Biopharma Technical Operations Executive Search.
Retained, partner-led search for the leaders who run the plant, the network and the schedule: Chief Technical Operations Officers, EVP and SVP Technical Operations, and the manufacturing, MSAT and supply chain heads beneath them, calibrated to stage, modality and manufacturing model.
Technical Operations is where approval becomes supply.
Source: Phase 3 Search analysis of the FDA’s full published CRL archive, July 2026 (The Complete Response Letter Report); triangulated by Jefferies’ read of the same archive, May 2026. Method and sensitivity checks: methodology.
For the CEO, the stake is runway: a manufacturing-driven Complete Response Letter sets a program back a median of 1.28 to 2.5 years (RSM US LLP; Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science, 2026), and that delay is refinanced on the worst terms a company will ever see. For the technical leader, it is the difference between a process that worked once and a network that works every time. For the Head of Talent, it is the seat most often hired late, on a brief written for the last stage rather than the next one. In the language of the CTO Mandate Framework, Technical Operations carries two of the five promises: Scalable and Durable. We search against them.
The operating layer, seat by seat.
The job changes with the manufacturing model.
The same title hides three different jobs. We calibrate which one you are hiring before we open the market.
The first operations leader
Clinical supply through an external network, comparability groundwork, and the make-or-buy decision that will shape cost of goods for a decade. Often a VP with CDMO fluency rather than a plant builder. We advise when the full seat is premature, and what to hire instead.
The commercial-readiness operator
Process performance qualification, pre-approval inspection readiness, dual-sourced supply and a launch plan that survives its first deviation. The seat that decides whether an approval converts to product on shelves.
The network leader
Tech transfer across sites, onshoring and capacity decisions, cost of goods under pricing pressure, and continuity when a partner site draws a Form 483. The operator who runs a system, not a plant.
Operations leadership placed where the batch record matters.
Placements and partnerships across Alnylam, BioMarin, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead, KBI Biopharma, Nitto Avecia, Spark Therapeutics and Vertex, spanning sponsor technical operations and the CDMO side of the network. Companies we have placed into have since exited for an aggregate of over $7.3Bn, and Phase 3-placed leaders have helped move 125+ assets toward launch.
“The best search experience I have had in my whole career. The successful candidate has been exceptional.”
Diagnostic first, then the market.
Every Technical Operations search begins with the mandate read: which of the five mandates the next two years actually demand, with particular weight on Scalable and Durable, what the current organisation can already hold, and where the gap is structural rather than personal. Then a partner runs the market end to end, through the CMC, Technical Operations and Quality networks we have worked for 13 years, not a résumé database. You get a calibrated slate, a written read-back of what we heard, and a recommendation that may be “not search”.
Technical Operations executive search, in plain terms.
What does a biopharma Technical Operations leader own?
The plant, the network and the schedule: internal manufacturing, the CDMO relationships, MSAT and tech transfer, supply chain and clinical supply, and the batch record that goes in front of an inspector. In the CTO Mandate Framework, Technical Operations carries the Scalable and Durable mandates: making the platform real and keeping supply secure under stress.
What is the difference between a CTO and a Chief Technical Operations Officer?
The CTO owns the whole technical enterprise, from process development through manufacturing and the interface with Quality and Regulatory. The Chief Technical Operations Officer owns execution at scale: plants, external networks, cost of goods and supply continuity. Early companies combine the two seats; from Phase 3 onward, most separate them.
When should a biotech hire a VP of Technical Operations?
When manufacturing decisions start locking in cost and comparability, usually as a program approaches its pivotal study. Before that, a strong VP of CMC with a well-managed CDMO network is often enough. Advanced modalities such as cell and gene therapy need the seat earlier, because the process is the product.
Do you place Technical Operations leaders into CDMOs as well as sponsors?
Yes. Site heads, general managers, heads of manufacturing and MSAT for contract development and manufacturing organisations are a core part of the practice, and CDMO experience is one of the most compressed operator training grounds in CMC. See our dedicated CDMO executive search page for that side of the market.
How does Phase 3 run a Technical Operations search?
Diagnostic first. We read the company against the five mandates of the CTO Mandate Framework, with particular weight on Scalable and Durable, agree with the board what the next two years demand, and only then build the market map. A partner runs the search end to end through the CMC, Technical Operations and Quality networks we have worked for 13 years.
Operations leadership, in depth.
What the plant builds in a leader, where CDMO decisions actually live, and the two mandates Technical Operations carries.
Run the diagnostic on your next hire.
Thirty minutes. A structured read on the role. We tell you whether search is the right product, whether the brief reflects the company you are actually inheriting, and whether the leadership architecture sits where it needs to be for your next capital event.