Helping a cell & gene therapy grow from 5 to 50+ 

What started as a simple candidate check-in turned into something much more. A past placement let us know they’d recently joined a clinical-stage cell and gene therapy company, and their team was expanding, fast. With just five people in place and ambitious lab developments underway, they needed to grow quickly. 

Finding GMP technicians and production scientists in such a competitive space isn’t easy, especially for emerging players with limited visibility, but with strong relationships already in place, we knew exactly how to help them build their team from the ground up. 

Key stats 

• Team expanded from 5 to 50+ 
• 8 hires placed in just 6 weeks 
• 20 pre-screened candidates submitted with video interviews 
• 90% offer rate from final-stage interview 

The situation 

This fast-rising cell and gene therapy business was gearing up for a high-impact project, but lacked the time, team capacity, and employer brand presence to draw in the right talent at scale. 

With only five people on staff, they were under pressure to find experienced GMP technicians and production scientists quickly but struggled to compete for talent in such a niche and in-demand area. 

Through a previous partnership with the company’s SVP, we arranged a site visit to learn more about the challenge and how we could help. 

The solution 

We worked closely with them from the outset, starting with a deep dive into their growth plans, culture and hiring needs. Our first focus was strengthening their employer brand to position them competitively in the market, highlighting their innovation story and what made them stand out. 

We advised on compensation packages and candidate priorities to make sure their offers aligned with market expectations, and then designed a fully tailored, scalable recruitment solution. 

Tapping into our global pool of pre-screened technical operations talent, our consultants began carefully matching candidates with the right skills, experience, and availability. Within days, we built a shortlist of 20 candidates, each completing a recorded digital interview through our platform, HireVue, to streamline early-stage selection. This gave our client full visibility and control, without demanding extra time. 

From those initial 20, 10 candidates were invited for face-to-face interviews. 

The results 

Just six weeks later, we had helped the business onboard eight new hires, with nine of the 10 final interviewees receiving job offers. 

Since then, we’ve remained a key hiring partner throughout their growth journey, supporting with reference checks, onboarding, and recruitment across multiple teams. Today, they’ve scaled from five to over 50 employees, and some of the original hires we placed are now leading recruitment for new teams of their own. 

Building the foundation for breakthrough science 

The success of this partnership shows how the right recruitment support can turn a scaling challenge into a strategic advantage. If you’re navigating growth in a competitive or niche field, we can help you build the team that gets you there, faster, smarter and stronger.  

Reach out to us today so we can support your next phase of growth.