Talent Radar · May 2026 — GCC hiring slows in BFSI, AI roles up 14%.

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The profile they said didn't exist in India usually does.

Pharma and biotech GCCs are moving up the value chain, from operations into clinical, regulatory, translational science, and real-world data. The leaders who can run that work are rare, often the only handful in the country, and almost never on the open market. Finding them is an intelligence problem before it's a search.

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Clinical · regulatory · data
Specialist roles we map
Nichedepth
Candidate handling
Confidential
The Problem

The role is real. The market that can fill it is tiny and quiet.

A Head of Translational Medicine or a regulatory leader for a new therapeutic area may have a dozen genuine candidates in the country. Most are deep in important work, bound by IP and notice, and have no reason to read a job post. A generic search returns the same recycled names and none of the people who could actually do it.

Comp is its own puzzle. There is no clean benchmark for a profile that only a handful of people hold, so bands get set by analogy and come out wrong. Get it low and the one person you wanted never engages. Get the discretion wrong and you signal your strategy to the market.

For the rarest pharma profiles, the qualified universe in India is often in single digits.
Across specialist life-sciences mandates
Our Approach

How we fill roles the market says are unfillable.

Specialist life-sciences hiring rewards depth and discretion. We map the real universe, approach it carefully, and price it from evidence, not analogy.

01 · Map the few
Find every credible name, not the obvious ones
We build the full map of who genuinely qualifies for a specialist role across India and the diaspora, including people in adjacent science who could cross over. When the universe is twelve, you need all twelve, not the three who happen to be visible.
02 · Approach with discretion
Confidential outreach that protects everyone
Senior life-sciences people are bound by IP and watched by a small community. We approach discreetly, anonymise where needed, and protect both the candidate's position and your strategy until there's real mutual interest.
03 · Price from evidence
A defensible band for a profile with no survey
For roles a salary survey can't see, we build the band from what comparable specialist mandates closed at and what it takes to move someone settled. A number you can defend to finance and that the right person will actually engage with.
What This Changes

The numbers that move.

Aggregates across pharma and biotech mandates we ran in 2024 to 2025. Not promises, what tends to happen on specialist searches.

A handful
Genuinely qualified, interested names on the first shortlist for a profile called rare
First shortlist
~94%
Of placed leaders still in seat at twelve months
12-month retention, firm-wide
By default
Every candidate approach handled confidentially, under our Candidate Data Policy
Candidate data policy
Frequently Asked

Questions we get asked.

If you don't see what you're looking for, the form below is the fastest route. Most enquiries get a response within one working day.

Which pharma and biotech roles do you cover?
Clinical development and operations, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, translational and medical science, biostatistics and real-world data, quality, and the GCC leadership layer above them, from senior specialist to head-of-function.
The profile we need barely exists in India. Is it worth searching?
Often, yes, but we tell you the honest size of the universe first. If there are only a handful of people and none are movable, we say so before you commit a quarter. Where the role is fillable, mapping the few is exactly the work we're built for.
How do you protect confidentiality?
Discretion is the default. We approach candidates without naming you until there's mutual interest, anonymise stories and references, and follow our candidate data policy throughout. Your strategy stays inside the room.
How do you benchmark comp for a role with no clean market?
We build the band from comparable specialist placements and what it actually takes to move someone settled into important work, rather than a national survey that can't see the profile. You get a number you can defend and that the right person will engage with.
Start a Conversation

Tell us the specialist role you need to fill.

Give us the profile and the city. We'll come back with an honest read on the universe and the comp, even if we don't end up running the search.

Tell us what you're hiring for.
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Thanks. We'll come back within one working day.