KORE1 executive search in Philadelphia, as of November 2026
Executive Search Firm in Philadelphia Retained and engaged search for C-suite, VP and director hires
Leadership search for Philadelphia life sciences, health system, media and insurance employers, under the city’s own hiring ordinances.
KORE1 runs retained and engaged executive search in Philadelphia for CFO, CIO, CISO, CTO, VP and director seats. The city bars pay-history questions, including from search firms, and limits how far back a conviction may be considered.
Last updated: November 14, 2026
- This page
- Permanent C-suite, VP and director searches for Philadelphia employers, how the city’s wage and fair chance ordinances and Pennsylvania’s non-compete rules shape them, and what interim cover costs while a seat is open.
- Not this page
- A national search, or one outside the Philadelphia region, starts with retained and engaged search at KORE1.
Philadelphia hires its leaders across a few square miles and a few very different industries. A chief medical officer at a University City health system, a VP Quality at a cell therapy company, a CTO at a media company in Center City and a CIO at an insurer in the western suburbs rarely compete for the same candidates. They don’t. Many of the strongest ones aren’t looking. So we call them, quietly, one at a time.
Retained fits a seat nobody should know is open yet. Engaged fits a seat where the pool is easier to see. The steps are the ones our executive recruiters at KORE1 run everywhere, so a board that has watched one of our searches elsewhere will recognize the rhythm even when the seat and the sector are new to them. Local rules change the details. Philadelphia adds rules of its own on pay history and criminal records, and Pennsylvania adds a court rule on non-competes. Data seats also price high here, and a senior contract data engineer in Philadelphia bills $134 to $154 an hour, median $143, against a national median of $129 (KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, October 2026).
What Sets Philadelphia Executive Search Apart for Life Sciences, Health System and Media Leaders?
Four groups of employers account for most of the leadership seats we are asked about here. Each is placed by its own filing or its own page, and the list records where each sits. It isn’t a client list.
Cell and gene therapy
CMC, quality, regulatory and finance leaders
Penn Medicine reports that the first FDA-approved personalized cellular therapy for cancer, Kymriah, was developed by the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and approved on August 30, 2017. A company that grows out of work like that needs the seats described below.
Academic health systems
CIO, CISO and business leaders
Penn Medicine, Jefferson Health and Temple Health are three academic health systems in the city. Their technology and security seats answer to the HIPAA Security Rule.
Media and telecom
CTO and VP Engineering seats
Comcast’s latest SEC filing lists One Comcast Center in Philadelphia as its principal executive office. An engineering leader at a company that size is a different search from a clinical-stage seat.
Insurers
CFO, CIO and CISO seats
Lincoln National’s latest SEC cover page lists Radnor, in Delaware County and outside the city line. An insurer’s finance, technology and security seats are a different search from a lab leader’s.
Where the jobs are, by sector, across the metro
Read the ledger as a map of where seats sit and not as hiring demand. Jobs aren’t openings. Pharmaceutical and biotech employers don’t have a row of their own, because manufacturing and scientific research are counted in other sectors, so the life sciences base is bigger than any one bar here. Information is the smallest bar and holds the media and telecom seats.
No employer on this page is a KORE1 client. Names only locate leaders. They don’t tell us what any of those companies is hiring for.
Which Leaders Does a Philadelphia Cell and Gene Therapy Company Search For, and in What Order?
This is the order we most often see a cell and gene therapy leadership team get built while products move from the clinic toward the market, and a board’s own plan comes first, so treat it as a starting sequence and not a rule. Every board differs. Our pharmaceutical executive search and biotech recruiters pages cover the sector beyond Philadelphia.
While products are in the clinic
Head of CMC or manufacturing, and a VP Quality. A product has to be made the same way every time before anything downstream can rest on it. Quality can’t wait.
Before a filing
A VP Regulatory Affairs, who owns the submission and every conversation with the agency. Someone must own it.
On the way to commercial
A CFO who has taken a company from clinical spending to commercial revenue. That’s a different profile from the one that raised the first round. Hire for the next stage.
A health system hires differently. Its CIO and CISO carry the HIPAA Security Rule, which sets the safeguards for electronic protected health information under 45 CFR Part 164, Subpart C, and the search starts with who has run that program before. That filters fast. See our healthcare IT recruiters for the technology seats. A media or telecom company mostly wants a CTO or a VP Engineering. Finance seats across all three run through our CFO search and our VP finance search, and the C-suite hiring guide covers the whole bench.
How Do Philadelphia’s Wage Equity and Fair Chance Ordinances Change an Executive Search?
The Wage Equity Ordinance binds the search firm as well as the employer. The Fair Chance ordinance sets a lookback window on every conviction. Read both before an offer is drafted.
How far back Philadelphia lets an employer look
Fair Criminal Records Screening Standards Ordinance, as amended January 6, 2026
Years are counted from conviction or release from custody, whichever is later.
Felony convictions
Within 7 years, may be considered
Misdemeanor convictions
Within 4 years, may be considered
Summary offenses
No window, may not be considered
A window is the first test, not the last Inside it, the employer must still state that the check includes an individualized assessment based on the specific record, the job duties and the job requirements. A window isn’t a verdict.
The Fair Chance Hiring law, the ordinance’s other name, is enforced by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. The amendments took effect on January 6, 2026, so a company running its first leadership search since then should reset its background check checklist, and counsel should confirm it. Don’t assume.
- Who the pay rule binds
The Wage Equity Ordinance, Bill No. 160840, makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, an employment agency, or an employee or agent of either to inquire about a prospective employee’s wage history, require disclosure of it, or condition an interview or employment on disclosure. The ordinance names employment agencies and agents, so the search firm is bound as well as the hiring company. That includes us.
- Relying on past pay
It also bars relying on wage history to set pay at any stage, including negotiating or drafting the contract, unless the candidate knowingly and willingly disclosed it.
- What counts as wages
The ordinance defines wages as all earnings, including fringe benefits, wage supplements and other compensation. Ask counsel before raising a finalist’s last bonus or equity grant.
- When a record counts against a finalist
If an employer decides against someone because of a record, the amended ordinance calls for written notice of the finalist’s rights, the basis for the decision with a copy of the criminal history and the documents used, instructions on where to respond, and 10 days to respond. The employer must also consider evidence of rehabilitation.
- Statewide, as of November 14, 2026
House Bill 630 would amend Pennsylvania’s Equal Pay Law. It passed the House 102-101 on May 5, 2025, was referred to Senate Labor and Industry on May 16, 2025, and shows no later action on the General Assembly’s bill page. Nothing since.
So the offer is built from the role’s range and the market map, not from the finalist’s last paycheck. Both ordinances are read from the city’s own pages and the ordinance text, as of November 14, 2026, and neither is legal advice. Counsel does the weighing.
Start a Philadelphia leadership search
Tell us the seat and whether the company is in the clinic, at commercial stage or a health system. We’ll take it from there.
How Far Does a Pennsylvania Non-Compete Reach for a Philadelphia Executive?
For most executives the controlling rule comes from the courts, not from a statute. What matters is when the covenant was signed and what the executive got for signing it. Timing decides.
- Signed with the first contract
When the covenant sits in the initial contract of employment, the Superior Court wrote that “consideration for the restrictive covenant is the job itself.”
- Added after the start date
The same opinion says an added covenant “is only enforceable when the employee who restricts himself receives a corresponding benefit or change in status.” The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania affirmed it in Socko v. Mid-Atlantic Systems of CPA, Inc., No. 142 MAP 2014, decided November 18, 2015. The agreement there said the parties intended to be legally bound. It still failed.
- Health care practitioners
The Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act 74 of 2024 (P.L. 846), took effect January 1, 2025. A covered practitioner’s non-compete is void and unenforceable unless it runs no more than one year and the employer did not dismiss the practitioner. It covers MDs, DOs, CRNAs, CRNPs and physician assistants. Those five only.
So a covenant presented after a finalist’s start date needs new consideration, and the useful question about a finalist’s current agreement is when it was signed and what the finalist received for signing it. Ask early. Act 74 matters for a physician executive such as a CMO or CMIO who is one of the five listed practitioners. Counsel decides who is covered. No legal advice.
Read from the Superior Court opinion, the Supreme Court’s dissenting opinion in Socko and the text of Act 74, as of November 14, 2026.
Retained or Engaged? How an Executive Search Firm Runs a Philadelphia Seat
Retained fits a seat nobody should know is open yet, such as replacing a sitting CFO ahead of a filing or a health system CIO whose team would notice the news. Quiet matters. Engaged fits a VP or director seat where the pool is easier to see. Either way, we agree the terms in writing before any outreach starts. Terms first.
Philadelphia adds one habit. Questions about a finalist’s pay and record are checked against the two ordinances above before anyone asks them, so the first call to a candidate never has to be walked back. Nothing to unsay.
Our guide on how to choose an executive search firm covers the trade-off, retained versus contingency search compares the models, and how KORE1 runs a retained search walks the steps. The engagement letter carries our fee terms, so we don’t quote them on a web page.
What Does Interim Cover Cost in Philadelphia, and Why Does the Data Line Stand Out?
Five senior cells, as of October 16, 2026. Four are Philadelphia cells and the last is the national data engineer row, so the gap is visible. All are modeled and billed by the hour, and none is an interim officer.
| Senior contract seat | Covers | Bill range | Median | 3 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data engineer or database developer, Philadelphia | Data work, until a CIO or CTO lands | $134 to $154 | $143 | $74,200 |
| Controller or accounting manager, Philadelphia | The close, until a CFO lands | $144 to $176 | $163 | $85,000 |
| Security analyst or engineer, Philadelphia | Security operations, until a CISO lands | $114 to $135 | $125 | $65,200 |
| IT project or program manager, Philadelphia | Delivery, until a VP lands | $94 to $114 | $106 | $54,900 |
| Data engineer or database developer, national | The same seat nationally, for comparison | $118 to $140 | $129 | $67,200 |
A senior data engineer in Philadelphia bills a median $143 an hour, $14 above the national median of $129, about $74,200 for three months. The gap comes from local BLS wages, and the index assigns no cause. Modeled, not quoted. No CFO, CIO or CISO cell exists, so none of these rows is an interim officer’s rate. They price the work under an empty seat.
KORE1, not your company, is the W2 employer of that bench. Pay runs every Friday. For the full Philadelphia picture see Philadelphia IT contractor bill rates and the state of IT employment in Philadelphia. Where the empty chair is finance, see interim controller services and interim CFO services.
Price interim data or finance cover
Tell us the seat that’s empty, the work that can’t wait and your start date. We’ll price each contract seat.
From Interim Leader to Permanent Hire in Philadelphia
A contractor can convert to your payroll with no KORE1 fee once the contractor reaches 1,040 hours. Robert Ardell, KORE1, described the usual arc.
“After six months, typically the person go direct hire without a fee.”
Whether a gap gets interim cover at all is a budget question. Devin Hornick, a Partner at KORE1, puts the test this way.
“What projects have executive sponsorship even though hiring budgets are tight?”
A funded project with a sponsor gets cover. Everything else waits for the permanent search. Sponsors matter. KORE1 contractors start a median 3 days after an offer (n=1,997). Of KORE1’s contract-to-hire placements, 37.5% converted, 207 of 552. Both figures cover all roles, and most of those placements are in Southern California, so read them as a track record and not a Philadelphia forecast. Track record only. For the bench itself, see contract staffing.
$143
median bill rate for a senior contract data engineer in Philadelphia
$129
national median for the same seat
3 days
median from offer to start for KORE1 contractors (n=1,997)
37.5%
of KORE1 contract-to-hire placements converted to full time (207 of 552)
Rates from the KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, modeled from BLS wages for May 2025. Placement figures from KORE1 W2 contract records, all roles, mostly Southern California. Track record, not a commitment.
Common Questions
What Philadelphia boards and executives ask about a leadership search.
Can a Philadelphia employer ask an executive finalist what they earn now?
No. The Wage Equity Ordinance bars employers, employment agencies and their agents from asking a candidate about current or prior salary history. It also bars relying on that history to set pay unless the candidate knowingly and willingly disclosed it. So the offer comes from the role, not the last paycheck.
How far back may a Philadelphia company look at a leadership finalist’s conviction record?
Since January 6, 2026, only felony convictions within 7 years and misdemeanor convictions within 4 years may be considered, and summary offenses may not be considered at all. Years run from conviction or release from custody, whichever is later. Counsel confirms the details.
Are non-competes for physician executives limited in Pennsylvania?
Yes, for covered practitioners. Under Act 74 of 2024, in effect since January 1, 2025, a covered practitioner’s non-compete is void and unenforceable unless it runs no more than one year and the employer did not dismiss the practitioner. Whether a given executive is covered is a question for counsel.
How do Philadelphia senior data engineer bill rates compare with the national figure?
A senior contract data engineer in Philadelphia bills $134 to $154 an hour, median $143, against a national median of $129 (KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4). Three months at the Philadelphia median is about $74,200. The index assigns no cause for the gap.
Which executive search firm runs retained search for a cell and gene therapy company in Philadelphia?
KORE1 runs retained and engaged search for head of CMC, VP Quality, VP Regulatory Affairs and CFO seats at Philadelphia cell and gene therapy companies. Ask any firm how it checks pay and record questions against the city’s ordinances before outreach starts. The answer tells you plenty.
What happened to Pennsylvania’s HB 630 equal pay bill?
HB 630 would amend Pennsylvania’s Equal Pay Law. It passed the House 102-101 on May 5, 2025 and was referred to Senate Labor and Industry on May 16, 2025. The General Assembly’s bill page shows no later action as of November 14, 2026. That could change.
Start a Philadelphia Leadership Search
Send us five things. We’ll choose retained or engaged terms for the seat together and agree them in writing before any outreach starts.
- The seatCFO, CIO, CISO, CTO, VP or director.
- The stageClinical, commercial or health system.
- The covenantAny non-compete you already know a finalist signed.
- The coverWhether data or finance work needs interim hands meanwhile.
- The startWhen the new leader has to be in the seat.
Want to see the process first? Read how KORE1 runs a retained search or see KORE1 executive search. Need cover now? Price contract cover, or call 949-706-6990.
