March 17, 2026
Adapted from a Thelander market update with Jodie Thelander (J. Thelander Consulting) and Young of True Search, an executive recruiting firm, speaking from Boston.
Compensation and recruiting are two sides of the same market — one sets the benchmarks, the other tests them against what candidates will actually accept. This market update paired real-time private-company pay data with a recruiter’s view of what’s moving in life sciences right now.
Tech-Bio Crossover Is Blurring Job Titles
Thelander’s data has historically split roughly a third biotech, a third medical device, and a third tech, with biotech growing — and there’s increasing crossover between life sciences and tech for certain roles. That crossover creates real recruiting friction: at “tech-bio” companies, job titles can be confusing or misleading, so recruiters have to dig into what a company is actually hiring for — the job to be done, the skill sets, the capabilities — and integrating comp expectations across the two sectors is genuinely tricky.
Benchmark by Total Financing — Not Series or Public Comps
The recommended lens is total financing raised to date. Companies are staying private longer, so a Series B can now exceed $100M, making series labels unreliable; once a company reaches later stages (over ~$90M raised), the cash/equity mix stays very consistent. Two cautions: revenue can be a useful filter but is less consistent for equity, and mixing public-company comp data into private benchmarking is a bad idea that boards dislike — public companies skew higher on cash because they lack equity liquidity, so their data has the wrong comp levers entirely.
Bonuses Are “Price of Entry” at the Executive Level
At the executive level, a robust bonus structure is expected by both candidates and companies — not as an entitlement, but as standard industry practice, with target bonuses typically tied to both corporate and individual goals (a real meritocracy, not automatic payout). Earlier-stage companies see fewer bonuses, leaning instead on equity as the long-term incentive. A recurring caution: bonus programs require setting milestones and MBOs in advance, which is formal and time-consuming, so many early companies deliberately skip them and rely on equity.
The “55 and 5” Benchmark and the Founder Transition
For a well-financed early-stage biotech with strong investors, the shorthand the recruiter sees is roughly “55 and 5” — a $500K base, 50% bonus, and 5% equity — with a premium in the hyper-competitive Boston market. Non-founder CEO equity clusters around that 5% as a “price of entry.” The trickiest negotiation is the founder-to-non-founder CEO transition: keeping the founder engaged while incentivizing an incoming CEO to take on major change management, against a complex cap table and the expectation that the new CEO will raise a fresh round — which squeezes the founder further.
Geography: Sometimes It Matters, Sometimes It Doesn’t
Location’s effect is uneven. For CEOs and CMOs, Boston often sits at the highest end — but not always: for a chief medical officer, Northern California and even the Midwest can rival or exceed it. Counterintuitively, companies sometimes have to pay more for talent in the Midwest precisely because it’s seen as less desirable. Non-founder equity, meanwhile, runs remarkably tight — often around 1–1.25% at later stages, with median and 75th percentile nearly identical.
The CFO Evolution and Board Compensation
The CFO role evolves with financing: an early company may use an outsourced CFO, transition to a seasoned in-house CFO with a proven track record, and by roughly $130M raised will want a real CFO capable of taking the company through a transaction — with a premium for a life-sciences (or tech-bio) background. For outside board members and independent chairs, compensation mixes one-time and annual equity and cash; with capital markets rebounding, the CFO and independent-chair roles are key indicators. A strong chair often negotiates to come in “pre-money” with meaningful equity so they can help take the company to the next level via strategic financing or partnering, typically on the same four-year vesting as the rest of the team.
Plan Early, and Expect Competition for Talent
Dilution is unavoidable — as you raise, your slice shrinks even as the pie grows — so the philosophy is that refresh and retention come down to how well you sized the initial grants; get those right and you’re better positioned to keep key employees competitive. The refresh philosophy is something the investor syndicate should align on from the start. And a caution for founders: don’t wild-swing into high equity and no cash, because a day of reckoning comes when you start hiring and need consistency — you can’t live on equity alone. Finally, despite company shutdowns creating the perception that candidates are everywhere, the recruiter’s verdict is clear: it’s still a competitive market, and rockstars are always in demand.
This article is adapted from a Thelander market update and is intended as general educational information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. For guidance specific to your company, consult qualified compensation and recruiting advisors.