SEARCH WITH INTENT

executive recruitment for the biotech industry

Speer Search is an independent, woman-owned executive search firm specializing in permanent placement for the biotech industry. 

We partner with VC-backed and emerging biotech companies to identify, engage, and hire the leaders and teams who will help shape your science, your culture, and your future. 

Our work blends deep expertise in clinical development with trusted, authentic relationships across the life sciences community.

  • Biotech requires a different kind of recruiting: flexible, strategic, discreet and deeply relationship-driven. Whether emerging or scaling, we act as an extension of your team, aligning quickly to your mission and hiring priorities so you can stay focused on building. 

  • We understand the science and the ecosystem, from discovery through clinical development. But more importantly, we understand people. The leaders we place and the teams we help build aren’t just qualified, they’re aligned.

    Our recruitment expertise spans:

    • R&D

    • Clinical Development and Operations

    • Regulatory Affairs

    • Quality/GxP

    • Biostatistics and Data Science

    • Clinical Safety/Pharmacovigilance

    • Business Operations

  • Every search is purposeful, hands-on, and rooted in trust. No volume model. No transactional mindset. Just thoughtful, high-integrity recruitment built around meaningful connection. 

A woman with long brown wavy hair, blue eyes, and light makeup smiling for a portrait against a plain white background, dressed in a white top and black blazer.

I’ve spent my career recruiting senior leaders across biotech and pharma, partnering closely with founders, investors, and executive teams as they navigate hiring during pivotal moments of growth.

After more than a decade helping build teams across the clinical development landscape, I founded Speer Search to do what I love most: thoughtful, relationship-driven executive search.

I have deep experience partnering with stealth-mode and pre-IPO biotechs, as well as venture capital firms across their life sciences portfolios.

Clients choose to work with me when they want a true partner, someone who cares about the nuances, respects the science, and builds lasting relationships across the industry.

This isn’t just search. It’s connection with purpose.

Valerie Speer
Founder & Head of Executive Search

Services

Delivering exceptional life sciences talent with an intentional, high-touch approach.

Contingent Permanent Placement

Our contingent search service delivers the same high-touch, white-glove experience as a retained search, but within a flexible, performance-based model. This approach gives companies the agility and cost efficiency they need, without compromising on expertise, service, or support.

Contact us for details on fee structure and customized search solutions.

Advisory & Project Support

Not every hiring challenge requires a full search. We partner with life sciences companies on consulting and project-based work, helping clarify structure, scope leadership roles, refine interview processes, and understand the real-time talent market so hiring decisions are intentional and aligned.

Connect to learn more.

Let’s get in touch

Interested in how we can support your search? Connect with us through the contact form or on LinkedIn.

We respect your privacy, your information will not be shared.