Richard Nkulikiyinka, Chief Medical Officer at Antag Therapeutics, on Career Pivots, Trust and Why Leadership Is Never Linear

In this episode, I talked with Richard Nkulikiyinka, Chief Medical Officer at Antag Therapeutics, a Copenhagen-based biotech developing GIPR antagonists in the obesity space.Richard’s career began in the NHS, where he spent five years practicing acute medicine and intensive care—until the moment he realized he couldn’t picture himself doing the same thing for the next 30 years. That realization sparked a pivot that many physicians quietly wrestle with: leaving behind the security of the ward for the uncertainty of industry.Richard also shares what it was like to walk away from a stable VP role at Bayer during a restructuring, take an intentional career break, and use those months to reflect on what really mattered before joining Antag Therapeutics. We talk about the shift from big pharma to biotech, what he learned from leading through severe stakeholder misalignment, and why authentic communication matters more than management theory when things get messy.And yes—there’s a light-hearted detour into Berlin life, bad currywurst, and how to tell when it’s time to make serious changes in your team.Here’s What You’re In ForWhat makes Antag Therapeutics’ culture uniqueThe hardest leadership call: deciding when the problem is you vs themThe recruitment ghosting story that every hiring manager should hearTimestamps02:08 – Leaving the NHS: deciding what he could be “happily bored with”04:00 – Landing his first pharma job at Bayer in drug safety09:33 – Overview of Antag Therapeutics and GIPR vs GLP-113:20 – Leaving Bayer and taking a sabbatical to reset17:08 – What it’s like to work at Antag Therapeutics—and what he looks for in candidates18:46 – The toughest chapter: extreme stakeholder misalignment in dermatology25:16 – Leadership lessons: firing, feedback, and the “benefit of the doubt”29:00 – Why managers struggle to act fast—and how structure slows decisions31:48 – Richard’s worst recruitment experience: being ghosted by agenciesAbout RichardRichard Nkulikiyinka, is the Chief Medical Officer of Antag Therapeutics, a biotech developing GIPR antagonists within the Obesity space. A UK-trained physician, he spent five years practicing in acute medicine and intensive care within the NHS - this is also where he developed his dry sense of humour - and now he transitioned into the biopharmaceutical industry, where he has built over 17 years of experience.Prior to joining Antag, Richard served as Vice President in Clinical Development at Bayer Pharma, where he played a central role in advancing four drugs to approval. He is now ein Berliner - where we often meet for clubbing and currywurst. Connect with Richard:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-nkulikiyinka-66336014/ Website: https://antagtx.com/ About meMy name is Charles Spence and I lead Discera. After many years working in the life-science recruitment world, I decided to work for myself. Before doing recruitment, I graduated with a biomedical degree, have worked in hospitals (including translation work in Seoul, South Korea), and also spent a year working in diabetes research in Stockholm. After doing research and travel, a career in business and science felt the most appropriate.In 2023, I decided to launch my firm - Discera Search. A firm committed to solving the biggest talent needs of early clinical stage SME biotechs on the East Coast and DACH.Connect with me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-spence-clinical/ Website: https://www.discera-search.com/ Opinions and comments expressed by the guest do not represent the company and are fully their own.