Career advisory for pharma executives.

The position you are actually in

Above a certain level the market stops behaving like a market. Most roles worth having are never posted. A good share of the ones that are posted already have a preferred candidate before the advert goes live. And you can’t run a visible search, because visibility costs you something at Director level that it simply doesn’t cost at Senior Manager level.

So the standard advice stops applying to you. Sending more applications doesn’t help. What decides your next move is narrower: whether the right eight or ten people already think of your name when a mandate lands on their desk, and whether the account you give of your last three years holds up when it’s read by people who will be accountable for hiring you.

Most career services are built for the problem of not getting shortlisted. At this level that’s rarely the problem. The problem is that the shortlist gets assembled in conversations you aren’t part of.

Every other name in this market is paid by the company

Search for executive recruitment in DACH pharma and the same kinds of names come back. Head-Gate. NES Fircroft. InterSearch. Kontrast. A dozen boutiques besides. They’re competent and they place people well.

They’re also, without exception, retained by the employer. Their mandate is to fill the role in front of them. When your profile doesn’t match that brief you don’t hear from them, and that’s them doing their job correctly. It isn’t a criticism. It’s a description of who’s paying.

Very few people in DACH pharma work for the executive candidate. I spent thirteen years on the company side of that arrangement, screening, shortlisting and advising hiring managers. The mechanics haven’t changed since I left. What changed is who I’m working for: I take no fee from any employer, and I don’t mediate between you and one.

Quality over quantity, and consent every single time

Mass application is the fastest way to burn a strong profile. The same CV sent to fifty employers produces very few interviews, and in a market as small as DACH pharma it burns your reputation with exactly the people who will be hiring for years.

Reverse recruitment here runs the other way. I search for roles with a strong or very strong match to your profile. I don’t apply to maybe-roles. Every role I find is discussed with you first. Only once you consent to that specific role do I prepare a CV and cover letter tailored to it and submit the application in your name. You see what is sent, where, and when. Per role, every time. Fewer applications, more interviews.

The line is clean. Role identification, tailoring and submission run on my side. Interviews, negotiations and decisions stay with you, with my preparation before every round. I don’t negotiate offers with hiring organisations, and nothing about your search, salary, target companies or decisions leaves the engagement without your written consent.

The documents are the visible output. The judgement is the product: which advertised roles are genuine and which are dead headcount nobody has removed from the system, how Workday and Eightfold score your profile this year, where in the funnel your application dies, and what each target company is actually hiring for over the coming six months.

What I bring to it

Eight years at Bayer AG. Five years across two Global Top 5 CROs, ICON and Syneos Health. Across those thirteen years I reviewed more than 50,000 CVs, screened more than 10,000 candidates, conducted more than 1,000 interviews and supported more than 500 salary negotiations, working across Clinical Operations, Regulatory Affairs, Medical Affairs, Pharmacovigilance, Quality Assurance, Market Access, R&D, Data Science, Biostatistics, Product Supply, Manufacturing and Commercial.

The relevant part isn’t the volume. It’s that the decisions were made in front of me. I know how a senior brief gets written, how a shortlist gets cut, what gets said about candidates once they leave the room, and which objections kill an executive candidacy quietly. That knowledge doesn’t come from a coaching qualification. It comes from having been in the job.

Route one: NAVIGATOR, the executive coaching programme

For Directors, VPs and C-level who want strategy and positioning rather than a search run alongside them. Eight 45-minute consultancy sessions covering executive positioning, board-level communication, confidential job-search strategy and stakeholder management through a transition, including salary and equity negotiation consultancy. An Executive CV Suite with a one-page Executive Summary for search firms and board presentations, three revision rounds. LinkedIn Executive Presence with content and engagement strategy, five revision rounds. A 250-word Executive Bio for speaking engagements and board nominations. Twelve weeks of priority messaging support with a response inside 12 hours, seven days a week, covering application reviews, offer evaluation and negotiation advice.

It also includes two 30-minute executive interview simulations at board and panel level, a confidential reference-strategy consultation, compensation benchmarking, a private briefing on industry disruption, and confidential introductions to my network of hiring partners and executive-search consultants across DACH pharma.

€4,450 net. Full programme detail →

Route two: Reverse Recruitment, Tier 3

For executives who want the search itself run alongside them. Tier 3 covers Leads, Heads, Associate Directors, Directors, VPs, SVPs and Executives. The core search runs at every depth: active role identification, per-role consent, role-tailored CV and cover letter, and submission in your name. The depth decides how much support surrounds it.

TARGETED — four weeks

Positioning workshop, ATS-optimised CV in English with German on request, cover letter framework, LinkedIn rewrite, curated target company list, and a DACH pharma hidden job market briefing. The search runs from the start. Interview debrief and preparation cycles, salary negotiation support and offer evaluation are all included on request. What it doesn’t include is the target company intelligence briefing.

MANAGED — eight weeks

Everything in TARGETED, plus target company intelligence on six to ten named companies: strategic direction, growth areas, recent reorganisations, and likely hiring patterns over the coming six months. Eight weeks covers the typical DACH pharma cycle from first approach to signed offer.

DEDICATED — twelve weeks

Everything in MANAGED, plus full preparation for senior-stakeholder formats including assessment centres, case studies and panels. Continuous availability until you sign or the engagement closes, plus a 30-day post-placement check-in. Sessions run on your search rhythm, requested by either side, rather than against a fixed calendar.

Reverse recruitment engagements are quoted on request. Tier and depth are confirmed on the discovery call, which is free and carries no obligation, and you get your figure there before committing to anything. More on how reverse recruitment works →

My commitment

I don’t guarantee you will be hired. No honest adviser can, because the decision sits with the employer and with you. What I guarantee is the quality of the work and a fair share of the risk.

• TARGETED. If your CV does not parse cleanly through standard applicant tracking systems, or you are not satisfied with your core documents after one full revision round, I rework them at no further charge.
• MANAGED. If you have not signed an offer by the end of the active window, having approved applications to the agreed roles and attended the agreed sessions, I add twelve further weeks of reverse recruitment support at no charge. Offered once.
• DEDICATED. Provided you approve applications to the agreed roles and complete the agreed preparation, I guarantee at least two first-round interviews within the engagement. If that is not reached I extend by up to twelve further weeks at no charge. No engagement runs beyond twenty-four weeks in total, so the commitment is bounded for both of us.

Each guarantee depends on your own documented engagement. They apply where my work has fallen short, not where the search has not been worked.

Two things that lower the real cost

The fee is usually tax-deductible

For most employed and job-seeking professionals in Germany, the fee can be claimed as Werbungskosten or Fortbildungskosten in your income tax return, because it is spent to secure or maintain employment income. At a typical marginal rate that lowers the effective cost substantially, often by roughly a third to two fifths of the headline fee. The same logic applies in Austria. This is general information rather than tax advice, so confirm your own position with your Steuerberater.

Your employer may fund it, and you may choose the provider

If you are leaving through an Aufhebungsvertrag or a negotiated exit, you may be entitled to an employer-funded outplacement budget, and in many cases you can direct that budget to a provider of your choosing rather than the panel firm your employer names by default. That means a pharmaceutical specialist instead of a generalist. Where the former employer funds it, I invoice them directly while you remain the person I work for and report to. If you haven’t signed your exit agreement yet, I can show you how to write an outplacement budget into it first.

Worth weighing either way: the salary foregone during a slower search is usually the larger number. At this level the fee is a fraction of one month at the salary you’re targeting.

Why there are no executive testimonials here

MoreThanCareer has 30 public reviews on Google at an average of 5 out of 5. They’re real, they’re verifiable, and you can read them on the homepage. None are from executive clients.

That’s by design. Any reference to a client outcome in my marketing requires that client’s prior written consent, which at this level is rarely appropriate to seek. An executive who has just moved discreetly isn’t going to publish a review announcing it, and I’m not going to ask. If you want references, raise it on the call and I’ll tell you honestly what I can and can’t arrange.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from a headhunter or executive search firm?

A headhunter is retained and paid by the company that hires you. They earn nothing unless you take one of the mandates they hold, so their advice is shaped by their portfolio. I take no payment from employers and hold no mandates, so there is no role I need you to accept. I also don’t mediate between you and an employer: applications go out in your name, with your consent, role by role, and you own every interview and every negotiation.

Will my current employer find out?

Not through me. Nothing is sent anywhere without your explicit consent for that specific role, so you always know exactly what has gone where. There is no mass application, no database, no public signal, and nothing about your search, salary, target companies or decisions leaves the engagement without your written consent.

Do you apply for jobs on my behalf?

In reverse recruitment, yes, with a strict condition. I search for roles that are a strong or very strong match, discuss each with you individually, and only after your consent for that specific role do I prepare a tailored CV and cover letter and submit the application in your name. I never send your profile to a long list of employers, and I don’t apply to maybe-roles. In NAVIGATOR, the coaching programme, you run the applications yourself and I equip and steer you.

I already get approached by headhunters. Why would I need this?

Being approached is not the same as being positioned. Inbound approaches are a function of what your profile happens to match today, which means you hear about roles adjacent to the job you already have. A deliberate move toward the job you want next is a different exercise, and it usually requires changing how your last three years read before the right approaches start arriving.

What does it cost?

NAVIGATOR, the executive coaching programme, is €4,450 net. Reverse recruitment engagements are quoted on request, because tier and depth depend on your situation; you get the figure on the free discovery call, before you commit to anything. Individual executive consultancy sessions are €349 net per 45 minutes, and an executive CV and LinkedIn rewrite as a standalone product is €449 to €649 net. All prices are net. The fee is usually deductible as Werbungskosten and may be payable from an employer outplacement budget.

Can you introduce me to people in your network?

NAVIGATOR includes confidential introductions to my network of hiring partners and executive-search consultants across DACH pharma. What I won’t do is promise a specific introduction to a specific company before I understand your situation, and I won’t make one that isn’t warranted, because that damages my standing and does nothing for you.

What if I decide not to move?

Then you’ve reached a decision with better information, which is a legitimate result. Some of the most useful engagements end with someone staying and renegotiating instead. There’s no placement fee riding on the outcome either way.

Which languages and which markets?

German, English and Polish, by video call. Primary market is DACH: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Swiss German dialect coaching for interview preparation is available on request via partner specialists.