Success Story
Building MSL Teams Across Two Product Launches for a Global Biotech
Story background
A global biotech company selected Mix to build a 28-person MSL team for the impending approval of a new pain medication. When a second launch approached – this time for a new product in a different therapeutic class – the client returned to Mix to build a 22-person MSL team on the same four-month timeline, bringing the partnership to 50 MSLs hired across two builds, along with 38 additional roles across the organization’s medical and clinical functions.
The client needed support with:
Organizing and leading search efforts within aggressive timelines
Building search approaches around evolving leadership structures
The VP of Medical Affairs served as interim hiring manager for the first build; the second ran with one regional Director and a member of the client's HR team, with two additional managers not slated to join until early the following year.
Providing logistical support for in-person hiring events
Our approach
To meet the client’s goals, the Mix team:
Assembled dedicated project teams for each build
including a project manager and recruiters experienced in building MSL teams.
Managed the client's ATS end to end
covering applicants and referrals, interview scheduling, candidate presentations, and post-interview debriefs, along with full logistics for each hiring event.
Held weekly meetings with the internal talent acquisition team
and hiring managers to communicate progress, review candidate and interview feedback, and address challenges as they surfaced.
Kept every strong finalist in play
executing a three-event hiring strategy for the first build and facilitating additional in-person interviews for second-build finalists unable to attend the initial event.
The results
Mix has filled a total of 88 roles across the client’s medical and clinical functions.
100% of candidates
were hired within the target start date
12 roles from the second MSL team build
were filled within ~2 months, meeting the client's goal of filling half the team early in the search.
38 additional roles filled across the partnership, including:
- • 9 permanent placements in Clinical Development, including two Patient Safety Medical Directors and seven Patient Safety Associate Medical Directors.
- • 24 roles filled through an ongoing RPO engagement in Clinical Development, spanning clinical science, clinical trial management, site activation, patient recruitment, patient safety, medical writing, quality management, and clinical monitoring – from specialist through director-level roles.
- • 5 permanent placements in Regulatory Strategy, from Senior Manager through Senior Director.