Strategic talent acquisition partnership with BioAscent
Our client
BioAscent provides fully integrated drug discovery services from its site in Newhouse, Scotland, the former MSD R&D facility near Glasgow. With capabilities across screening, medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, and compound management, BioAscent supports biotech, pharma, and academic organisations in progressing drug discovery programmes towards the clinic.
The challenge
By 2020, BioAscent’s chemistry team needed to expand to meet growing client demand. At around 50 employees, the company faced several practical challenges:
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Unstructured recruitment process: Previous hiring efforts had been reactive, making it difficult to plan or manage multiple searches at once.
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Location perception: Many synthetic organic chemists were based in established hubs such as the ‘golden triangle’, Nottingham, or the North West. Attracting experienced chemists to Newhouse required a clear value proposition.
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Balancing speed and quality: Multiple roles needed to be filled quickly, but hiring the wrong people risked delaying projects and increasing pressure on existing staff.
Our approach
Following an initial discovery call, we worked with BioAscent’s Chemistry Director, HR, and Marketing teams to understand the business context, review previous hiring challenges, and define a clear strategy.
Our support focused on three main areas:
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Repositioning the location: Together we developed a campaign that presented Newhouse as an advantage, offering a good balance of professional opportunity and lifestyle, with access to Glasgow and surrounding countryside, and a lower cost of living compared to other UK research hubs.
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Expanding candidate reach: We supported BioAscent through the Skilled Worker visa sponsorship process, enabling recruitment from countries such as Germany, Spain, and Canada. This opened access to new international talent pools.
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Establishing a structured recruitment framework: Acting as an embedded partner, we managed the full search process while building a repeatable, transparent approach that BioAscent could adopt internally.
The outcome
Over 18 months, we helped BioAscent appoint 15 synthetic organic chemists at various levels. The new hires enabled the company to:
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Meet project demand without delaying delivery.
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Reduce pressure on existing team members.
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Build the capacity required for the next phase of growth.
The partnership also provided the foundation for BioAscent to develop its own internal talent acquisition capability, giving the business greater long-term control over recruitment.
Conclusion
Working in close partnership with BioAscent allowed us to deliver immediate hiring outcomes while establishing a structured recruitment framework for future use. The project demonstrated how a focused, collaborative approach can help specialist scientific organisations scale effectively, even in less traditional locations.
Find out more about BioAscent Discovery
Testimonial
Working with Simeon at N2 Talent is always a very positive experience. His expertise and excellent communication has helped us find great candidates to welcome to BioAscent.
I highly recommend Simeon, N2 Talent for his reliable and efficient recruitment services.
