Executive search for biotech founders · Nevada City, CA
You’ve got the science and the nerve. We find the heads of CMC, clinical, and regulatory who turn both into a company, on a fixed fee, in three invoices, from our desk in Nevada City, CA.
How the money moves
Most search firms get paid when you’re desperate. We get paid for milestones you can see, touch, and use on Monday morning.
Contingency recruiter
Résumés arrive fast and in bulk. Fit is your homework, and so is explaining to a candidate why the role quietly changed.
Big retained firm
Terrific for a Series C. For a seven-person lab, the retainer, the junior researchers, and the calendar all show up oversized.
We calibrate the role with you before anyone gets a call. Then you see real work at every milestone, and pay for it in three invoices.
Tired of résumé roulette? Put twenty minutes on the calendar and let’s calibrate your next hire.
Book a scoping callThe search, mapped
Every search moves left to right. You see something real at each stop, and we only send an invoice at three of them.
We turn a fuzzy job post into a scored scorecard: outcomes for year one, must-haves, comp band, red flags.
Invoice 1 · kickoffWe map who’s doing the work you need, in CROs, pharma teams, and academic labs, and screen every name ourselves.
Write-ups scored against your scorecard, plus a live call to walk through each person.
Invoice 2 · shortlistStructured questions, work-sample prompts, and a debrief sheet so your team stops hiring on gut feel.
We coach the negotiation on equity, vesting, and start date until there’s a signature.
Invoice 3 · accepted offerWho we run with
If your whole company fits around one lab bench, you’re exactly who this firm is for.
Founder-led, pre-Series A
You’re writing job posts at 11pm between cell-line passages. We take the search off your bench and hand you scored candidates.
University spinouts
The first non-academic hire changes everything. We help you find someone who has taken a program from bench to IND.
Diagnostics & tools
Assay development, QA, and commercial leads who’ve lived through a verification run.
Platform & therapeutics
Series A diligence will ask who runs CMC, clinical, and regulatory. Have a real answer before the first partner meeting.
Synthetic bio & ag-bio
Scale-up engineers, fermentation leads, and field-trial managers: roles most recruiters have never heard of, and we have.
Fractional to full-time
Need a part-time CFO now and a full-time one after the raise? We’ll scope it that way.
Start here
Tell us the role. We’ll tell you what the search looks like, what it costs, and when you’d see a shortlist.
0
Invoices per search: kickoff, shortlist, accepted offer. That’s the whole bill.
Prefer to talk?
Ring (916) 200-9466
Or send us the job description
contact@marloweteague.com
Open when you’re in lab mode
Fixed fees
Three packages, each invoiced in thirds: at kickoff, at shortlist, and when the offer is accepted.
One role, director level and below: staff scientist, head of a function, first QA hire.
CSO, CMO, CMC, CFO: the seat that decides whether your Series A closes.
Up to three roles searched in parallel, one scorecard workshop, one calendar.
Pick a package today and your scorecard workshop can start this week.
Email the job descriptionBefore you dial
Short answers now, longer ones on the scoping call.
Then we sit down, find out what the scorecard missed, and reopen sourcing at no added fee. A miss usually means the role was calibrated wrong, and that’s on both of us to fix.
A percentage of salary rewards a fast, high-priced hire. A fixed fee rewards the right one. You also know your cost before you start, which matters when runway is counted in months.
It’s the most common setup we see. The interview kit exists for exactly this: it gives your scientists a structured way to interview without a recruiter in the room.
Once the scorecard is signed off, plan on about three weeks to a first shortlist. Very niche roles can take longer, and we’ll tell you that on the kickoff call, not in week four.
Yes, it’s included. We coach you through equity, vesting, and start-date conversations until the offer letter is signed.
Kick things off
Send a few lines about the role and we’ll reply within one business day with next steps and a time for your scoping call.
(916) 200-9466
contact@marloweteague.com
Mon–Sat 9:30am–4pm · Sun 10am–4pm
