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Best healthcare and life sciences recruiters (2026): who hires for pharma, biotech, and care

Healthcare and life sciences recruiters hire into pharma, biotech, medical devices, and care organizations. The seat decides the firm: a clinical or commercial individual contributor is often contingency or contract staffing, and a CEO, chief medical officer, or head of regulatory is usually retained search.

None of the firms below publish a placement percentage. Software engineers outside life sciences are on engineering recruiting firms. General retained search is on executive search firms.

By Garrett Wolfe, founder of OneGTM (Clay Artisan Solutions Partner) and former GTM engineer at Unify. Updated .

Key takeaways

  • Klein Hersh has run executive search for pharma, biotech, and healthcare since 1998, including interim leaders.
  • WittKieffer places CEOs, functional leaders, and board members for biotech, pharma, medtech, diagnostics, and digital health.
  • Proclinical works only in life sciences, from staffing through executive search for biopharma and medical devices.
  • Barrington James and SRG recruit specialist life sciences talent across regions. Real Staffing is a life sciences staffing brand.
  • Yoh and Randstad Enterprise cover scientific and life sciences hiring inside larger workforce businesses. Fees are not published.

Specialist life sciences recruitment

These firms fill scientific, clinical, and commercial roles, including contract talent when a retained search is more process than you need.

Barrington James

Life sciences recruitment agency connecting pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies with specialist talent in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Best for: Specialist pharma, biotech, and device roles across regions

Fees: Fees not published.

SRG

Life sciences recruitment and staffing firm. It connects companies with specialist scientific and commercial talent and lists life sciences jobs for candidates.

Best for: Specialist life sciences staffing and permanent hires

Fees: Fees not published.

Real Staffing

Life sciences staffing brand recruiting scientific, clinical, and commercial professionals, typically on contract and permanent terms.

Best for: Contract and permanent life sciences specialists

Fees: Fees not published.

Yoh

Staffing and consulting firm used for scientific, clinical, and technology roles, on contract and permanent terms. It sits inside a larger workforce business, so it is a fit when you also need non-scientific contractors.

Best for: Scientific and technical contract talent

Fees: Fees not published.

Randstad Enterprise

Talent firm whose industry coverage includes life sciences, along with technology, manufacturing, and financial services. Services include RPO and MSP. The RPO product is also on RPO firms.

Best for: Life sciences hiring inside a larger workforce program

Fees: Fees not published.

Fees are from each firm's own site as of November 2026. Where a firm does not publish a percentage, the card says so. This is an opinionated list, not a paid ranking, and nobody paid to be on it.

Healthcare and life sciences recruiters compared

FirmBest forFee
Klein HershPharma, biotech, and healthcare leadershipNot published
WittKiefferVenture-backed and global life sciences leadershipNot published
ProclinicalBiopharma and device companies, from specialists to the C-suiteNot published
Barrington JamesSpecialist pharma, biotech, and device roles across regionsNot published
SRGSpecialist life sciences staffing and permanent hiresNot published
Real StaffingContract and permanent life sciences specialistsNot published
YohScientific and technical contract talentNot published
Randstad EnterpriseLife sciences hiring inside a larger workforce programNot published

Fees as published on each firm's own site in November 2026. "Not published" means the firm does not list a percentage or a dollar amount.

How to choose a life sciences recruiter

Ask whether the recruiter has filled the same function: clinical development, regulatory, medical affairs, quality, or commercial. A commercial recruiter sending clinical candidates wastes the first month.

  • Ask for placements in your modality, device class, or care setting.
  • Confirm whether the search is retained, contingency, or contract staffing.
  • For a confidential leadership hire, ask who else they are searching for in your investors' portfolio.
  • Get the guarantee and the fee basis in writing.
  • If you need many clinical contractors, a staffing firm will move faster than an executive search.

A clinical hire and a sales system are different work

OneGTM does not recruit clinicians or scientists. We build outbound, signal, and CRM systems for B2B teams, including companies that sell into healthcare and life sciences.

If the new hire is a seller, the lists and sequences they need are on the outbound agency page.

  • A new account executive has no scored account list.
  • You cannot see which source produced the meeting.

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Healthcare and life sciences recruiting FAQ

What are the best healthcare and life sciences recruiting firms?
For leadership, Klein Hersh and WittKieffer run executive search in pharma, biotech, healthcare, and medtech. Proclinical works only in life sciences, from specialist staffing through executive search. Barrington James and SRG recruit specialist life sciences talent. Real Staffing and Yoh cover contract and permanent scientific roles. Randstad Enterprise includes life sciences inside a broader talent business. Fees are not published.
How much do life sciences recruiters charge?
The firms on this list do not publish a percentage. Contingency and contract staffing are priced when you hire or as a markup on a contractor rate. Executive search is usually retained. Ask for the fee basis and the guarantee before the search starts.
When should a biotech use retained search?
Use retained search for a CEO, chief medical officer, head of clinical development, or other leadership seat where the candidate pool is small and the process should be confidential. Klein Hersh, WittKieffer, and Proclinical's executive team are built for that. A single specialist contractor is usually staffing, not retained search.
What is the difference between a life sciences recruiter and a CRO?
A recruiter finds people for you to employ or contract. A contract research organization runs clinical work. This list is recruiters and staffing firms, not CROs.
Does OneGTM recruit healthcare talent?
No. OneGTM builds outbound and CRM systems. The firms on this page do the recruiting.

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