Phaidon International

This month, Phaidon International ’s offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich, and London came together to mark Mental Health Awareness Week. The aim was simple: to share practical ways to build healthier habits and better support mental wellbeing in day-to-day life. From “build your own” healthy breakfasts and our What Brings You Joy wall, to expert-led sessions, wellness yoga, and a community run/walk, the week created space for people to recharge and try something new! Take a peek at the offices in action (including some yoga poses that were more ambitious than others): Special shoutout to Europe's Employee Forum for putting together a fabulous week! Catherine Jordan , Delia Boncea , Dóri Marton , Emily Cook , Jack McGarrigle, Jenny Freifrau von Richthofen , Larissa Hirst , Maeve McDonald , Shane Delaney , & Thomas B. 💚

Just back from a bit of an adventure in Tenerife, first‑ever van holiday. Unreal place and a proper change of pace. I’m still working through emails, so please bear with me - I’ll be coming back to everyone over the next few days. In the meantime, our Talent Acquisition team is very much open for business. We’re actively hiring graduates and experienced recruiters, with multiple intakes running right through the summer. If you’re curious about what a career at Phaidon International could look like, drop me a message or reach out to the team tagged below. Daniel Holder , Tanisha Mendes , Thomas Wells , Joshua Hart-Bayfield , Hannah Ariffin , Claire L. , Marina Gioia Nicolai , Batol A.

At Phaidon International , we want you to #ReimagineYourPotential at every level - even at the top! This week, our Learning and Development team completed another round of Leadership Academy accelerating the capabilities of our European managers. Whether you’re 6 months or 6 years into your career at Phaidon, #BetterNeverStops learning!

I’ve spent most of my career watching pharma succeed by nailing a few fundamentals: strong science, the ability to scale, and solid execution. This week, it feels like we’ve entered a new chapter. Pharma isn’t just experimenting with AI anymore — it’s starting to institutionalise it. Take Novo Nordisk 's latest move: it just announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI . The goal is to integrate advanced AI across the company — from early drug discovery right through to commercial operations — while upskilling its entire workforce in AI literacy. And they’re making sure data governance and human oversight are baked in from day one. Meanwhile, Novartis 's CEO, Vas Narasimhan , just joined the board of Anthropic I see that as another clear signal: the relationship between biopharma and frontier AI isn’t a simple vendor deal anymore. It’s looking more like a long-term marriage at the leadership level — and there’s a lot of emphasis on doing it responsibly. Now, as a recruitment leader in this industry at EPM Scientific , I keep coming back to one thing: an AI strategy will only move as fast as the team behind it - one of the reasons all of our Phaidon International brands have been working so hard to get ahead of the curve on AI tools and tech (with fantastic results so far!) Right now, AI/ML talent has plenty of options. A lot of those candidates are drawn to tech-first or AI-native companies that offer a big mission — and that make sure they’re visible wherever top talent is looking. That “talent war” is very real, and big pharma, frankly, doesn’t always compete as hard as it thinks it does. So for pharma leaders, the key question is starting to shift. It’s no longer “What can AI do for us?” — it’s “Do we have the right people to operationalise AI safely, compliantly, and at scale?” When most companies talk about building an AI-fluent workforce, they think of the usual suspects: AI researchers, data scientists, machine learning engineers. Those roles are important, but they’re not the whole story. In my view, the most valuable hires will be the hybrids — people who have one foot in AI and one foot in a core pharma domain, and who know how to translate a model into a real-world outcome in a high-stakes, regulated environment. For example, profiles like: • AI + drug discovery / translational science • AI + clinical development / operations • AI + manufacturing / quality / supply chain • AI + governance / risk / compliance • AI + commercial / go to market In a landscape like this, the organisations that treat AI as a core capability — and talent as the engine driving it — will be the ones that come out on top. What I will leave you with is that the most proactive candidates I’m speaking with these days are already ahead of the curve on this very point. But that's just my opinion! #Pharma #AI #LifeSciences #TalentAcquisition #Recruitment #FutureOfWork #Leadership #DigitalTransformation

What a pleasure it was to have Stephen O'Mahony over in the Zurich office for a few days this week! Nothing beats meeting our clients and candidates face-to-face and Phaidon International flies its consultants around the world to make that happen 🙌 Steve heads up the EPM Scientific team in our Berlin office and is a great person to get in touch with if you are looking to hire in Germany or beyond. His team is also working on some very interesting mandates at the moment - definitely worth checking out if you're exploring your next move... Since it's impossible to get a photo of everyone looking good - thanks Cameron Hamman for taking one for the team x

Strength of a platform can be highlighted by those that choose to come back. Great to have Thomas Peacock , back in the building. See his story below! If you are boomerang curious, or an experienced consultant wanting to understand how Phaidon International is growing in #london , #berlin , #amsteram or #zurich , feel free to reach out to myself or Lorenzo Marchesan to find out more.