The biotech market is still in recovery mode, with the number of IPOs gradually rising in the years since 2022’s dismal low.
That upward trend is reflected in biotech executive hiring, too, both in terms of overall demand and the types of positions companies are looking to fill, according to Jason Hersh, CEO, co-founder, and managing partner of the life sciences and healthcare executive search firm Klein Hersh.
“The demand has definitely been up comparatively from the two years prior,” he said.
Moreover, the firm has seen increased executive hiring searches in the areas of finance, investor relations and legal, indicating a continued upswing in the market.
“When we see an uptick in that, that’s usually our ecosystem prepping for the IPO market that’s opening up,” he said. “We’re optimistic that we’re starting to come out of this downturn.”
Executive hiring trends are often indicators of broader movements in the market and vice versa, and here are a few that Hersh is keeping an eye on in 2025.
“What we’re seeing is a little bit of that right-sizing going on, and a lot of clients are moving back to making smarter, strategic decisions."
Jason Hersh
CEO, co-founder, managing partner, Klein Hersh
Smarter, more strategic hiring decisions
When capital venture dollars were flowing more freely at the beginning of the decade, companies were “jumping in and making quick hires,” Hersh said. Hiring processes that might have taken three or four months happened in a matter of weeks.
But moving that fast proved detrimental in some cases. Many of those hires weren’t the right fit, despite candidates having “the right skill set [and a] pedigree that looks good on paper,” Hersh said.
Now, Hersh said the firm is seeing an uptick in confidential searches from pharma companies seeking to replace those too-quick hires.
“What we’re seeing is a little bit of that right-sizing going on, and a lot of clients are moving back to making smarter, strategic decisions,” Hersh said. “We’re coaching our client community to be thoughtful about these hires and run them through a rigorous process like we used to before the uptick in ‘21.”
Hersh also said he’s advising clients to be proactive about recruiting and meet with potential candidates who may not necessarily be looking for a new position. Doing so not only plants an early seed for when they’re ready to make a move, but allows the company to understand their skills, goals and compensation expectations.
“We think it's important to … put some investment into people that might be looking down the road,” he said. “Probably 10% to 20% of those executives that aren't looking today, you can change their perception and put them into the candidate mix.”
Rising demand for certain roles
In addition to an uptick in searches for finance, investor relations and legal roles, Hersh is also witnessing a need for executive roles that reflect a wider industry trend of capital markets wanting “to place their bets closer to the money.” That translates to jobs in clinical development, such as chief medical officers, clinical operations, and regulatory and quality.
“We've seen a significant uptick in our clinical development group, and that's because a lot of the focus is on later-stage assets … and commercialized drugs,” he said.
Other areas of interest have been commercial roles like chief marketing officers, chief sales and growth officers, and medical liaisons.
Similarly, demand for executives in certain therapeutic areas like immunology and inflammation, the cardio/metabolic/obesity space, and biologics is so high that it outweighs the supply of talent.
“It’s been challenging for our clients to find senior level executives that are deeply rooted that are open right now because they're just hot environments,” Hersh said.
Reining in pay and virtual work
In addition to being a year with a steady supply of IPOs in biotech, 2021 also saw huge numbers of employees working virtually, as well as a “decent uptick” in executive compensation, Hersh said.
Those days seem to be drawing to a close as companies scale back virtual offices.
“A lot of our clients are moving into two or three days a week in the office and the rest [are] virtual,” Hersh said. Additionally, companies are relocating new executive hires less frequently, and instead, searching for local candidates.
Employers have begun to put a lid on compensation growth, which has leveled off since rising in 2021, “when the war for talent was really on,” Hersh said.
“Companies are continuing to be creative and thinking about ways to hire executives they need,” Hersh said. “From our lens, it’s stayed steady. We haven't seen anything come up or down on that.”
