Consumer health and nutrition executive search
Retained search across over the counter healthcare, supplements and nutrition. Brand, operations, regulatory and commercial leadership, from vice president to C‑suite.
Overview
What we do in consumer health
Metric Bio places senior and executive leaders across consumer health, covering over the counter healthcare, vitamins and supplements, and sports and active nutrition. Searches are retained and run from vice president through C-suite.
This market hires differently from the rest of life sciences. The products are regulated, but they are also sold on a shelf against a competitor, so the leadership has to hold both at once. A brand director who has never dealt with a regulated claim will struggle, and a regulatory lead with no commercial instinct will slow the business down. The useful candidates are the ones who have lived on both sides.
Roles
The roles we place in consumer health
- Managing Director Full profit and loss leadership across a brand or a region.
- VP Marketing Brand strategy, claims and the campaigns behind them.
- Head of Regulatory Affairs Product claims, classification and compliance across markets.
- VP Operations Manufacturing, co-packing and supply chain leadership.
- Commercial Director Retail, pharmacy and e-commerce channel leadership.
- Head of Quality Product quality, supplier standards and recall readiness.
- Head of Research & Development Formulation, reformulation and new product development.
- Chief Operating Officer Operational leadership across brands and sites.
- VP Sales National, natural and specialty channel sales leadership.
+ many others
Within this sector
What consumer health covers
Over the Counter Healthcare
Registered and licensed consumer medicines leadership.
Vitamins & Supplements
Formulation, claims and channel leadership in supplements.
Sports & Active Nutrition
Performance nutrition brands and the operations behind them.
Regulatory & Quality
The leadership that keeps claims defensible and supply compliant.
Market
Hiring in consumer health right now
Consumer health has been pulled in two directions. Retailers want price and consumers want evidence, and the brands that have grown are the ones that found a way to offer both. That has changed what companies hire for, with more weight on regulatory and formulation than the category used to carry.
Supplements and active nutrition are where most of the movement is. The category has grown quickly, a lot of it direct to consumer, and the leadership that worked at twenty million does not always work at a hundred. Boards are replacing founding teams with operators, which is a difficult hire to get right and an easy one to get wrong.
Scrutiny of product claims has tightened at the same time. A head of regulatory affairs in this market is no longer a compliance function sitting behind marketing, and companies that still treat it that way tend to find out expensively. It is worth hiring that role above where you think it sits.
Common questions
Consumer health hiring questions
The questions clients ask most often before briefing a consumer health search.
How long does a consumer health leadership search take?
Do you work retained or contingent?
Do you place below vice president?
Do you work with founder led brands as well as large groups?
Sector specialists
Consumer health & food team
Let's build together
Ready to brief us on a consumer health search?
Tell us about the role and we'll give you a clear read on the market, the people worth speaking to and how quickly we can move.