GSS

Earlier this month, more than 450 life sciences executives gathered around a message that cut against the current narrative: Fix the foundation before you scale AI. The numbers behind that message are worth sitting with. Roughly 73% of biopharma organizations still report significant data issues. As many as 89% of AI pilots never reach production. Trust in AI systems across the industry has declined, even as investment accelerates. One pharma VP closed the main stage with this: "This is not an AI revolution. It's a people revolution." We agree, and it maps directly to what we see in executive search. The organizations making AI work in life sciences aren't the ones with the most sophisticated tools. They're the ones with leaders who understand both the science and the system, who can govern AI outputs, build cross-functional trust in new workflows, and make judgment calls where the algorithm shouldn’t. That leadership profile doesn't exist in volume. It has to be built deliberately, placed carefully, and given the organizational mandate to actually lead. AI will reshape life sciences. The constraint isn't the technology. It's the people strategy behind it. #AI #LifeSciences #Leadership #TalentStrategy #ExecutiveSearch #Biotech #Pharma #GSS 

The placements that define a launch aren't always the ones with the highest-profile titles. Sometimes it's the executive who can translate clinical evidence into a payer narrative. The scientific communications leader who makes complex data accessible to the physicians and patients who need it most. That's the thread running through GSS's H2 work. Leaders placed at the boundary between what the science shows and what the market can do with it. That's where we focus. That's where the impact lives. Our H2 one-pager outlines where we're building those teams right now. #LifeSciences #ExecutiveSearch #Leadership #GSS https://lnkd.in/eFWpvASb

The FDA is rebuilding. After more than a year of significant attrition, the agency is actively recruiting; 600 new hires secured, 1,600 more positions open. Guidance has shifted. Leadership has turned over. The regulatory environment that commercial teams planned around 18 months ago looks materially different today. For life sciences organizations with assets in late-stage development or approaching launch, this is not background noise. It's a planning variable. Regulatory uncertainty doesn't pause commercial timelines. It raises the stakes on the leaders managing them. The Medical Affairs executive who can navigate an evolving label. The Market Access leader who can build a reimbursement strategy under moving assumptions. The Commercial lead who has launched into ambiguity before and knows how to hold the team steady. These aren't nice-to-haves in an uncertain regulatory environment. They're the difference between a launch that adapts and one that stalls. The FDA is rebuilding its capacity. The question for every organization with a near-term launch is whether its leadership team is built for the environment that's actually in front of them. #FDA #RegulatoryAffairs #LifeSciences #CommercialStrategy #Leadership #ExecutiveSearch #GSS 

One line from our latest newsletter has come up in more conversations than anything else we've published: "Most organizations don't underinvest in their launch. They mis-sequence it.” The headcount is often there. The budget is often there. What's missing is the right leadership in the right seat at the right moment, specifically in the 18–24 months before commercial activation, when the decisions that shape launch trajectory are actually being made. By the time a launch feels underpowered, the window to fix it has usually already passed. What's the earliest leadership gap you've seen cost a launch? We'd genuinely like to know. #DrugLaunch #CommercialStrategy #LifeSciences #Leadership #GSS https://lnkd.in/eRBCVMNM

The executives GSS talks to every week are not primarily moving for compensation. They're moving for clarity of mission. For evidence that the organization they're joining knows where it's going and has built the team to get there. For roles where the work connects to something larger than a quarterly target. This isn't idealism. It's a market signal. 71% of life sciences HR leaders are actively reworking their Employer Value Proposition right now because the organizations still leading with title and comp are losing candidates to organizations leading with purpose and trajectory. The most competitive offers we've seen recently aren't the highest. They're the most coherent. Clear mission. Strong leadership team. Evidence of organizational investment in the role's success. For organizations building in H2: your ability to attract the right executive leader is increasingly a function of your ability to articulate why the work matters specifically, credibly, and before the search begins. The magnet has changed. The strategy needs to catch up. #LifeSciences #TalentStrategy #Leadership #ExecutiveSearch #GSS 

H2 is here. And in life sciences, the back half of the year is where the right leadership either accelerates momentum or exposes where it's missing. This year, we've had the privilege of placing executives at the center of that work. Leader roles where the decisions made in the next six months will directly shape what reaches patients and when. Our H2 one-pager reflects where we've been active, where we're seeing demand, and the types of organizations and leadership mandates that define this moment in life sciences. If you're building toward a launch, a transaction, or a leadership transition in the back half of this year, we'd welcome the conversation. #LifeSciences #ExecutiveSearch #H2Planning #Leadership #Biotech #Pharma #GSS https://lnkd.in/eFWpvASb

The average time to fill a specialized life sciences role is now 78 days. That's up 18 days from the 2022–2023 average. And for senior leadership roles — VP and above —in niche therapeutic areas or cross-functional commercial functions, the timeline is longer. 78 days is not just a recruiting metric. It's a strategic exposure. If a Head of Market Access seat opens the quarter before launch, 78 days isn't a hiring timeline. It's a launch risk. If a Medical Affairs leadership role turns over mid-trial, the gap doesn't pause enrollment. The organizations managing this well aren't reacting faster. They're thinking ahead differently, maintaining relationships with potential candidates before the need is urgent, and engaging search partners as strategic advisors, not order-takers. The talent market in life sciences has never rewarded reactive hiring. The data now quantifies what that costs. #LifeSciences #TalentStrategy #ExecutiveSearch #Leadership #Biotech #Pharma #GSS 

In rare disease, the science is only as powerful as the story told around it, to physicians, to patients, to the community that has been waiting. We're proud to announce that Amy Foreman-Wykert has joined Travere Therapeutics as Executive Director, Scientific Communications. Travere is doing meaningful work in rare kidney and liver diseases, where patients have had few options and the quality of scientific communication directly shapes clinical adoption. Amy brings the depth and credibility that work demands. Scientific communications at this level isn't just messaging. It's translating evidence into understanding for the people who need it most. #RareDisease #LifeSciences #ExecutiveSearch 

Today, we're launching The GSS newsletter, a closer look at the leadership infrastructure behind successful life sciences launches. This topic exists because the conversations we have most with clients aren't just about finding a candidate. They're about building the right team, in the right sequence, at the right time. We hope this becomes a resource you'll come back to launch after launch. #LifeSciences #CommercialStrategy #Leadership #DrugLaunch #Newsletter #GSS

When capital was flowing and timelines compressed, hiring processes that should have taken three or four months happened in three or four weeks. Candidates with the right pedigree on paper moved fast. Organizations felt momentum. Now, confidential replacement searches are on the rise across pharma and biotech. Companies are quietly correcting hires that looked right in the moment but weren't built for the role's actual demands. This isn't a failure of candidates. It's a failure of process. Speed under pressure tends to optimize for credentials over fit for what someone has done, not what they're built to do in a specific organization at a specific stage of growth. Those are different questions, and they require different conversations. The cost of a misaligned executive hire isn't just the search fee. It's the runway lost while the wrong person is in the seat. It's the team that recalibrates around them. It's the 6–12 months before the organization acknowledges what isn't working. The organizations we've seen navigate this best aren't the ones who move fastest. They're the ones who invest in precision upfront, who treat executive search as a strategic decision, not a staffing transaction. The market is correcting. The organizations that learn from it will be harder to disrupt the next time capital moves. #ExecutiveSearch #LifeSciences #Leadership #Biotech #Pharma #GSS