CMC Recruitment Success: How CSG Talent Helped Abcuro Hire with Pace and Precision

Scaling Abcuro’s CMC Team for BLA Approval 

With their BLA in preparation, Jeff Geary, Director of Human Resources at Abcuro, engaged CSG Talent as one of two trusted search partners. Abcuro had three business-critical positions to hire at pace: 

• Senior Director of CMC Project Management
• Senior Manager of CMC Cell Culture Manufacturing
• Senior Manager of CMC Purification Process Development. 

Each role demanded advanced technical expertise, proven leadership skills, and the ability to deliver end-to-end CMC projects in Abcuro’s collaborative, fast-paced environment.

With the biotech market inundated with candidates actively applying for jobs, the volume of applications when advertising roles is often overwhelming for businesses. This was the case for Abcuro, where hundreds of professionals applied but few possessed the depth of experience required for such senior-level CMC positions.

This volume increased the complexity of the search, as it required a biotech recruitment partner who could go beyond simply reviewing applicants. While a specialist recruiter eliminates time spent screening and removing unsuitable candidates, Abcuro’s real need was for a partner who could identify true specialists outside the applicant pool and move the hiring process forward with precision.

To secure the calibre of talent required, Abcuro required a partner with the networks, headhunting expertise, and credibility to directly engage senior professionals who weren’t actively looking for new opportunities.

Tailored Search for Complex CMC Roles 

CSG Talent’s biotech and pharma specialists, Shari Hulitt and Harry Kanadaras, brought niche recruitment experience and a deep understanding of the challenges facing high-growth biotech companies. From the start, they took a consultative and collaborative approach to fully understand the technical requirements for each role, alongside the leadership qualities and cultural fit needed to succeed at Abcuro.

The real success of this project came not from managing applications, but from targeted headhunting and outreach to passive candidates. While the team did receive hundreds of applications, these often came from professionals with only partial CMC exposure or limited project leadership experience. Shari and Harry quickly recognised that the right hires would need to be approached directly to find with those with proven CMC expertise who were not actively seeking new roles.

By leveraging CSG Talent’s established biotech networks and conducting proactive outreach, the consultants identified and engaged senior specialists who would otherwise never have been visible to Abcuro through traditional recruitment methods, with every successful hire coming through this headhunting strategy.

This is critical in today’s life sciences market, where businesses are inundated with applicants but struggle to connect with the niche leaders they truly need. CSG Talent’s proactive search saved Abcuro’s leadership hours of wasted effort, ensuring only the strongest, most relevant candidates progressed to interview.