Please note: This role is with Richter Life Science. Norrsken Launcher is supporting the hiring process, but the successful candidate will be employed directly by Richter Life Science.

Join a world-class team of scientists and quickly scale a solution already used by 100s of the world’s leading universities to new industrial applications and processes. Build a unicorn with global impact.

About Richter Life Science

At Richter Life Science (RLS), we are making the invisible visible.

Every major industry - healthcare, manufacturing, food, materials - depends on understanding what’s happening at a microscopic level. Yet much of that world remains invisible and impossible to monitor in real time.

We are building a new category of sensors that change that. Our technology, Optotracing, uses fluorescent molecules that light up when they bind to specific targets - turning complex biological and material structures into measurable signals in real time. What once required complex lab work or guesswork can now be directly seen and acted upon.

Why this matters

• We’re still blind to the structures that drive some of the biggest problems in healthcare - biofilms - which make bacterial infections up to 1,000x more resistant to antibiotics. Without visibility, we can’t diagnose them or treat them effectively.

• The same blind spot exists in industry. From pulp & paper to biomanufacturing, critical processes are controlled without seeing what’s actually happening at the material level - leading to lost yield, higher costs, and suboptimal decisions.

RLS was founded by world-leading Professor Agneta Richter-Dahlfors at Karolinska Institutet, built on decades of breakthrough research and patented technology. Today, the product is used by hundreds of organizations globally - from leading research institutions to industrial players - through our commercial arm Ebba Biotech. Backed by investors including Norrsken Launcher, RLS is built on the belief that the world becomes healthier, more efficient, and more sustainable when we can finally see what is hidden in plain sight.

The opportunity ahead

Our ambition is to build a new global standard for how the chemistry of biological structures are measured, understood, and optimized. We are redefining how the world interacts with the microscopic layer - enabling real-time insight into structures that drive outcomes across healthcare and industry.

With the technology proven in academia and early industrial use, and 650+ customers already generating recurring, high-margin revenue, we have a foundation that is commercial, repeatable, and defensible.

The next 24 months are about scaling that foundation into a category-defining global company - building a category defining commercial organization, growing the existing business across academic and CRO segments, securing flagship industrial partnerships (e.g. pulp & paper), and developing the licensing track in medtech, starting with biofilm and AMR diagnostics. Beyond this lies broader optionality across food, agriculture, embedded biosensing, and a future software and data layer.

Product

Optotracers are a platform technology: a single chemistry unlocking multiple high-impact verticals.

• Commercial today: Research reagents - Optotracers sold globally through Ebba Biotech, used in applications from biofilm research to neurodegeneration and biomass analytics - with fast turnaround and a structural cost advantage over legacy methods.

• Scaling now: Industrial process analytics - Real-time, fiber-level analysis of lignin and cellulose for process optimization in industries like pulp & paper. Validated in paid projects, paired with off-the-shelf instruments and a software layer for mills. Our route to scale runs through OEM partnerships.

• Next play: Medtech & diagnostics - A licensing model around biofilm detection, antibiotic susceptibility testing, and amyloid imaging - built for partners in diagnostics, pharma, and clinical research.

• Future platform plays: Embedded biosensing, food safety and shelf-life monitoring, and a broader reagents-plus-instruments-plus-data platform across multiple verticals.

The role

Our founder, Professor Agneta Richter-Dahlfors, is transitioning to a dedicated scientific and technical role to focus on the research she has spent decades pioneering. We are seeking a CEO to lead RLS into its next chapter - turning proven technology and early traction into a focused, scalable commercial business.

You will inherit a company with real customers, revenue, IP, and partners. What it needs now is focus, a commercial organization, and the discipline to translate scientific breakthroughs into repeatable revenue. As CEO, you will have full accountability for execution and performance, working closely with Agneta, the Ebba Biotech team, and the Board to realize RLS’s full potential.

Core responsibilities:

• Set strategy and own P&L: Choose where to play across research-tools, industrial, and medtech. Define strategy, priorities and targets. Own results, including unit economics and gross margin discipline.

• Sharpen focus: Turn a broad platform into clear priorities, sequencing, and a focused go-to-market strategy.

• Lead and scale the organization: Build the leadership team, hire key roles, and create a high-performance culture across the RLS group.

• Drive commercial growth: Scale the existing business, win flagship industrial customers and OEM partnerships, and convert paid testing into recurring revenue.

• Build the medtech licensing track: Translate the IP and clinical-research validation into licensing partnerships with diagnostics and pharma players.

• Fundraise and manage governance: Lead the next financing rounds and maintain strong Board and investor communication.

• Steward IP and partnerships: Work closely with the founder Agneta and counsel to expand the patent estate, and with OEMs and clinical partners to embed RLS into their workflows.

Candidate profile

Essential experience:

• A proven track record of scaling an early-stage commercial team into a structured, high-performing international company.

• Hands-on experience building, mentoring and leading cross-functional teams.

• Real comfort selling complex, science-heavy products in B2B / B2B2B environments where ROI-led value selling and long enterprise cycles are the norm.

Preferred experience:

• Background in life sciences, diagnostics, industrial analytics, or other deeply technical product categories.

• Experience structuring OEM partnerships, licensing deals, or platform-style monetization across multiple verticals.

• Success fundraising with institutional venture capital and working with boards.

• Previous experience navigating the transition from a founder-led team to a professionalized organization.

Leadership style & values:

• High ownership: You take full responsibility for outcomes end-to-end. You communicate risks early, solve problems proactively, and always "close the loop."

• Humble with a growth mindset: You are a lifelong learner who seeks feedback and admits mistakes quickly. You consistently prioritize the team and the mission over your own ego.

• Structure: You bring clarity to the organization. You implement goals, metrics, and the lightweight processes necessary to scale in a fast-paced environment.

• Integrity & courage: You challenge assumptions respectfully and speak up when it matters, ensuring the company stays aligned with its long-term strategy.

• Long-term team builder: You elevate others, invest deeply in relationships, and optimize for sustainable, long-term wins rather than short-term shortcuts.

• Communication: You communicate to create alignment, not just share information. You explain the “why,” turn goals into clear next steps, and default to transparency. In writing and in meetings, you make sure the decision is clear, ownership is explicit, and everyone knows what success looks like next.

Success in 6-12 months looks like:

• Focus established: A clear, board-aligned strategy on which verticals RLS owns first, with the resourcing to win them.

• Commercial operations at scale: A professionalized commercial engine driving step-change growth in research-tools revenue across academia and CROs.

• Industrial pilots converted: Flagship pulp & paper deployments live, an OEM commercial agreement signed, and a credible path to multi-mill rollout.

• Medtech track underway: Patent estate strengthened and first licensing conversations with diagnostics or pharma partners progressing toward agreement.

• Funded and resourced: Next round successfully raised, with a fully recruited leadership team in place.

What we offer

• The chance to lead a company with a 1:1 link between commercial success and global impact.

• A collaborative partnership with a world-class scientific founder who is ready to let you lead.

• Competitive salary and a significant equity incentive scheme

• Centrally located offices in Stockholm.

How to apply

We are reviewing applications continuously. We welcome international candidates who hold or are eligible for a Swedish work permit. Swedish language skills not required.

This is a full-time position based in Stockholm, Sweden.

For questions about the role and process, please reach out to:
Emma Kjellander (Norrsken Launcher) / emma@launcher.vc

Locations

Stockholm