Talent advice for organisations that can't afford to get people wrong.

AWI Taio is a talent and people advisory practice. We work with life sciences organisations — and the consultancies that serve them — on how the talent function is built, led and measured. We advise; we don't sell you the hiring.

Advisory, not delivery
Independent of any hiring fee — the advice isn't shaped by what we'd earn placing someone
Life sciences focus
Pharma, biotech, medtech and med device, plus the consultancies working alongside them
UK-centred, global reach
Based and governed in the UK, working with clients wherever they operate

What we do

Four practices. Most engagements start with one and grow into another.

Who we work with

Two kinds of client, one underlying problem: getting the right capability in place faster than the organisation is changing.

Primary focus

Life sciences organisations

Pharma, biotech, medtech and med device businesses where hiring is tied to trial phases, funding rounds, regulatory milestones and product launches — and where a delayed hire delays the science.

  • Scaling through a funding round or launch
  • Building a talent function for the first time
  • Specialist and regulated-role scarcity
  • Workforce planning against a clinical or product pipeline
Also

The consultancy sector

Consulting firms — including those serving life sciences — whose product is their people. Utilisation, bench management and partner-track pipeline are talent problems dressed as commercial ones.

  • Capacity and bench planning against pipeline
  • Partner and leadership succession
  • Consultant capability frameworks and progression
  • Scaling a practice without diluting quality

Beyond these sectors: the work travels. Talent operating models, workforce planning and succession behave much the same in any organisation where specialist people are the constraint — we simply know life sciences and consultancy best, so that is where we lead.

How we work

Independent by design

We earn nothing from placements. If the answer is that you don't need to hire, we'll say so — that's the point of advisory sitting apart from delivery.

Leave a function, not a dependency

The measure of a good engagement is that your team runs it after we go. We document, train and hand over deliberately.

Small, senior teams

You get the people who scoped the work. No pyramid, no juniors learning on your problem.

Evidence over instinct

Benchmarks, market data and your own numbers. Talent decisions are commercial decisions and should be argued as such.

Tell us what's stuck

A short conversation is usually enough to tell whether we're the right people. If we're not, we'll point you at who is.

Start a conversation