June 2026
What Clinical Development Hiring Managers Are Looking For Now
Insights from Luke Newton, Managing Director at EPM Scientific
Over the last five years, clinical development has experienced one of the most dynamic hiring periods in recent memory.
A surge in biotech investment and company growth created unprecedented demand for talent. Candidates progressed quickly, organizations expanded rapidly and hiring managers often prioritized speed to secure the people they needed.
Today, the market looks different.
Hiring activity is increasing again, but employers are taking a more measured approach to assessing talent. Rather than focusing solely on titles or years of experience, hiring managers are increasingly looking for evidence of depth of experience, tenure, ownership, and the ability to deliver across the full clinical trial lifecycle.
Luke Newton, Managing Director at EPM Scientific, believes this shift is becoming increasingly evident across clinical development hiring.
Why employers are looking beyond titles
Career progression remains important, but many organizations are now looking more closely at the experience behind a candidate's title.
The reason is simple: not all experience is equal.
Two candidates may hold the same seniority level, but their exposure to study delivery, stakeholder management and clinical trial execution can vary significantly.
In clinical development, that depth often comes from seeing programs through key milestones and understanding the challenges that emerge at different stages of a trial.
According to Luke, employers are increasingly focused on understanding whether candidates have developed sufficient depth of experience within their role:
They haven't started a study and closed out a study.
For hiring managers, this isn't about tenure for tenure's sake. It's about understanding whether a candidate has had the opportunity to build the experience required to succeed in increasingly complex roles.
The evolution of clinical development careers
The hiring boom created opportunities for many professionals to progress their careers at an accelerated pace.
That growth helped organizations fill critical talent gaps and gave candidates access to opportunities that may previously have taken longer to achieve.
However, it also created more varied career paths.
As a result, employers are increasingly focused on understanding the context behind a candidate's journey rather than making decisions based solely on job titles or the number of roles listed on a resume.
Luke explains:
On one hand you've got candidates who were impacted by layoffs over the past five years. And then you've got candidates whose careers accelerated very quickly because the market was moving so fast and they “title hopped”.
While those career journeys may look similar on paper, they often represent very different experiences.
The challenge for employers is understanding what skills, knowledge and exposure a candidate gained at each stage of their career.
What meaningful experience looks like today
As organizations become more selective, there are several areas employers are consistently prioritizing.
These include:
- Full clinical trial lifecycle exposure
- Study ownership and accountability
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Therapeutic area expertise
- Leadership and stakeholder management experience
- Evidence of progression and increasing responsibility
Increasingly, employers want to understand not just where candidates have worked, but what they have achieved.
The strongest candidates are often those who can clearly demonstrate how they contributed to study delivery, solved challenges and generated impact throughout their career.
Why context matters more than ever
Clinical development has not been immune to broader industry changes.
Over the last several years, many organizations have restructured, reprioritized pipelines or adjusted hiring plans in response to changing market conditions.
That means career histories often require more context than they once did.
According to Luke:
When you're working with a specialist recruitment company like EPM Scientific, we know the history behind many of the organisations and candidates in the market. We know which companies have gone through layoffs, which have received investment, which have restructured, and what was happening at the time a candidate made a move and likely that candidate’s true performance or reputation.
That level of market insight can provide valuable context during the hiring process. A candidate's career history rarely tells the full story on its own. Understanding the environment they were operating in, the opportunities available to them, and the circumstances surrounding a move can help employers make more informed decisions and avoid overlooking strong talent.
Combined with a robust assessment process, that market knowledge allows hiring managers to focus on what matters most: technical capability, therapeutic expertise, study experience and long-term potential.
The market is becoming more candidate-driven again
While employers remain selective, there are clear signs that the market is shifting.
High-performing clinical development professionals are beginning to see more opportunities emerge as organizations restart hiring and investment returns to the sector.
In many cases, those candidates are exploring multiple opportunities simultaneously, as Luke says:
We're talking to candidates who have multiple applications... and those candidates have multiple offers.
For employers, that means balancing thorough assessment with an efficient hiring process.
The organizations that can accurately identify talent, move decisively and communicate a compelling opportunity will be best positioned to secure the strongest candidates.
Looking beyond the resume
Clinical development careers are becoming increasingly diverse.
Rapid industry growth, changing market conditions and evolving organizational needs have created a generation of professionals with highly varied experiences and career paths.
For employers, the challenge is no longer simply finding talent.
It's understanding the experience behind the title.
Speak to EPM Scientific
As hiring activity continues to increase, organizations that focus on depth of experience, proven impact and clinical trial ownership will be better equipped to identify the professionals capable of driving successful programs forward.
In a market where career paths are becoming increasingly complex, understanding the experience behind the resume matters more than ever.
Speak to EPM Scientific to learn how our specialist market insight can help you make more informed hiring decisions.
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