesn't Exist Yet

High-stakes technical leadership
and the builders who define it.

We specialize in leadership roles where success criteria are still being defined, your team may disagree on what matters most, and the wrong hire will set you back years—along with the strategic individual contributors who shape what comes next.

Chief AI Officer VP / Head of AI Chief Data Officer VP Engineering CTO Scientific Leadership Founding ML Scientist Principal Comp Bio Lead AI Scientist

Mission

Clarity and discipline for the leadership decisions that matter most.

Start a Conversation

Tell us what you're
working on.

Whether you have an active search, a role you're still defining, or a leadership question you're thinking through—we'd like to hear from you.

We typically respond within one business day.