Recruits Lab places gene therapy talent across discovery, CMC, manufacturing, clinical, and regulatory functions for AAV, lentiviral, and gene editing programs.
Gene therapy is one of the highest-stakes therapeutic modalities in development. AAV capacity constraints, lentiviral vector specifics, gene editing accuracy concerns, and unique long-term safety considerations make every hire disproportionately important. The cost of a wrong gene therapy hire is rarely the recruiting fee — it is the IND delay, the manufacturing gap, or the regulatory observation that compounds over years.
Recruits Lab places gene therapy talent across AAV (adeno-associated viral vectors), lentiviral, gene editing (CRISPR, base, prime), and emerging delivery modalities for venture-backed biotech and specialty pharma. Our practice spans Scientist through Director and VP levels in discovery, translational, CMC, manufacturing, quality, clinical, and regulatory.
Our recruiters understand the distinctions that matter — AAV process leaders with real vector yield optimization experience versus contributors, gene editing scientists with publication-quality work versus surface familiarity, and clinical leaders with successful IND filings for a gene therapy product versus those who have only worked on traditional biologics. We screen for ownership.
Most gene therapy searches at venture-backed companies struggle because the candidate pool is concentrated at a handful of leading gene therapy companies, academic centers, and a small number of CDMOs. Generalist firms cannot map that pool effectively. We do, including for stealth-mode searches.
Subscription pricing is what makes specialized gene therapy search affordable for venture-backed teams.
Why this market is hard to recruit for. And how we solve each one.
AAV and lentiviral are different. Different serotypes within AAV are different. We map candidates to your specific vector.
CRISPR Cas9, base editing, and prime editing each demand different expertise. We screen for the right modality.
Gene therapy manufacturing is its own world. We screen for direct vector manufacturing experience.
Gene therapy long-term safety considerations are unique. We screen for direct exposure.
Gene therapy IND and BLA filings are different. We screen for direct gene therapy regulatory experience.
Senior gene therapy talent is in extreme short supply. We manage offer and resign conversations directly.
The repeatable system behind our 14-day average hire time.
We run a deep intake call with hiring managers and scientific leadership covering technical must-haves, dealbreakers, comp band, equity philosophy, and the cultural traits that predict success in your specific stage and program.
We build a fresh map of 80-150 qualified candidates from direct competitors, academic spinouts, CROs, and adjacent therapeutic areas. No database scraping — real research from a recruiter who understands the science.
Personalized outreach from a senior recruiter who can actually discuss your molecule, mechanism, or modality. Response rates run 3-5x higher than generalist agencies because the first message reads like it came from another scientist.
Five to eight vetted candidates with structured profile briefs covering technical fit, motivation, publication record where relevant, comp expectations, and risk factors. Not a resume dump — a decision document.
We manage offer construction, counter-offer scenarios, resign coaching, and start-date negotiation. Every placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee at no additional fee.
Original observations from live searches in this specialty.
Every AAV program we support in 2026 has capacity as a top-two constraint. The candidates who move the needle are the ones who have shipped a titer or yield step-change at real GMP scale — not the ones who have optimized in shake flasks. We calibrate the technical screen around that.
'CRISPR scientist' collapses three distinct pools: Cas9 delivery-and-integration specialists, base-editor chemistry-and-off-target specialists, and prime-editor pegRNA design specialists. Hiring managers who intake with 'gene editing' as the requirement routinely reject the shortlist. We split it at kickoff.
After AAV process, the next hardest fill in gene therapy is a Director of Regulatory Affairs with real gene therapy CBER submission ownership. We track the maybe 60 people in the U.S. who qualify and warm-outreach them personally rather than posting.
2026 U.S. base salary ranges for gene therapy roles at venture-backed and mid-cap life sciences companies. Excludes equity, bonus, and sign-on. Ranges reflect Series A through commercial-stage benchmarks.
| Role | Base Salary Range |
|---|---|
| Senior Scientist, Gene Therapy | $165K–$215K |
| Principal Scientist, Gene Therapy | $195K–$255K |
| Director, AAV Process Dev | $245K–$315K |
| Director, Gene Therapy Manufacturing | $245K–$325K |
| Director, Gene Therapy Regulatory | $245K–$320K |
| VP, Gene Therapy CMC | $330K–$435K |
| Chief Scientific Officer, Gene Therapy | $425K–$590K |
Source: Recruits Lab 2026 Life Sciences Compensation dataset.
Quick answers to the questions founders and hiring leaders ask most.
Gene therapy recruiters source, screen, and qualify scientists and leaders across discovery, CMC, manufacturing, clinical, and regulatory for AAV, lentiviral, and gene editing programs. Recruits Lab specializes in gene therapy and averages 14 days from kickoff to offer.
Industry average for director and VP-level gene therapy is 120 to 200 days. Recruits Lab averages 14 days.
Yes. Both are core practice areas with separate candidate maps and modality-specific recruiters.
Subscription starts at $7,500 per month with unlimited active roles. Contingency is a flat 20 percent with a 90-day guarantee.
Yes. CRISPR Cas9, base editing, and prime editing are all part of the practice.
Director of AAV Process Development with vector yield optimization experience needed ahead of pivotal supply build. Two retained firms had failed across seven months.
Mapped 19 AAV process leaders nationally including CDMO leads. Senior recruiter ran outbound, presented a four-person shortlist in 14 days.
Offer accepted in 24 days. Pivotal supply build started on the original timeline.
"Recruits Lab understood the science from day one. They sent four interview-ready candidates inside two weeks after our internal team had spent three months on the role."
"Their subscription model let us close three scientific hires in a single quarter for less than what a single retained search would have cost us."
Yes. Both are part of the practice with appropriate scientific specialization.
Yes. CRISPR, base, and prime editing scientists are a core part of the practice.
Yes. Gene therapy CDMO leadership and technical staff are part of the practice.
Yes. LNP-delivered gene therapy and editing payloads are part of the practice.
Yes. Gene therapy CMC regulatory and clinical regulatory are core practice areas.
Gene therapy hiring centers on vector engineering (AAV serotypes, lentiviral pseudotyping), viral vector manufacturing, plasmid DNA, and gene editing modality expertise. Cell therapy hiring centers on cell processing, apheresis logistics, and batch-of-one manufacturing. See our Cell Therapy Recruiters page for that specialty, or the Cell & Gene Therapy Recruiters pillar for combined leadership searches.
Every placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee. If a hire leaves or does not work out within the first 90 days, we run the search again at no additional fee.
Yes. We sign NDAs and routinely run confidential and stealth-mode searches for executive replacements, sensitive program leads, and pre-launch hires.
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