Retained vs Contingency Search: Which One Fits Your Pharma or Biotech Hire?

For most pharma and biotech roles below the executive level, contingency is the sensible default. Retained search earns its fee when the pool is tiny or the search has to stay quiet, and especially when a bad hire in that seat would take years to undo.

Here is how the two models compare on the points that change your experience as the client. The fee figures are published market conventions, not Geeqers' prices.

Sources: SHRM's guide for employers using search firms (2016, so read it as a baseline), which puts retained fees near 33% of salary plus bonus and signing bonus, and contingency between a fifth and a quarter of first-year cash pay; Korn Ferry's quarterly filing of December 9, 2025, which states that its search fees generally equal a third of the hire's estimated first-year cash pay, with an extra percentage added for indirect costs.

Notice that the percentages are not wildly apart. The bigger gap is in what happens if the search fails. Under contingency, a stalled search costs you time. Under retained, it costs you time and the installments you have already paid. If you want the fee arithmetic in detail, our breakdown of what pharma recruiters charge works through it with examples.

The payment terms shape how the recruiter spends their week, and you will feel that.

A contingency agency is paid for speed. It earns nothing until a hire starts, so it puts its hours where a placement looks likely. That is fine for a role like a QC analyst or a CRA in a region with plenty of monitors, where a good recruiter already knows a dozen people who could do the job. It gets harder when the role is unusual. A contingency recruiter juggling several open searches will drift toward the ones that close fastest, and a hard brief can quietly slide down their list.

Using several contingency agencies at once can feel like extra coverage. In practice it often means the same few active candidates reach you through two or three agencies, and then someone has to settle who introduced whom. If you go this route, agree up front what counts as an introduction (a written submission, not a phone call) and keep a log of who sent which résumé on which date.

A retained firm is paid to run a process. Because part of the fee arrives before any candidate does, the firm can spend time on work that does not produce a résumé that week: mapping which companies employ the people you want, approaching people who are happy where they are, and checking references early. You are its only client for that role, so the message the market hears about your company stays consistent.

There is one catch that matters in pharma more than most sectors. SHRM points out that search firms are usually barred, by their own contracts, from poaching staff at current and former clients for a set period. A large retained firm that already works for several of your competitors may be barred from approaching the very people you want. Before you sign, ask which companies are off limits for your search.

Seniority is a rough guide, but the better question is how many people could genuinely do the job and how many of them are already looking.

Contingency usually works for:

• Roles with a clear profile and a reasonable pool, such as a QA specialist, a validation engineer for a common platform, a clinical research associate or a supply planner.
• Several hires of the same kind, for example a batch of lab technicians for a site expansion.
• Searches where you also want to post the job and look at your own applicants alongside the agency's.

Retained is worth considering for:

• A head of quality, regulatory affairs lead or site head, where one person shapes how inspections go.
• A confidential replacement, when the person in the seat does not know yet.
• A first-of-its-kind hire, such as the first commercial leader at a clinical-stage biotech, where nobody internally has a fixed picture of the right person.
• Very scarce specialists, where the qualified population in the US may be counted in dozens rather than hundreds.

Some searches sit in between: a director of computer system validation, a Veeva Vault QMS lead or a GMP-experienced OT security engineer. They are senior and narrow, but the profile is clear. These are the searches where a middle option is worth asking about.

Many firms now offer a hybrid, usually called container or engaged search. You pay a smaller fee up front to secure the recruiter's dedicated time, and the rest only when the hire is made. The up-front amount is often credited against the final fee, but not always, so check the wording.

The appeal is obvious: you get more commitment than contingency without paying most of the fee before you have seen a shortlist. The risk is that the up-front portion is usually non-refundable, so if the role is cancelled or filled internally, that money is gone. Container pricing varies a lot from firm to firm and is often quoted per search rather than published, so compare written proposals, not headline percentages.

Answer these honestly before you call anyone.

1. How many people could do this job well? If you can think of hundreds across the US, contingency will probably find one. If it's dozens, you need someone mapping the market.
2. Are the right people looking? Experienced quality and regulatory leaders at a site with a clean inspection history rarely are. That points to an approach-led search.
3. Does the search have to stay quiet? If the incumbent, your team or a competitor cannot know, you want one firm and a controlled process, not several agencies circulating the brief.
4. What does a wrong hire cost you? A weak hire in a role that signs off batch release or owns your validation strategy can cost far more than any fee. The higher that cost, the more a thorough process is worth.
5. How fast is your side? No model rescues a search where each interview round takes three weeks to schedule. Fix your interview loop first, whichever model you choose.

Mostly "plenty of candidates, open search, moderate stakes" means contingency. Mostly "few candidates, confidential, high stakes" means retained or container.

Whatever you choose, a few terms decide how the agreement works in practice:

• What triggers each payment. For contingency, it should be the hire's start date, not an accepted offer. For retained, ask what triggers the second and third installments and what happens if the search runs long.
• The fee basis. Base salary only, or salary plus bonus and signing bonus? SHRM's figures for both models use cash compensation including bonus, and Korn Ferry adds an expense percentage on top.
• The guarantee. In a 2019 Top Echelon survey of agency recruiters, the most common standard guarantee was 90 days, chosen by 44.9% of respondents, and most recruiters replaced the hire rather than refunding money. Check when the clock starts and what voids it.
• Off-limits companies and the ownership window. Which employers the firm cannot recruit from, and for how long it can bill you for a candidate it put forward.

Geeqers recruits for US pharma, biotech and medical-device employers, and our model is pay-on-start: you owe nothing until your hire begins work, and nothing at all if no one does. We set the fee with you, in writing, before the search starts. It depends on the role, which is why we don't publish one percentage.

What we add to that model is the part contingency is often criticized for lacking:

• A screened shortlist in 7 business days once we have your full brief, so a hard role doesn't drift.
• Confidential searches on request, for when your team or competitors shouldn't know you're hiring.
• A 90-day replacement guarantee, counted from your hire's start date, with the conditions written into the agreement.

Our employer page explains how a search runs. For specialist examples, see our guides on hiring a machine learning engineer in pharma and cybersecurity talent for pharma and biotech.

What is the main difference between retained and contingency search?

Timing and risk. A contingency recruiter is paid only when a candidate they introduced is hired, so the agency carries the risk of a failed search. A retained firm is paid in stages during the search, whether or not a hire is made, and usually works the role exclusively.

Is retained search more expensive than contingency?

Usually, but by less than people expect. SHRM puts contingency at roughly a fifth to a quarter of first-year cash pay and retained at about a third. The bigger difference is that retained installments are owed even if the search fails, so the real cost depends on whether the search succeeds.

Can I use more than one contingency recruiter for the same role?

Yes, most contingency agreements allow it. Agree in writing what counts as an introduction and log every submission by date, because two agencies may send you the same candidate.

When should a biotech company use retained executive search?

When the hire is senior and hard to undo, the search must stay confidential, or the qualified pool is so small that someone has to approach people who are not looking. A head of quality, a confidential leadership replacement or a first commercial leader are typical examples.

What is container search?

A hybrid model. You pay a smaller up-front fee to secure the recruiter's dedicated time, then the balance when the hire is made. Check whether the up-front fee is credited against the total and what happens to it if the role is cancelled.

Start with the role, not the fee. If plenty of people could do the job and the search can be open, contingency is the efficient choice. If the pool is thin, the search is confidential or a wrong hire would hurt for years, pay for a process. And whichever model you sign, get the payment triggers, fee basis and guarantee in writing first. Want to see what a pay-on-start search delivers in a week? Share your hiring brief and we'll put candidates in front of you in 7 business days.

Image: "People Having a Deal in the Office" by Mikhail Nilov via Pexels, used under the Pexels licence. Fee and guarantee figures were verified against the linked sources in October 2026. Any Geeqers fee is set per search and confirmed in writing before we start.