Purpose, People, and a New Chapter: Daisy Tazelaar on Becoming Panda's CEO

Panda was built on a clear ambition: to be a specialist partner for life sciences companies that combined exceptional service with deep industry expertise. Not just a source of candidates, but a genuine partner that understood the science, the business, and what was really at stake behind every hire.

"We believed recruitment could be done differently," Daisy says. "We wanted to build genuine partnerships with both clients and candidates rather than simply filling vacancies. Our ambition was to help people and businesses achieve things they didn't think were possible, with Panda acting as the catalyst for that growth."That framing matters. Catalyst, not supplier. Partner, not vendor. It shaped every decision that followed, from how Panda structures client relationships to how it thinks about candidate careers. And it is precisely what has kept the business relevant across a fourteen-year period that has seen the recruitment industry transform dramatically around it.

The commercial evidence backs it up. Panda is today a strategic partner to Randstad Sourceright, working closely with several of Europe's leading MSP providers and delivering an average fill rate of around 25% across those relationships. In a competitive market, that number reflects what consistent, relationship-led delivery actually produces over time.

Building a specialist business across Europe over fourteen years is not a story of uninterrupted momentum. There have been periods of genuine difficulty: economic uncertainty, regulatory complexity, a market that has grown both more competitive and more demanding. Daisy doesn't smooth over any of that.

What carried Panda through every hard period, she says, was never a strategy or a pivot. It was always the people.

The clients who trusted Panda when the stakes were high. The candidates whose careers moved in directions they hadn't imagined before a conversation with one of Panda's consultants. The team members who joined early and grew into leaders, changing the shape of the business as they developed within it. "Seeing the impact we make on people's careers and on the growth of our clients has always reminded us why we started Panda in the first place," she says.

In an industry that can easily become transactional, that clarity of purpose has functioned as both compass and fuel.

Asked to name the milestone that has meant the most across fourteen years of building, Daisy doesn't reach for a commercial landmark. She reaches for a moment of recognition.

"It isn't a single commercial milestone. It's the moment you realise the business has become bigger than its founders."

For Daisy, that realisation came gradually, through watching people join Panda at the beginning of their careers and grow into the leaders now shaping its future. It's visible in the depth of the team, in the culture that has taken hold, and in the fact that Jay can step into a strategic role while the business moves forward without missing a step.
"That's the milestone that means the most to me, because it shows we've created something sustainable that isn't dependent on just the two of us."

It is, in many ways, the clearest measure of what Panda has actually built.

For Daisy, stepping into the CEO role is inseparable from reflecting on the partnership that made it possible. 

"Outside of my immediate family, Jay has probably had the biggest influence on my life," Daisy says. Panda was built on friendship as much as commercial logic, and she believes that foundation is precisely what has allowed the partnership to hold across fourteen years of shared pressure and shared growth.

What made it work, she explains, was never alignment for its own sake. It was complementarity. Different strengths brought to the same problems. Honest challenge when it was needed. Support through the inevitable periods when neither the business nor the path ahead felt straightforward. "We've grown as leaders alongside the business," she reflects.

The pride she carries from that isn't attached to any outcome in particular. It's in the relationship itself, and in what it made possible.

For Daisy, the transition to CEO is less a reinvention than a continuation with greater clarity of responsibility.

"As co-founder and COO, I've always felt deeply responsible for Panda and have been heavily involved in shaping the business," she says. "The title changes, but my commitment doesn't." What the role gives her is not new authority but a cleaner platform to pursue what she has always believed Panda is capable of becoming.

That ambition is specific. She wants Panda to become the leading specialist life sciences talent partner in Europe, and she is clear that the path there is not simply about growing bigger. It is about continuing to raise the standard of what Panda delivers: to clients who need more than candidates, to professionals navigating decisions that shape the arc of their careers, and to a team that deserves a business worth working for.

"That means building a high-performance culture where people take ownership, challenge themselves to keep improving, embrace innovation, and never lose sight of the relationships that define who we are."

The next five years will bring the most significant transformation the recruitment industry has seen. Daisy is direct about that, and equally direct about how Panda is positioning itself to lead through it.

AI and automation are already reshaping how talent businesses operate, and Panda's approach is clear. Technology functions as an accelerator, not a replacement. By removing the administrative and the repetitive, consultants can spend more time doing what they do best: understanding the science behind a brief, advising clients on decisions that actually matter, and building the kind of long-term partnerships that sit at the heart of everything Panda does.

"Recruitment will always be a people business," she says. "Trust, relationships, and understanding people's ambitions will never be replaced by technology. The businesses that combine exceptional people with exceptional technology will define the next decade. That's exactly where Panda is investing."

For clients, that means the same depth of partnership they have always experienced, with greater investment in quality, specialist expertise, and the intelligence to connect talent strategy to real business outcomes. For candidates, it means a continued commitment to careers shaped with intention rather than filled by default. And for the Panda team, it marks the beginning of a chapter defined by genuine ambition and a clear intention to keep raising the bar.

Daisy closes on something that feels less like a strategic position and more like a personal conviction, one that has quietly underpinned everything Panda has become. "I genuinely believe the best is still ahead of us."
Fourteen years in, the evidence suggests she's right.

To learn more about Panda's approach to life sciences recruitment across Europe, get in touch with our team to explore how we can support your hiring strategy or your next career move.