Chief Executive Officer (CEO) / President

  • Full Time
    • San Diego, CA, USA Life Sciences

Website Top Notch Finders

Confidential executive search for the life sciences industry

CONFIDENTIAL RETAINED SEARCH | SAN DIEGO LIFE SCIENCES

We are conducting a confidential, retained search for a life sciences CEO at a clinical-stage to commercial-stage biotech, pharmaceutical, or medtech company in the San Diego / CaliBaja corridor. The Chief Executive Officer / President will set corporate strategy, lead capital raising, and manage board relations, reporting to the Board of Directors. We seek executives with 15+ years of progressive leadership experience, including a prior CEO, President, or senior C-suite role.

Search Reference: TNF-LS-CEO-2026 | Enterprise Leadership Mandate, Life Sciences

ABOUT THIS SEARCH

Top Notch Finders holds an exclusive, strictly confidential retained search for a Chief Executive Officer / President for a client in the San Diego / CaliBaja life sciences corridor. To protect our client and every candidate, we disclose the company’s identity only to qualified candidates under a confidentiality agreement. In addition, Top Notch Finders receives and manages every inquiry and application directly.

  • Company profile: clinical-stage to commercial-stage biotech, pharmaceutical, or medtech company.
  • Reports to: Board of Directors.
  • Location: San Diego / CaliBaja region; we share specifics with qualified candidates.

THE LIFE SCIENCES CEO OPPORTUNITY

First, the Chief Executive Officer sets and executes overall corporate strategy. This executive also leads capital-raising efforts, manages board relations, and drives pipeline and commercialization priorities.

In addition, the CEO serves as the primary external face of the company to investors, partners, and regulators. As a result, this leader must build and retain an executive team that can scale the business through clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones.

MARKET CONTEXT

First, this mandate sits in the San Diego / CaliBaja life sciences corridor. Because the company moves through clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones, the CEO must prepare the organization for each inflection point.

For a deeper look at how we evaluate and hire senior leaders in this industry, read our The 2026 San Diego Life Sciences Executive Search Hiring Guide. It also explains our approach to executive search for biotech, pharma, and medtech leadership roles.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Define and communicate the corporate vision, strategic priorities, and long-range business plan to the board and investors.
  • Lead fundraising, including venture rounds, IPOs, follow-on offerings, and strategic partnerships and licensing deals.
  • Oversee pipeline prioritization decisions in partnership with the CSO/CMO and R&D leadership.
  • Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing executive leadership team.
  • Serve as primary spokesperson to the board, shareholders, media, and industry conferences.
  • Ensure organizational readiness for key inflection points: IND filing, pivotal trial readout, BLA/NDA submission, and commercial launch.
  • Oversee risk management, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance at the enterprise level.
  • Set the enterprise AI adoption strategy and evaluate AI-native operating models.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

  • 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in biotech, pharma, or medtech, including a prior CEO, President, or senior C-suite role.
  • A demonstrated track record of successful capital raises through venture, public markets, or strategic partnerships.
  • Experience navigating a company through a major value-inflection event: approval, pivotal trial, M&A, or IPO.
  • An advanced degree (MD, PhD, MBA, or a combination) is preferred but not required where the operating track record is strong.
  • Board-level communication skills and experience reporting to institutional investors.
  • Familiarity with AI-driven operating models and willingness to champion enterprise AI strategy.

HOW TO APPLY IN CONFIDENCE

First, this is a discreet, retained engagement. We will never present your candidacy to any organization without your explicit prior authorization. In addition, the hiring company cannot see any application at this stage.

If you are an accomplished life sciences chief executive, we invite you to submit your resume in confidence through the Top Notch Finders website and be considered as our next life sciences CEO. Then reference search code TNF-LS-CEO-2026 in your submission. However, do not include patient-identifiable, trial-blinded, or other confidential clinical information of any kind in your application materials. Finally, we will contact only the candidates whose backgrounds align closely with the mandate.

  • Max. file size: 100 MB.