- Key Takeaways
- Hire for the Next Milestone
- Early Leaders Must Be Hands-On
- Sequence Around Scientific and Regulatory Inflection
- Use Fractional and Interim Capability
- What This Looks Like in Practice
- The Mistake Employers Keep Making
- Typical Hiring Sequence for a Biotech
- The Bottom Line
- Related Reading
- Frequently Asked Questions
This reflects what we have learned at JRG Partners doing exactly this kind of work, the distinctions that matter and the mistakes that recur. Building the executive team for a pre-commercial biotech is an exercise in sequencing under uncertainty, because you are hiring against milestones that may or may not be reached, with capital that is finite and a scientific thesis that has not yet been validated. The right team is the one that gets you to the next value-creating milestone, not the one that would run the company you hope to become.
Key Takeaways
- Hire for the next milestone, not the company you hope to build.
- Sequence hires around scientific and regulatory inflection points.
- Early hires must be hands-on; large-company profiles often misfit.
- Preserve capital by hiring fractionally or late where you can.
- Investor and board input on sequencing is usually worth taking.
Hire for the Next Milestone
A pre-commercial biotech’s value is created by reaching specific milestones, a development candidate, an IND, a clinical readout, an approval, and each requires particular capabilities. The disciplined approach is to hire the leadership needed to reach the next milestone credibly, rather than assembling the team a commercial-stage company would have. Hiring a commercial leader before you have data, or a large manufacturing organisation before you have a candidate, consumes capital that the science needs and creates an organisation misaligned with its actual stage. Sequence hires to milestones deliberately.
Early Leaders Must Be Hands-On
Executives in a pre-commercial biotech write protocols, negotiate with vendors, prepare board materials, and do work that in a larger company would sit several levels down. This makes large-company profiles risky: a leader accustomed to an infrastructure of specialists may be genuinely excellent and still unable to operate without it. Assess directly for hands-on capability and comfort with the absence of support, asking specifically what candidates have personally produced rather than overseen. This is one of the more common causes of early-stage executive failure and one of the more predictable.
Sequence Around Scientific and Regulatory Inflection
The natural sequence for most biotechs runs from scientific and development leadership, through regulatory and clinical operations capability, to manufacturing and quality as a candidate advances, with commercial and market access entering as approval becomes plausible. Finance capability scales alongside financing needs, with a CFO becoming critical as the company approaches larger raises or a public listing. Deviating from this sequence is sometimes justified, but should be a deliberate decision rather than an accident of who was available or who an investor recommended.
Use Fractional and Interim Capability
Many pre-commercial biotechs need capabilities before they need full-time executives holding them. Fractional CFOs, consultant regulatory strategists, and interim quality leadership can provide genuine expertise at a fraction of the capital cost, deferring permanent hires until the milestone that justifies them. This is not a compromise but a sound use of scarce capital, and it is common practice among well-run early companies. The judgment is knowing when a function has become central enough that fractional support is no longer adequate, which is usually when it starts driving daily decisions.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A pre-commercial biotech sequences leadership hires against the milestones that create value, assesses candidates specifically for hands-on capability rather than large-company polish, uses fractional and interim expertise to defer permanent hires until justified, and treats deviations from the natural sequence as deliberate decisions rather than opportunistic ones.
The Mistake Employers Keep Making
The most common mistake is hiring ahead of the science, building a commercial or manufacturing leadership team before data justifies it, usually driven by optimism about timelines or a desire to look like a real company. This consumes capital the development programme needs and creates a leadership group with insufficient work, which is demoralising and expensive. The company builds for the future it wants rather than the milestone it must reach.
Typical Hiring Sequence for a Biotech
| Stage | Leadership Priority |
|---|---|
| Discovery to candidate | Scientific and development leadership |
| IND and early clinical | Regulatory and clinical operations |
| Clinical progression | Quality, CMC, and manufacturing capability |
| Approaching approval | Commercial and market access |
| Larger raises or listing | Public-company-capable CFO |
The Bottom Line
Build a pre-commercial biotech team for the next value-creating milestone rather than the company you hope to become, hire hands-on leaders rather than large-company profiles, use fractional expertise to defer permanent hires, and treat the hiring sequence as a deliberate capital allocation decision. Hire for the specific demands of the situation, and the rest of the leadership equation gets easier.
Related Reading
For more, see How to Recruit a Chief Medical Officer for a Pharma Company, Recruiting for Rare Disease and Orphan Drug Companies, Hiring Trends in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Leadership.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: How should a pre-commercial biotech sequence hires?
- A: Against value-creating milestones, scientific and development leadership first, then regulatory and clinical operations, then quality and manufacturing, with commercial entering as approval becomes plausible.
- Q: Why are large-company executives risky in early biotech?
- A: Because early-stage executives must personally do work that larger companies delegate to specialists, and leaders accustomed to that infrastructure may be excellent yet unable to operate without it.
- Q: Should we use fractional executives?
- A: Often yes; fractional CFOs, regulatory consultants, and interim quality leadership provide genuine expertise at lower capital cost, deferring permanent hires until a milestone justifies them.
- Q: When does a function need a full-time leader?
- A: Usually when it begins driving daily decisions rather than periodic ones, at which point fractional support stops being adequate.
- Q: What is the most common team-building mistake?
- A: Hiring ahead of the science, building commercial or manufacturing leadership before data justifies it, which consumes capital the development programme needs.
![](https://www.jrgpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tanya-gallardo.jpeg")
Tanya Gallardo
Managing Director, Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy
Tanya Gallardo is the Managing Director of Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy at JRG Partners, leading C-suite and Board engagements across key growth sectors including Technology, Financial Services, and Manufacturing.
With over 18 years of experience specializing in disruptive technology leadership, Tanya is recognized as a leading authority on talent architecture for future-focused executive roles, such as the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) and Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Her expertise lies in accurately assessing the cultural fit and technical depth required to ensure a high return on investment (ROI) for critical leadership appointments.
Prior to her role at JRG Partners, Tanya held senior roles directing global talent acquisition strategies at a major publicly-traded technology firm, advising on organizational design and succession planning for emerging executive functions. She is a recognized speaker and contributor to industry events, sharing data-driven insights on executive compensation, leadership development, and the measurable business impact of C-suite talent.
