Chief Scientific Officer (CSO)

CONFIDENTIAL RETAINED SEARCH | SAN DIEGO LIFE SCIENCES

Search Reference: TNF-LS-CSO-2026 | R&D Leadership Mandate, Life Sciences

ABOUT THIS SEARCH

Top Notch Finders has been retained on an exclusive and strictly confidential basis to identify a Chief Scientific Officer for a client in the San Diego / CaliBaja life sciences corridor. To protect the interests of our client and of every candidate who engages with us, the identity of the company is disclosed only to qualified candidates under a confidentiality agreement. All inquiries and applications are received and managed solely by Top Notch Finders.

POSITION SNAPSHOT

• Company profile: Biotech, biopharma, or AI-driven drug discovery company.
• Reports to: CEO.
• Location: San Diego / CaliBaja region; specifics disclosed to qualified candidates.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Chief Scientific Officer owns the company’s overall research and development strategy, translating discovery science into a credible, fundable pipeline. Increasingly, the CSO must bridge traditional wet-lab science with computational and AI-driven discovery platforms.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Set overall R&D and discovery strategy, including target selection and platform investment decisions.
• Lead and scale the scientific organization, including hiring senior scientific staff.
• Oversee preclinical research, translational science, and early pipeline decision-making.
• Evaluate and integrate AI/ML-driven discovery tools, generative biology platforms, and multi-modal data strategies.
• Represent scientific strategy and platform differentiation to investors, partners, and scientific advisory boards.
• Collaborate with the CMO and Regulatory Affairs to ensure smooth translation from discovery to clinic.
• Publish and present at scientific conferences to build company credibility and attract talent. 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• PhD in a relevant life sciences discipline (biology, chemistry, biochemistry, bioinformatics, or a related field).
• 15+ years of R&D leadership experience, including large-pharma or high-growth biotech pedigree.
• Demonstrated experience overseeing large scientific organizations, including R&D teams of 80+ scientists.
• Working fluency in AI-driven biologics and discovery approaches, including transformer-based and generative AI models.
• Track record of successful IND-enabling program development.
• Strong external presence: publications, patents, and conference presentations.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND HOW TO APPLY

This is a discreet, retained engagement. Your candidacy will never be presented to any organization without your explicit prior authorization, and no application will be visible to the hiring company at this stage. Accomplished scientific executives are invited to submit a resume in confidence through the Top Notch Finders website. Please reference search code TNF-LS-CSO-2026 in your submission. Do not include patient-identifiable, trial-blinded, or other confidential clinical information of any kind in your application materials. Only candidates whose backgrounds align closely with the mandate will be contacted.