Strategic Staffing Partnership with a Rare Disease-Focused Biotech

Our Barrington James Board & Executive Team provided global recruitment insights and an executive shortlist, supporting a rare disease-focused biotech’s rapid expansion.

A rare disease-focused biotech was founded in 2012 by a CEO driven by a personal motivation—addressing a rare pediatric condition within his own family. Although the CEO had not worked in the life sciences industry before, he successfully raised capital and listed the company on Nasdaq at an early stage. The organization initially focused on rare pediatric conditions, beginning with cystic fibrosis and later expanding into dermatology and other treatment areas.

The Challenge

The company’s rapid growth and entry into new therapeutic areas created an urgent need for specialized talent, particularly in clinical development. Initially, they relied on local recruitment agencies. However, as the company scaled, the local talent pool was quickly exhausted, necessitating an international recruitment strategy. The challenge lay in attracting top-tier talent from around the world—managing relocations, frequent cross-border commutes, and remote team structures for niche roles.

Our Approach

We took a comprehensive, immersive approach to understand the client’s unique culture and requirements. By visiting the client’s site multiple times, our consultants gained firsthand insight into their family-like atmosphere and engaged closely with team members both formally and informally. Leveraging our global network allowed us to source specialized candidates worldwide, particularly when the company moved into ophthalmology and faced a limited local talent pool for retinal disease experts. Over the past decade, we offered a range of recruitment solutions, including executive searches for roles such as Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief of Staff to the CEO. Throughout the process, we prioritized cultural alignment and specialized expertise, ensuring that each new hire shared the organization’s vision and long-term mission.

Results and Outcomes

• Placed approximately 25 candidates in Regulatory, Clinical Operations, R&D, and Medical Affairs over the first five years.
• Enabled the biotech to maintain operational stability and secure new funding, even when initial trials encountered setbacks.
• Supported a strategic realignment following a negative Phase III trial outcome, contributing to the development of an innovative gene therapy platform.
• Ensured executives were pivotal in rationalizing strategies, securing additional funding, and reinforcing the company’s vision.
• Demonstrated the importance of cultural alignment, with long tenures of placed candidates reflecting the strength of the recruitment strategy.