A European search partner, built in the Netherlands.
Axeleon & Partners exists for one kind of client: a life sciences company whose science or operations are being held back by a leadership gap.
European life sciences search partner
axeleon.eu · +31 6 3009 1638
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Partner experience.
Examples of companies worked with over the past fifteen years.
- Batavia Biomanufacturing
- Johnson & Johnson
- Teva
- Sanquin
- Prothya Biosolutions
- Bilthoven Biologicals
- HAL Allergy
- HALIX
- Dechra
- Tiofarma
- Produlab Pharma
- Focus Care
- Ace Pharmaceuticals
- Alfasan
- Aspen
- Kite Pharma
- Sharp Packaging
- Wacker Biotech
- Essange Reagents
- Salvia BioElectronics
- OrbusNeich Medical
In clients’ own words.
Exclusive recruitment partner through a period of growth and the build of a manufacturing plant, launched in early 2025.
- 150+ hires across all departments
- Average time-to-fill under 36 days
“Over the past three years, [Russell’s team] has been our exclusive recruitment partner, successfully filling over 150 positions with top-tier talent at competitive rates. Their flexibility and drive have been instrumental in their success, always taking the time to understand our unique needs. Whether we needed specialized roles filled quickly or sought long-term strategic hires, [they] consistently delivered high-quality candidates who seamlessly fit our organizational culture. We highly recommend them as a dedicated and professional recruitment partner.”
15+ year relationship.
“Russell has helped us finding the right (education, skills, experience) freelance consultant[s] for long-lasting assignment[s]. The service he provide[s] is done in a very timely manner. I’m very glad Russell and I, are doing business and can fully recommend him for his services.”
Managing Partner
Russell has been recruiting since 2006 and specialising in European life sciences since 2010, most of that in the Netherlands. In 2010 he founded a specialist life sciences recruitment firm and led it until he started Axeleon; under his leadership the firm made more than a thousand placements across pharma, biologics, CDMO, medtech and diagnostics, from senior specialists to interim directors and executives. For two years he worked inside a fast-growing biologics manufacturer as its embedded talent lead, delivering more than 150 hires at an average time-to-fill under 36 days.
He founded Axeleon & Partners in Amsterdam to do the part of the work he thinks matters most: senior appointments and interim specialists, led personally, for companies where the quality of one hire changes the trajectory of the business.
His specialism is regulated manufacturing: quality and GMP, validation, regulatory, operations and the leaders who run them. He speaks the language of QPs, quality leaders and site heads.
Personal leadership, flexible capacity
Axeleon gives you a direct relationship with its founder and access to experienced sourcing teams. Russell leads each assignment and brings in research and sourcing support when its scale, specialist requirements or geographic reach call for it. That support extends market coverage while Russell remains responsible for the search strategy, candidate assessment and delivery.
Diagnostic before transactional.
A clear brief does more for a search than anything that happens later. So the first conversation is about the situation behind the vacancy: what has to be true in twelve months that isn't true today, who has to agree on it, and what the role needs now that it may not have needed before. The success profile comes out of that, and everyone who will interview agrees it before the search starts.
Then the search is run as a search: a mapped market, direct approaches, structured assessment, a comparison matrix and a weekly written update. If the role looks under-scoped, priced below the market or better suited to an interim, you hear that in week one.
Retained mandates are confidential: the client is never named in public, and most candidates are approached directly. Selected permanent and interim roles are listed on Open roles; many interim assignments are filled from the network before they are advertised.
What that looks like in practice.
Recent engagements, anonymised. Open any one for the full story, or browse all cases →
Executive search
- QA Director after an inspectionInterim quality lead placed for the remediation; permanent search once the site had stabilised. Read the full story →
- COO search paused at intakeCEO and investor described two different roles; search restarted once they agreed on one. Read the full story →
- One role that was twoHead of Quality and Regulatory split into a Head of Quality now and a regulatory appointment later. Read the full story →
- Site Director, generic pharmaProfile reworked with senior management; filled within twelve weeks. Read the full story →
- VP Operations, biotechRole rebuilt around first-year outcomes; appointed against the rebuilt profile. Read the full story →
- Chief Commercial OfficerSales Director brief repositioned at CCO level; filled. Read the full story →
Mid to senior search
- QA Director, biologics CDMOBrief and budget recalibrated in week one; candidate presented in person; filled in twelve weeks. Read the full story →
- The Validation Lead who stayedA counter-offer instead of a replacement search. Read the full story →
- The Validation Lead already on the payrollInternal promotion, with Russell recruiting the QC Manager behind her. Read the full story →
- CSV Specialist, pharmaTight market; hire came from the network, sold on knowledge of the client. Read the full story →
- QA Validation Specialist, pharmaEvery suitable specialist in range approached; the hire had not been actively looking. Read the full story →
- Senior Marketing Director, CDMORequirement narrowed to direct CDMO experience; candidate from a competing CDMO identified; strong alignment on both sides. Read the full story →
- Head of Process DevelopmentIndispensable experience agreed up front; teams mapped across biotech, pharma and CDMOs; filled. Read the full story →
- Head of MSATProfile defined by what the candidate had done, not by titles; filled. Read the full story →
- Utilities Lead, black utilitiesRole separated from a general facilities position; specialist found through the engineering network; filled. Read the full story →
- Maintenance Director, pharmaLeaders who were not looking reached through trusted introductions; filled. Read the full story →
Interim specialists
- Validation remediation after an IGJ inspectionRequest out within an hour; interviews in week one. Read the full story →
- Fractional QP, mid-size pharmaFull-time search declined; a few days a month, structured around the Wet DBA. Read the full story →
- Three quality specialists, Leiden biopharmaDelivered in three weeks, partly from outside Europe; all started within a month. Read the full story →
- Interim COO, diagnostics manufacturerDelivered within one month. Read the full story →
- Interim RA Specialist, diagnosticsPermanent RA lead left mid-IVDR programme; freelance RA specialist placed to carry it, structured around the Wet DBA. Read the full story →
- Interim Tech Transfer LeadScope agreed first; candidates screened on hands-on transfer experience; interim lead placed. Read the full story →
Where we place
Regulated manufacturing and the functions around it.
Quality & GMP
QA Directors, Qualified Persons, Responsible Persons, validation, CSV, auditing
Operations & Manufacturing
COO, site leads, production and supply chain directors
R&D & Technical
CSO, heads of development, tech transfer and process leads
Regulatory & Clinical
RA directors, clinical operations, pharmacovigilance
Engineering
Engineering and maintenance leads, CAPEX and facility projects
Commercial & General Management
Managing directors, commercial and business development leadership
Tell us about the role, or the gap it's leaving.
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.