Biotech Executive Search.

A boutique executive search firm for biotech, based in Munich. I founded it in 2020 after nine years as a biotech headhunter, and I run every mandate myself: CEO, CFO, CMO, CSO, CBO, COO, CTO and board seats, permanent, interim or fractional, for venture-backed and listed biotech from Seed to Public, in Europe and the US.

Permanent placements close in under 30 days, interim and fractional in 3. Permanent placements carry a 12-month guarantee.

The Rados Method, and it is new in executive search. Most searches select on skill and chemistry. The Rados Method adds two fits: stage fit, what the stage ahead demands from the role, and need fit, whether the role keeps feeding what drives the person. That leads to different hiring decisions, a higher overall fit between leader, role and stage, and a hire who is closer to the result your company needs: the trial, the round, the regulatory path, the deal.

The biggest challenges in biotech, clinical data, funding and regulatory strategy, go one way or the other depending on the decisions leaders make. Selecting the right leader is the one lever you control.

A framework that leads to different hiring decisions. Most of the big problems in a biotech, a trial built on the wrong endpoint, a round pitched to the wrong investors, a deal signed too early, trace back to a selection problem: who was chosen to lead and make the call.

Skill comes first and every serious search checks it. The Rados Method adds two fits: stage fit, the company side, what the stage ahead will demand from this role and which needs it will feed; and need fit, the person side, whether those are the needs that drive this person, year after year. When both fit, you get better decisions, higher performance and a different outcome for the company. The full method is on the Rados Method page.

I asked myself: what business am I really in? The answer: I create better leadership hires. And better leadership hires help save lives.

This led me to a more difficult question: I've got these skills, so how can I have a bigger impact, so that more and better drugs get to patients and save lives? I looked at what actually decides whether a biotech makes it. First, the biology. Nobody can change that. Right after it: the calls leaders make. Which trial, which investors, which regulatory path, which deal.

And when the stage of the company is aligned with the person's needs and values, something special happens: more energy, better performance and better results. That's why I eventually developed the Rados Method, with stage fit and need fit.

Large firms sell process: a partner pitches, an associate searches, a researcher builds the longlist, and three months later you get a shortlist. I sell judgement. Most searches select on skill and chemistry. I also select on stage fit and need fit, and that leads to different hiring decisions: not the best CV, but the leader who will make the better calls and perform higher at the stage you are entering.

One person owns the mandate from the first conversation to the placement, and the shortlist arrives in days because I go into the whole market every time, not into a database. Permanent placements close in under 30 days. Interim placements in 3.

C-level and senior leadership for venture-backed and listed biotech: CEO, CFO, CMO, CSO, CBO, CCO, COO, CTO, independent directors and chairs. Permanent, interim and fractional. Most mandates are Seed through Series C, most of them clinical-stage.

Permanent: a long-term C-level hire, employed by the company. Interim: a full-time leader for a defined period, typically three to twelve months, through a readout, a restructuring or a gap. Fractional: a part-time senior leader, from two days a month to a few days a week. I place all three. Typical mandates: interim CMO during a clinical readout, fractional CFO before Series A, interim CEO between cycles. The contract models and the statutory officer layer are in the complete guide.

Permanent placements close in under 30 days from briefing to signed offer, interim and fractional in 3 days. Global search firms typically need four to six months.

Fast is the time to a shortlist, not a shortcut on diligence. Candidates surface in days because I go into the whole market every time, several thousand personal contacts plus everyone I have not met yet. The referencing, the assessment on both fits and the chemistry calls happen in full.

Yes. Independent directors, chairs and strategic advisors for biotech companies and funds. Board mandates run slower and quieter than executive search, on the same principle: one person owns the mandate. The directors I place have operational depth in clinical development, regulatory, business development or commercial launch. Not names for the deck.

Permanent executive search: a retainer of 30 percent of first-year compensation. Seed-stage companies and teams under five people: special rates, on request. Interim and fractional: hourly, daily or a monthly retainer, agreed per mandate. I go through the investment and the contract in the first conversation. Nothing hidden.

Most early-stage biotechs need a financial manager, not a CFO: a clean monthly close, the cap table, support for the next financing. Jan De Kerpel said it on Willing to Win: "In early stage companies, the CFO role is not a CFO role. It is actually a financial manager role."

The strategic CFO becomes necessary when financing moves from supporting the CEO to co-leading with the CEO, typically between Series B and Series C. Too early, and you pay twice for the role and watch the person leave. Too late, and the CEO carries the financing alone. How to hire a CFO.

Not when the asset is three years from first-in-human; at that stage a medical advisor or a fractional CMO, two days a month, is enough. The full-time CMO becomes necessary twelve to eighteen months before the readout that defines the value of the asset, typically late Phase 1b or early Phase 2. Companies that delay pay in trial momentum and regulatory missteps. Companies that hire too early pay a senior salary for an underemployed executive. How to hire a CMO.

Later than most founders think, and earlier than most boards say it. The founding CEO and the commercial CEO are different jobs. The signals: the board has private conversations about CEO readiness, the founder's week is eaten by operational decisions, financing stalls because investors want institutional leadership, or the next round requires it. Founders who are honest with themselves recognise the moment and lead the move. The others wait for the board, which usually happens a year too late. How to hire a CEO.