Boutique executive search for venture-backed and publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies — placing C-suite leaders at inflection points where quality of hire directly impacts valuation.
Blake & Michaels is a boutique executive search and advisory firm serving the full spectrum of the biopharmaceutical sector — from emerging venture-backed biotechs and mid-sized development-stage companies to established large pharma organizations navigating leadership transitions.
We specialize in placing C-suite executives and functional heads at companies navigating critical inflection points: pre-IND, crossover rounds, Phase II readouts, pre-IPO structuring, and public company transitions. Our mandates span organizations of every scale — from first executive hires at Series A companies to C-suite upgrades at publicly traded large pharma.
Operating as a high-touch alternative to global firms, we deliver sector depth, board fluency, and disciplined execution without institutional bureaucracy. Search, to us, is not transactional — it is strategic risk management.
Founded and led by Jason Stewart, Blake & Michaels maintains active relationships across clinical KOLs and physician-scientists, venture syndicate members, and board directors in oncology, rare and orphan disease, and advanced modalities — giving us the proximity to surface candidates who are rarely visible through conventional search channels.
Whether our client is a Series A biotech structuring its first clinical team, a mid-sized company preparing for a crossover round, or a large pharma organization replacing a departing CMO, we bring the same discipline: calibrated success profiles, capital-aware strategy, and high-signal candidate evaluation.
Our core niche. We identify and secure leaders whose scientific credibility and strategic timing align with your regulatory and capital objectives.
We operate with fluency in capital formation dynamics — structuring search mandates around investor signaling, governance optics, and valuation staging.
Our advantage is proximity — not scale. Candidates engage with us because of trust, not volume outreach. We maintain active relationships, not archived contacts.
We are strongest when leadership timing directly impacts enterprise value. These are the roles where early, precise placement has the greatest downstream effect on regulatory trajectory, capital formation, and investor confidence.
The CMO is the most capital-sensitive hire in early-stage biopharma. Scientific credibility, regulatory fluency, and investor-facing communication skills must align simultaneously — making timing and candidate calibration critical to downstream valuation events.
CFO placement is never just a finance function. At pivotal funding stages, the right CFO shapes the financial narrative, builds governance infrastructure, and positions the company for investor scrutiny — making the hire inseparable from capital strategy.
Establishing pharmacovigilance leadership at the right inflection point reduces regulatory exposure, signals operational maturity to partners and regulators, and protects the integrity of clinical programs under increasing complexity.
CSO placement requires alignment between scientific vision, modality depth, and the strategic narrative presented to licensing, partnership, or M&A counterparties. We identify scientists who can lead internally and represent credibly externally.
Leadership transitions at public companies demand executives with governance experience, investor fluency, and the operational credibility to execute on an accelerated regulatory and commercial path — where visibility and accountability are at their highest.
Headquartered in San Diego — the epicenter of U.S. biopharmaceutical innovation — Blake & Michaels operates bi-coastally with national search reach across the country's major life sciences and financial hubs.
Our active market presence spans San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, New Jersey, and Boston — covering the country's primary nodes of biopharma capital formation, clinical development, and executive talent.
We do not limit mandates by geography. We operate wherever the company, the candidate, or the capital requires.
Across therapeutic areas, company stages, and geographies — our clients return and refer because of outcomes, not promises.
A referral from a trusted executive who had worked with us before. We partnered closely with the therapeutic business head to identify not just qualified physicians, but individuals positioned to grow quickly within the organization.
We engaged as a genuine search partner — conducting deep discovery, participating in every interview debrief, and presenting a preferred candidate whose profile reflected the CHRO's vision for a more collaborative, diverse leadership team.
"I have thoroughly enjoyed working with you and will certainly refer you to anyone. I look forward to our continued partnership."
Referred through our network after two prior agencies had worked the mandate for 4–5 months without success. We identified the right strategic fit quickly — bringing both urgency and precision to a hire that would define the company's post-launch safety posture.
"This was a seamless process and we really appreciate and value your support."
We embed capital-market thinking, board-level judgment, and therapeutic area depth into every search mandate — because the cost of a missed hire at a critical inflection point isn't measured in recruiter fees. It's measured in valuation, timeline, and credibility.
Begin a ConversationIf you are a biopharmaceutical company approaching an inflection point and believe leadership quality will determine your trajectory — we are ready to engage. All initial conversations are confidential.
All engagements and initial inquiries are handled with complete confidentiality. We do not disclose client mandates, candidate identities, or search activity without explicit authorization from both parties.