Board Advisor (ex-Early Stage Life Sciences CFO)
Summary
An experienced CFO from the early-stage life sciences sector is sought to provide strategic financial advisory support to an innovative oral metabolic therapy addressing chronic leg-ulcer healing. You will guide financial strategy, fundraising activities, investor relations, and commercial planning, working closely with the founder, chair, and clinical teams.
Initially a low-commitment advisory role (approximately two days per month), this position could evolve into a fractional or full-time CFO role as the business scales. Alternatively, you could lead the appointment and onboarding of a permanent CFO hire.
The business
The company is concluding a 20-patient UK pilot; results are expected within 12 weeks to underpin a £0.25–1 million SEIS/EIS raise. This will be followed by a 200-patient pivotal study and a further £2 million+ funding round to support borderline-medicine approval. Current oral wound-support offerings from large multinational consumer-health companies lack clinical evidence, preventing NHS prescription. This business aims to become the first clinically validated, reimbursable oral option, backed by rigorous UK clinical trials and a robust IP strategy.
Trials are conducted by Pioneer Wound Care, the UK's largest provider, ensuring high-quality, regulator-trusted data. Success is anticipated due to robust third-party in vitro studies showing significant collagen type II increases; upcoming trials will specifically target wound-relevant collagen types I and III.
Three sequential patent applications are planned over approximately three years:
- Single pathway, single compound (current application)
- Single pathway, multiple compounds
- Multiple pathways, multiple compounds
Key people
- Founder CEO: Experienced entrepreneur in longevity-nutrition ventures, biochemistry academic background, self-funded early IP and clinical planning.
- Chair: Serial bio-entrepreneur (Founder/CSO) successfully commercialising a marine-collagen healthcare product, currently undergoing FDA approval; deep expertise in skin-related clinical trials and entrepreneurial leadership.
- Board Advisor (Clinical Trials): Clinical Trials Lead at Pioneer Wound Care, practising tissue-viability specialist overseeing trial design, execution, and regulatory compliance.
- Board Advisor (Pharmacy & Population Health): NHS ICB Trust lead, expert in pharmacy strategy and population health management.
Value-add
Your key value-add will involve strategic financial oversight, fundraising strategy refinement, investor engagement, risk management, and ensuring robust financial structures support clinical trials and regulatory approvals. You'll provide critical advice on best practices regarding financial functions, specifically balancing cash conservation and scalability, outsourced vs in-house financial management, and optimal timing for part-time or full-time CFO appointments.
Candidates must have:
- Proven CFO experience within early-stage life sciences or healthcare companies successfully navigating UK clinical trials
- Expertise in fundraising, investor relations, and financial governance
- Deep familiarity with early-stage growth dynamics, ideally having guided businesses through SEIS/EIS funding rounds and scale-up phases
Compensation
Primarily growth-share-based, supplemented by cash following successful patent grant, positive pilot-study results, and initial SEIS funding close; exact terms to be agreed.
Process
Informal introductory call with the founder to explore mutual fit, followed by discussions with the chair and clinical team before a formal offer.