Inspection findings on the table, and no QA Director to own the fix.
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Executive search, interim specialists and mid to senior search for biotech, pharma, CDMO and medtech, run by the person you brief.
You need a leader, a specialist on site this month, a key hire without a retainer, or a hiring process that stops losing good people. Each has its own route.
C-level, VP and board-level appointments for biotech, pharma, CDMO and medtech. Mandates are handled in confidence; the client is never named in public. Structured mapping, leadership assessment and a replacement guarantee.
How a retained search runs →Senior freelance specialists on assignment for 3–12 months, from a few days a month to five days a week, in quality, regulatory, manufacturing, R&D and operations. Drawn from a market map of experienced independent professionals in European life sciences, built since 2010. Every assignment structured around the Wet DBA from day one. First relevant profiles within two working days.
How interim works →Director, head-of and senior specialist hires on a no-cure-no-pay basis, for roles where a targeted search reaches the right people without a full retained process. The lowest-risk way to see how we work.
Send us a role →Russell as your fractional talent acquisition lead, on the days the job needs: talent mapping, TA strategy, employer branding, the sourcing team, time-to-hire. A fixed monthly fee covering the agreed hiring volume, with additional hires charged at a reduced fee. Advice priced per project.
Recruiting since 2006, specialising in European life sciences since 2010, most of that in the Netherlands. Regulated manufacturing is the specialism: quality and GMP, validation, regulatory, operations, and the leaders who run them.
I lead your assignment from the first briefing through to appointment and remain your point of contact throughout. Where the scope calls for additional research or sourcing capacity, I bring in experienced support and direct the work personally.
If the role is under-scoped, under-budgeted or better filled by an interim, you hear it before the search starts, not after it stalls.
Who has been approached, who is in, who is out and why. No surprises at shortlist.
Relationships and market knowledge built since 2010 give every search a head start. Targeted research and market mapping extend that reach, with specialist sourcing teams available when the brief needs broader coverage.
A briefing with Russell, and an honest read on the role in week one, including whether it is better filled another way. After that, each of the four routes has one milestone you can hold us to.
Target: signed offer within 12 weeks.
Alignment with CEO, board and investors → market map of 200–350 → longlist of 12–20 → shortlist of 3–5 with leadership assessments and a comparison matrix → references and signed offer. Notice period and onboarding follow, with a check-in during the first quarter.
6-month replacement guarantee.
See the full twelve-week method →First profiles within 2 working days.
Brief on day one → the first relevant, pre-vetted freelancers from the market map within two working days, availability and hourly rate confirmed → assignment structured around the Wet DBA, contract and start once you've met them.
Start date depends on the freelancer's availability.
How interim works →First shortlist within 3 weeks maximum.
Brief and success profile → targeted approach of active and passive candidates → first shortlist within 3 weeks, each candidate interviewed by Russell before you see them → offer support.
No cure, no pay.
How mid to senior search works →Written diagnostic within 2 weeks.
Two weeks inside the business → a written picture of where the time and money in your hiring go → a proposed engagement with the days per week and duration it needs → Russell as your fractional TA lead, with the numbers every month: roles filled, time-to-fill, agency spend avoided.
Fixed monthly fee for the agreed hiring volume.
How embedded works →Figures from the specialist life sciences recruitment firm Russell founded and led from 2010, before Axeleon & Partners. The six-month replacement guarantee is Axeleon's.
years recruiting in European life sciences
placements by the firm Russell founded and led, across pharma, biologics, CDMO, medtech and diagnostics
senior leaders placed by that firm: COO, operations directors, QA/RA, engineering, site leads
replacement guarantee on every Axeleon retained search
Regulated manufacturing and the functions around it. Depth in quality and GMP; range across the leadership team.
QA Directors, Qualified Persons, Responsible Persons, validation, CSV, auditing
More on this area →COO, site leads, production and supply chain directors
More on this area →CSO, heads of development, MSAT, tech transfer and process leads
More on this area →RA directors, regulatory specialists, clinical operations, pharmacovigilance
More on this area →Engineering and maintenance leads, utilities, CAPEX and facility projects
More on this area →Managing directors, commercial, marketing and business development leadership
More on this area →Live assignments, the open call for interim professionals, and the briefs we're regularly asked to fill. Retained executive mandates are confidential and never listed.
Pharma · Noord-Holland, on-site · Permanent
Posted 30 September 2026
View role →InterimPharma · South of the Netherlands, on-site · Part-time; days per week agreed at intake · Interim; length agreed at intake
Posted 30 September 2026
View role →Open networkLife sciences · Netherlands, on-site and hybrid · From a few days a month to five days a week · Typically 3 to 12 months
View and register →A thirty-minute call with Russell, no pitch deck. You'll leave with a view on whether it's a search, an interim, or neither.