Chief Scientific Officer (CSO)

  • 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 chief scientific officer at a biotech, biopharma, or AI-driven drug discovery company in the San Diego / CaliBaja life sciences corridor. The CSO will own research and development strategy and turn discovery science into a credible, fundable pipeline, in partnership with the CEO. We seek executives with 15+ years of R&D leadership.

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

ABOUT THIS SEARCH

Top Notch Finders holds an exclusive, strictly confidential retained search 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.

THE CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER OPPORTUNITY

The CSO owns the company’s overall research and development strategy. In addition, this executive translates discovery science into a credible, fundable pipeline. As a result, the role shapes target selection, platform investment, and early pipeline decisions.

MARKET CONTEXT

Increasingly, the CSO must bridge traditional wet-lab science with computational and AI-driven discovery platforms. Because of this, we look for scientific leaders who can evaluate and integrate both approaches.

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 explains our approach to executive search for R&D and scientific leadership roles.

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 move discoveries smoothly into the clinic.
  • Publish and present at scientific conferences to build company credibility and attract talent.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

  • PhD in a relevant life sciences discipline, such as biology, chemistry, biochemistry, or bioinformatics.
  • 15+ years of R&D leadership experience, including large-pharma or high-growth biotech pedigree.
  • 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 through publications, patents, and conference presentations.

HOW TO APPLY IN CONFIDENCE

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 scientific executive and want to be considered as our next chief scientific officer, please submit your resume in confidence through the Top Notch Finders website. Reference search code TNF-LS-CSO-2026 in your submission. However, do not include patient-identifiable, trial-blinded, or other confidential clinical information of any kind in your application materials. We will contact only the candidates whose backgrounds align closely with the mandate.

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