Medical Device Executive Search

Medical Devices is an industry that plays a vital role in providing healthcare to millions of people. The vast array of products that are manufactured are too many to detail or summarise but include products such as orthopaedics, wound care and implant technology. The unique nature of medical devices means that the products are often at the boarders of medicine, technology, engineering and materials innovation, which means that the creative activities of the industry are considerable. This convergent ground means you have a rich mixture of skills that can work across industry and sector, making the attraction and retention of skills and talent incredibly challenging.

According to recent figures nearly 500,000 people are employed in the medical devices sector across Europe and so it represents a significant industry providing considerable employment opportunities and recruitment challenges, which is specific why Liftstream has tailored its executive search services to this industry.

We recognise Medical Devices is an industry that is quite different from pharmaceuticals. Medical Devices has to be valued in recruitment terms as an independent sector where Liftstream can apply our executive search services to best meet the sector’s individual characteristics and qualities. As an industry, relative to pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices is young and many of those companies that comprise it are small or medium size companies, with very few multinational organisations like in pharmaceuticals. In fact, there are an estimated 11,000 medical technology companies in Europe alone, with 80% suggested to be SMEs. This large proportion of smaller companies means that as an executive search firm, Liftstream have to find the right management or technical talent capable of leading these innovative projects in entrepreneurial environments.

The sophistication of the Medical Device industry is linked to the considerable advances in technology and materials. This enables companies to engineer incredible products, over 10,000 in total, capable of solving a myriad of problems that translate into improved quality of life for millions. Many products are now often backed by software that enable the technology to perform the desired task, all of which requires regulatory approval. As an executive search recruitment company, our particular value is being able to recruit those people capable of designing, engineering and manufacturing these products, but also those who can gain regulatory approval and market them.

The quicker rates of innovation in technology, materials and engineering techniques mean that the product lifecycle is shorter than those of the pharmaceutical field and likens the sector to other industry categories away from healthcare. These conditions mean that skills can quite often transcend sectors and the application of knowledge to other engineering and science based industries makes talent retention more challenging. This cross-pollination of skills presents a specific set of recruitment challenges that Liftstream, as a specialist provider of executive recruitment, fully understands. We are finding new ways to add value to our customers by widening the reach across the sectors as well as maximising the opportunities presented by the convergence of medical technology and pharmaceuticals.  

The range of specialist skills and experiences required to develop a successful medical devices business provides the ideal environment for an executive search company with acute sector knowledge and a deep appreciation of those special skills. This is why Liftstream is a preferred executive search partner to the medical devices industry in Europe.