Pharmaceutical manufacturing is in the middle of a major reinvestment cycle. Billions are flowing into domestic capacity expansion—Novartis alone announced a $23 billion U.S. investment that will build six manufacturing plants. Reshoring mandates are accelerating. New modalities—cell and gene therapy, biologics, continuous manufacturing—are requiring facilities and capabilities that didn’t exist at scale five years ago.
All of that investment depends on one thing: the right operational leadership in place to execute. And that’s precisely where pharma companies are consistently falling short.
Executive hiring in pharma is taking longer, shortlists are thinner, and the gap between what companies are searching for and what predicts success is widening. The mistakes driving that gap are recognizable—and correctable.
Mistake #1: Hiring for GMP Credentials Instead of Operational Leadership
GMP compliance is the floor, not the ceiling. Every serious candidate for a senior pharma operations role will have GMP experience. Screening for it as a primary differentiator is the equivalent of evaluating a CFO candidate based on whether they can read a balance sheet.
What pharma companies truly need in operations leaders—and consistently underweight in searches—is the ability to run complex organizations. That means:
- Managing multi-site operations with competing priorities and resource constraints
- Building and developing manufacturing teams at scale
- Driving continuous improvement where compliance and speed are both non-negotiable
- Leading through the ambiguity of startups, technology transfers, and modality transitions
The candidate with an impeccable GMP track record who has never managed more than a single-site operation is not equipped to lead a major capacity expansion. Compliance fluency and operational leadership are not the same thing. Search processes that conflate the two will consistently produce the wrong shortlist.
Mistake #2: Defining the Role Around the Past Instead of the Future
Pharma operations have changed more in the last five years than in the previous twenty. Continuous manufacturing, advanced biologics, digitalization of quality systems, AI-assisted batch record management, and new therapy modalities are reshaping what operations leaders need to know and do.
The job description that was written for the last hire—or modeled on what a competitor posted three years ago—is almost certainly not the right specification for what the company needs today. A few questions worth asking before a search brief is finalized:
- Is the role about maintaining stable operations, or leading through transformation?
- What new modalities or manufacturing technologies will this leader be accountable for?
- Does the company need someone who can built from scratch or optimize what exists?
- Will the leader own FDA inspections, BLA submissions, 483 response management, etc?
The answers to those questions should drive the candidate profile. In too many pharma searches, they don’t.
Mistake #3: Treating Digital Fluency as Optional
Life sciences roles increasingly require skills that go beyond traditional operations management. Data analysis, automation, AI-assisted manufacturing, and digital quality systems are now operational requirements. Over one-third of pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. have increased hiring for digitally-enabled roles since 2024, driven by the digitalization of quality systems and stricter FDA inspection frameworks.
An operations VP who views digital transformation as someone else’s problem is already behind. The pharma manufacturing executive who can lead both operational discipline and digital modernization simultaneously is rare—and in high demand.
Failing to screen for digital fluency in operations searches isn’t just a skills gap. It’s a strategic risk.
Mistake #4: Underestimating the Complexity of the Talent Market
An estimated 60,000 biopharma jobs remain unfilled in the U.S.—reflecting an industry-wide talent gap at a moment when demand is accelerating. Unemployment for biotech and life sciences professionals was 3.1% as of mid-2025. Senior searches for specialist operations roles regularly run six to nine months.
The companies that navigate this well understand a few things the ones that struggle often don’t:
- The best candidates aren’t looking. The VP of Manufacturing who has the track record pharma companies want is almost certainly employed, performing well, and not actively searching. Reaching them requires proactive sourcing—not a job posting.
- Candidate caution is real. After three years of high-profile layoffs across Novo Nordisk, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, and others, senior candidates are exercising significantly more due diligence before making moves. Vague mandates, unclear reporting structures, and ambiguous authority over resources are deal-breakers for the candidates with the most options.
- Speed and quality are in tension. The instinct to fill an operations role quickly—especially when a facility startup or capacity expansion is already underway—is understandable. But moving too fast consistently produces the wrong hire. Define the mandate first. The cost of a wrong executive hire is far higher than the cost of a search that runs an additional 30 days.
Mistake #5: Confusing Industry Pedigree with Transferable Capability
Pharma has a tendency to hire from within the industry—sometimes exclusively. The assumption is that GMP complexity, regulatory exposure, and the specific demands of pharmaceutical manufacturing are too unique to be bridged from adjacent sectors. That assumption is increasingly worth questioning.
Executives from medical devices, food and beverage, and advanced manufacturing have demonstrated the ability to translate operational discipline, quality management, and digital transformation experience into pharma environments—particularly in roles focused on manufacturing operations, supply chain, and facility leadership.
The candidate from a non-pharma background who brings genuine greenfield build experience, strong change management depth, and a track record of managing regulated environments may outperform the pharma-only candidate who has spent a career optimizing a single modality in a stable operating environment.
What a Better Search Looks Like
Getting pharma operations searches right starts before the job description is written. A few principles that consistently improve outcomes:
- Separate compliance baseline from leadership differentiators. Define GMP and regulatory requirements as table stakes, then build the candidate profile around what actually differentiates success in the specific role.
- Pressure-test the mandate. Can you articulate what this leader must accomplish in the first 18 months? What authority will they have? What resources? Candidates with options will ask these questions—and leave if the answers are vague.
- Build in realistic timelines. Senior pharma operations talent moves slowly and carefully. A search that expects to close in six weeks is a search that will compromise.
- Broaden the sourcing aperture. The right candidate may be in an adjacent industry. Define the transferable capabilities first, then let that guide where to look.
The Execution Gap Is a Leadership Gap
The billions being invested in U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing will only produce returns if the operational leadership is in place to execute. The companies that get those hires right—by defining the right profile, running a serious search, and giving leaders the mandate they need to succeed—will be the ones whose capacity investments deliver.
The ones that get it wrong will spend the next several years wondering why their facilities aren’t performing the way the business case said they would.
Looking for a pharma executive capable of capitalizing on transitionary opportunities of this industry? Contact us today to start a meaningful search that produces exceptional results.
