Cell and gene therapy is where the hardest hiring in biotech happens. This is the parent Recruits Lab practice covering executive search, platform leadership, cross-modality manufacturing, and combined CGT programs. For the modality-specific specialist searches, visit Cell Therapy Recruiters or Gene Therapy Recruiters.
Cell and gene therapy — CGT — is now a distinct hiring market with its own executive search norms, its own manufacturing talent pool, and its own regulatory learning curve. This page is the pillar for that market. It covers what happens above the modality split: leadership, platform strategy, cross-modality manufacturing, combined CMC organizations, and executive search for companies that operate across both cell and gene programs.
For hiring inside a specific modality — CAR-T, TIL, NK, allogeneic cell manufacturing, autologous process, apheresis-side clinical operations — start on the Cell Therapy Recruiters page. For hiring inside AAV, lentiviral vectors, plasmid DNA, viral vector manufacturing, CRISPR / base / prime editing, or vector process development — start on the Gene Therapy Recruiters page. Recruits Lab operates all three surfaces as one practice; the split exists because the candidate pools genuinely diverge below the leadership tier.
At the executive tier, the pools converge. CTOs, VPs of CMC, Chief Technical Officers, VPs of Manufacturing, and Heads of CBER Regulatory typically span both cell and gene therapy — either explicitly (companies with programs in both) or implicitly (leaders whose careers have crossed the boundary). We maintain a mapped list of roughly 700 U.S. CGT executives at Director and above and know which are open, which are moving, and which are unreachable.
The CGT hiring market in 2026 has three sustained tensions: capacity constraints that make manufacturing leadership disproportionately valuable, FDA CBER expectations that keep evolving faster than job descriptions can capture, and a compensation environment where equity refresh at incumbent employers has raised the switching cost for the strongest candidates. We navigate each of these openly in intake so hiring managers are not surprised when the offer stage arrives.
Companies use Recruits Lab for CGT hiring in three modes: subscription (multi-role builds spanning process, manufacturing, quality, clinical, regulatory), contingency (single senior hires at 20 percent flat with 90-day guarantee), and retained executive search (confidential CMO, CTO, and VP-level replacements). Which mode fits depends on the number of roles and how confidential the search needs to stay.
Why this market is hard to recruit for. And how we solve each one.
Real CGT executives with operating experience across cell and gene are a list you can almost name. We maintain it and know who is signalable.
CGT manufacturing leadership hires disproportionately determine program velocity. We prioritize the manufacturing search when a program is at capacity risk.
CBER expectations for cell and gene shift faster than job descriptions. We screen for currently-active submission ownership, not historical exposure.
Public CGT companies have refreshed equity aggressively. We calibrate offer construction against that so the shortlist does not stall at close.
The single most common intake failure is a role scoped as 'CGT' when it actually needs a cell-side or gene-side specialist. We split at kickoff.
A leader who ran late-stage AAV manufacturing at a public gene therapy company will not necessarily thrive at pre-IND. We assess for stage fit, not modality alone.
The repeatable system behind our 14-day average hire time.
We open every CGT search with a modality-split conversation: cell-only, gene-only, or genuinely combined. This is often the highest-leverage 30 minutes in the entire search.
For executive roles, we run against our maintained CGT leadership map. For modality-specific roles, we hand off to the specialty practice.
For Director-and-above CGT roles, outreach comes from a senior recruiter who has spoken with most of the target list before. Cold outreach at this tier under-performs.
For CGT executives, we cross-reference regulatory submission history and manufacturing scale-up track record before submission. Resume claims are unreliable in this modality.
CGT offers routinely involve equity refresh negotiations against incumbent employers. We manage that conversation directly with the candidate.
Original observations from live searches in this specialty.
The single most valuable output of a CGT pillar search is not the shortlist — it is the modality-split conversation at kickoff. Roughly 40 percent of the CGT searches we open in 2026 change scope during intake once we surface which side of the modality the actual work sits on.
Public CGT company equity refresh has meaningfully lifted the switching cost for Director-and-above talent. A 2024-era offer template routinely stalls in 2026. We reprice offer construction in intake so the search does not fail at the close stage.
The single most predictive line item on a CGT executive resume in 2026 is a specific, dated CBER submission the candidate personally owned. We verify against the FDA public docket during technical vetting, not after offer.
2026 U.S. base salary ranges for Cell & Gene Therapy leadership and platform roles at venture-backed and public CGT companies. Excludes equity, retention bonuses, and sign-on premiums (all of which are unusually high in this market).
| Role | Base Salary Range |
|---|---|
| Director, CGT Platform / Technology | $240K–$310K |
| Director, CGT Manufacturing | $250K–$325K |
| Senior Director, CGT Regulatory (CBER) | $275K–$355K |
| VP, CGT CMC | $340K–$460K |
| VP, CGT Manufacturing | $345K–$465K |
| Chief Technical Officer (CGT) | $425K–$600K |
| Chief Medical Officer (CGT) | $450K–$650K |
Quick answers to the questions founders and hiring leaders ask most.
A Cell & Gene Therapy (CGT) recruiter runs pillar-level searches — executive leadership, platform strategy, cross-modality manufacturing, and combined CMC. A cell therapy recruiter focuses on autologous / allogeneic cell process and clinical operations. A gene therapy recruiter focuses on viral vector engineering, manufacturing, and gene editing. Recruits Lab runs all three as one practice; use whichever page matches the role you are hiring for.
The best CGT recruiters are firms with a maintained executive map, active regulatory awareness, and modality-specific specialty practices underneath the pillar. Recruits Lab operates the CGT pillar plus Cell Therapy and Gene Therapy specialty practices with a 14-day average hire time and a 90-day replacement guarantee.
Subscription from $7,500 per month for unlimited multi-role builds, 20 percent flat contingency per hire with 90-day guarantee, or retained search for confidential CMO / CTO / VP replacements. Contact us to scope which model fits.
Industry average is 150 to 250 days for Director-and-above CGT roles. Recruits Lab averages 21 to 28 days at the executive tier because we work from a maintained warm map rather than starting from scratch.
Yes. We work with pre-clinical through commercial CGT programs, including confidential executive replacements at public companies.
Yes. Subscription engagements routinely span 8 to 15 hires across process, manufacturing, quality, clinical, and regulatory. This is the model that fits the reality of most CGT scale-ups.
Needed a Chief Technical Officer spanning both cell and gene programs ahead of a strategic financing. Two retained firms had returned candidates too narrow on one side or the other over eight months.
Recruits Lab worked from the maintained CGT executive map, identified 24 candidates with genuine cross-modality track records, ran senior-recruiter warm outreach, and delivered a 4-person shortlist in 18 days. Managed a competing offer from a public CGT company at close.
Offer signed in 32 days from kickoff. Hire led the technical narrative in the subsequent financing and remains in seat 14 months later.
"Recruits Lab was the only firm that opened intake by asking us to split the role between cell and gene. Everyone else took the JD verbatim and sent monoclonal antibody people."
"They ran our CMO search confidentially against a public company incumbent. Closed inside a month."
Use this pillar for executive, platform, and combined CGT hiring. Use Cell Therapy Recruiters for CAR-T, TIL, NK, autologous / allogeneic process, and apheresis-side clinical operations. Use Gene Therapy Recruiters for AAV, lentiviral, plasmid DNA, viral vector manufacturing, and gene editing (CRISPR / base / prime).
Yes. CMO, CTO, VP CMC, and VP Manufacturing replacements are routinely confidential.
Yes. Founding scientific and technical hires at pre-seed and seed CGT companies are within scope.
Yes. See the Cell Therapy Recruiters page for the specialty detail.
Yes. See the Gene Therapy Recruiters page for the specialty detail.
Subscription from $7,500 per month, 20 percent flat contingency, or retained executive search. Every engagement includes a 90-day replacement guarantee.
Yes. CGT CDMO executive and technical leadership is a routine practice area.
Book a free strategy review and we will scope the role, split the modality if needed, and quote the appropriate engagement.
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