Principal Recruitment Consultant | EPM Scientific

Principal Recruitment Consultant | EPM Scientific

Location: New York City

Type: Full-time | Permanent Basis

Compensation: Base Salary + Uncapped Commissions

About EPM Scientific

EPM Scientific is a leading specialist recruitment firm dedicated to connecting top talent with innovative organizations across life sciences. As one of the 6 brands of Phaidon International, we partner with cutting-edge biotech, pharmaceutical, and healthcare companies to deliver talent solutions that drive innovation and impact globally.

About the Role

In this role, you will operate as a 360 Recruiter with subject matter expertise across AI‑for‑Science and AI‑for‑Biology. You will be responsible for driving business development efforts to proactively build, develop, and maintain long-term client relationships. This includes identifying new business opportunities, delivering tailored hiring strategies, and positioning yourself as a market expert through insights into talent trends, compensation benchmarks, and competitor intelligence. On the candidate delivery side, you will lead the end-to-end sourcing and qualification process, leveraging a combination of headhunting, networking, and market mapping to identify high-caliber talent.

Key Responsibilities

• Business Development & Client Leadership
• Build and maintain long-term relationships with key stakeholders (e.g., Heads of ML, Chief Data Officers, CTOs, Co-Founders, etc.)
• Identify and capitalize on new business opportunities across life science organizations that are integrating AI/ML into drug development
• Act as a trusted partner and SME to clients, providing market insights, salary benchmarks, and hiring strategies

• Candidate Delivery & Market Expertise
• Sourcing, assessing, and placing senior-level, industry-specific talent (ML Research Engineer, ML Research Scientist, ML Researcher across startups that are at the forefront of AI‑for‑Science and AI‑for‑Biology
• Maintain a strong network of passive candidates through proactive headhunting and market mapping
• Monitor and interpret evolving AI/ML trends across the life sciences industry

• Commercial Performance
• Consistently exceeding individual billing targets and revenue goals
• Manage the full recruitment life-cycle, from client acquisition to placement and post-placement follow-up
• Maintain accurate pipeline forecasting and CRM utilization
• A minimum of 1-3 years of recruitment experience in tech, finance, or life sciences markets with demonstrated success in senior-level placements.
• Experience in a 360 Recruitment environment is highly preferred
• Deep understanding OR interest in the AI/ML talent landscape, particularly within life sciences or related industries
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Highly driven, detail oriented, and an entrepreneurial mindset with a track record of exceeding targets
• Exceptional communication and negotiation skills

What We Offer

• Growing market with a high demand and earning potential
• Immediate access to top-tier clients: Work with industry leading clients
• Well-established database: built over 20 years with 24,000+ sets of terms signed
• Global presence and recognition across leading biotechs, large pharmas, and emerging startups
• Market expertise: Opportunity to partner with industry leading talent and develop your own book of business
• Best-in-class commission structure: Recently revamped, no split commission or rolling deficit - uncapped and paid monthly
• PTO: Industry leading PTO which includes annual leave, national holidays, winter holiday and a half-day off on your birthday
• Benefits & Well-being: medical, dental, and optical insurance, along with access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), from your first day