The Scientist’s Advocate™.
A New York firm representing a small number of senior scientists for a select set of biotech firms, pharmaceutical companies, and academic medical centers. Bespoke representation and permanent placement. Personal, from first call to signed offer.
We represent the scientist.
Most firms in this category work for the sponsor. They are paid by the buyer to fill the laboratory fast. We invert that. Northgate™ works for the scientist, who is the rarer asset and the one whose career carries the longest tail.
The work is bespoke representation and permanent placement. Not interim. A partner leads the conversation from the first private call to the signed offer, and your name does not leave this office without your written sign-off.
We represent scientists across the arc of their careers, from senior principal investigators to chief scientific officers, heads of R&D, and laboratory directors.
The first conversation is private. There is no obligation on either side.
Where we work.
Where the science is led. From discovery-stage biotech to the institutes that anchor whole fields, these are the rooms where a scientific leader sets the direction of a decade of work.
- i Biotechnology Firms
- ii Pharmaceutical Companies
- iii Academic Medical Centers
- iv Research Institutes
- v Venture-Backed Therapeutics
- vi Translational Research Organizations
- vii Computational Biology Companies
What we practice.
Everything the firm takes on arrives as one of these engagements. Each is personal, runs in confidence, and moves on the search’s own clock.
- Permanent Search
- Confidential, personally led searches for chief scientific officers, heads of R&D, principal investigators, and translational medicine leaders. Each engagement runs its own clock; none are accelerated to fit a sponsor’s board meeting.
- Leadership Assessment
- Structured evaluation of finalists for senior scientific roles. Used during active searches to surface fit beyond the publication record, and engaged stand-alone by sponsors and academic institutions evaluating internal succession.
- Succession Planning
- Multi-year advisory engagements for biotech firms, academic medical centers, and research institutes facing scientific leadership transition. Pipeline development before a CSO or institute director seat opens.
- Board & Trustee Advisory
- Composition guidance for biotech boards, scientific advisory boards, and institute boards of trustees seeking scientific authority at the director level.
The fields we work in.
The disciplines where we spend most of our hours. If your work sits adjacent to this list, write anyway. The door is the same.
- Chief Scientific Officers
- Biotech, Pharmaceutical
- Heads of R&D
- Therapeutic areas
- Principal Investigators
- Academic medicine
- Translational Medicine
- Bench to bedside
- Computational Biology
- AI, Drug discovery
- Cell & Gene Therapy
- CGT platforms, CMC leadership
- Neuroscience
- CNS therapeutics
- Oncology Research
- Solid tumor, Hematology
- Immunology
- Autoimmune, Inflammation
- Scientific Leadership
- Department Chairs, Institute Directors
When you are ready to make a move,
you need the right people in your corner.