The recruitment of two Solutions Managers for PolyPeptide
Due to the high demand for IT in the pharmaceutical industry, Capax partnered with PolyPeptide — a global CDMO operating across France, Belgium, India, Sweden, Switzerland and the US — to find and recruit two Solution Managers for their IT organisation.
About the client
One of the world's largest contract manufacturers of therapeutic peptides
PolyPeptide is one of the world's largest contract manufacturers of therapeutic peptides for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. As a Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) for peptide and oligonucleotide-based active pharmaceutical ingredients, they contribute to the health of millions of patients worldwide.
The company is growing rapidly, with high ambitions and numerous development opportunities. The employees at PolyPeptide contribute to creating active ingredients for various drugs that make a difference in people's lives and health.
As a Solution Manager at PolyPeptide, you become part of the ERP & Application Services Team in Global IS/IT — a global organisation dedicated to supporting the business from strategy execution to operational delivery.
The challenge
High IT demand in pharma — a narrow candidate field
PolyPeptide was on a digitalization journey, making the Solution Manager role particularly interesting — but also particularly hard to fill. The emphasis was on making processes easier for production and adapting the enterprise model, which required candidates with both technical depth and business understanding.
Narrow specialist field
The combination of ERP expertise, pharma industry knowledge, and business systems experience represents a concentrated and highly competitive candidate pool.
Two roles simultaneously
Both positions needed to be filled at the same time — and ideally with candidates whose competencies complemented each other across different business systems.
Digitalization context
Candidates needed to be excited by an evolving industry and the opportunity to contribute from an early stage — pure technical competence without that mindset was not sufficient.
Internal alignment required
The recruitment process also surfaced a need to ensure internal alignment between dependent IT and production functions at PolyPeptide — adding complexity to the brief.
What Capax did differently
Close collaboration and mutual transparency
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1
Clarifying needs and future strategy upfront
Capax sought clarification on essential questions regarding needs and future strategy in order to successfully attract relevant candidates — and to ensure internal alignment between the dependent functions in IT and production at PolyPeptide.
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2
Parallel recruitment for complementary profiles
The two Solution Manager processes were started simultaneously, enabling Capax to find two candidates who could complement each other and the team with their competencies within different business systems — essential for PolyPeptide's digitalization journey.
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3
Continuous market insight sharing
Throughout the process, Capax continuously shared market insights and candidate feedback — ensuring an open dialog with PolyPeptide and alignment that the field was narrow, with clear guidance on how the search could be expanded if needed.
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4
Hiring manager accessibility as a success factor
PolyPeptide and Capax worked closely together, with the hiring manager showing strong commitment and accessibility throughout the process — a key factor that allowed the recruitment to close quickly with the two strongest candidates.
Capax's experience and knowledge in recruitment helped PolyPeptide to uncover and investigate critical needs and requirements, which contributed to an efficient and targeted recruitment process.
Result
Two Solution Managers recruited — complementing each other and the team
The recruitment process took three months, with presentations of candidates who could be a good match for the organisation's needs, strategy, development and culture. Both Solution Manager positions were filled with strong profiles whose competencies complement each other across different business systems.
The general positive attitude towards PolyPeptide as a workplace was a key factor — candidates saw the role as an interesting opportunity to be part of a purpose-driven company in growth and development, making them actively committed to the process from the start.
Learnings
What this case taught us
- Clarifying internal alignment early is not a delay — it is a prerequisite for an efficient recruitment process in complex organisations
- Parallel recruitment of complementary profiles requires a deliberate strategy — the two candidates must be evaluated in relation to each other, not just independently
- Hiring manager accessibility is a decisive competitive advantage — when candidates receive fast, clear responses, drop-off rates decrease dramatically
- Purpose-driven companies have a genuine recruitment edge — candidates in niche technical fields are often motivated by more than compensation
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