MEDICAL DEVICE · INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Covering surgical, cardiovascular, orthopedic, neurological, and capital equipment companies — from venture-backed startups to global manufacturers. We focus on the searches where regulatory class, clinical workflow, and commercial channel separate strong candidates from average ones.
Broad commercial placement experience across medical device categories — not a single deep specialty, but a genuine track record across the full spectrum.
Our medical device practice is broad rather than deep in any single segment. We recruit commercial talent — sales reps, regional managers, and commercial leaders — across a wide range of device categories.
Commercial talent for cardiovascular device companies — territory sales representatives and regional sales managers selling into cardiologists, electrophysiologists, and cardiovascular surgery programs. We've placed cardiovascular commercial talent across both implantable and non-implantable device categories.
Commercial and technical talent for joint replacement, trauma, spine, sports medicine, and biologics companies. We've worked with spine and biologics companies specifically, placing commercial talent into orthopedic and spine surgery channels.
Laboratory and clinical talent for in vitro fertilization clinics and reproductive medicine organizations — including andrologists, lab directors, and medical technologists specializing in reproductive medicine. A distinct segment with a narrow candidate pool that generalist firms consistently struggle to fill.
Commercial talent for respiratory therapy products, oxygen delivery systems, airway management devices, and pulmonary care platforms — selling into hospital respiratory therapy departments, pulmonology practices, and home health channels.
Commercial talent for hospital product companies — surgical beds, IV pumps, infusion therapy, surgical wound closure products, and med-surg supplies. We've worked with both startup companies entering these markets and a major hospital products company in the surgical wound closure space. The buyers — hospital procurement, OR managers, and nursing leadership — require a distinct commercial profile.
Across commercial, technical, regulatory, and operations functions.
VP Sales · CCO · Regional Sales Directors · Territory Sales Representatives · Capital Equipment Sales · Clinical Sales Specialists · National Account Managers · Sales Operations · Distribution Channel Managers
Field Service Engineers (FSE) · Senior Service Engineers · Regional Service Managers · Installation & Commissioning · Technical Support Engineers · Customer Success Engineers
Clinical Affairs Directors · Clinical Specialists · Field Application Specialists (FAS) · Clinical Educators · Medical Science Liaisons · Clinical Trial Managers · Applications Specialists
VP Regulatory · Regulatory Affairs Directors · Regulatory Affairs Managers · 510(k) Specialists · PMA Submission · CE Marking · ISO 13485 · 21 CFR Part 820 · IVDR / MDR
R&D Directors · Mechanical Engineers · Software Engineers · Systems Engineers · Hardware Engineers · Validation Engineers · Manufacturing Engineers · Design Engineers
VP Marketing · Product Managers · QA Directors · Quality Systems · Manufacturing Directors · Supply Chain · Plant Managers · VP Operations · COO · CEO · General Management
What every medical device hiring manager should understand before starting a search.
Medical device hiring is driven by three factors that don't apply the same way in any other industry.
Regulatory class drives the candidate profile more than any single other variable — a Class II company on the 510(k) pathway and a Class III company running a PMA submission need fundamentally different regulatory, clinical, and commercial profiles, even when the device categories look adjacent. Submitting Class II candidates for Class III roles assumes a regulatory and clinical fluency that rarely transfers, and the cost of getting it wrong — measured in trial timelines and FDA submissions — is among the highest in healthcare.
The clinical buyer dictates the commercial profile in ways generalist recruiters consistently underestimate. Surgeon-facing sales, hospital administrative sales, capital equipment committee sales, and specialty physician sales are different disciplines requiring different credibility, different call patterns, and different daily work. A candidate who's sold capital equipment to hospital administrators rarely transitions cleanly into a surgeon-facing role; a strong orthopedic rep rarely transitions cleanly into electrophysiology. Candidates who look right on paper across specialties often underperform in the territory.
Candidate access is the third factor — and the one most often missed. The strongest medical device candidates aren't applying to job postings. They're employed, often with significant equity or deferred compensation, and they take calls from recruiters they know. A search led by a specialist works because the recruiter is already three steps into the relationship before the search starts. A search led by a generalist usually fails not because the candidates don't exist, but because the candidates don't take the call.
Real commercial partnerships across the medical device and medtech market.
During CooperVision's major U.S. commercial expansion, Connexis placed approximately 50 sales representatives as they built out their field sales organization.
Sourcing at that volume — with consistent quality across territories — requires a candidate network you can't build from a standing start. This engagement is one of the largest single commercial buildouts in our history.
During CooperVision's major U.S. commercial expansion, Connexis placed approximately 50 sales representatives as they built out their field sales organization.
Sourcing at that volume — with consistent quality across territories — requires a candidate network you can't build from a standing start. This engagement is one of the largest single commercial buildouts in our history.
During CooperVision's major U.S. commercial expansion, Connexis placed approximately 50 sales representatives as they built out their field sales organization.
Sourcing at that volume — with consistent quality across territories — requires a candidate network you can't build from a standing start. This engagement is one of the largest single commercial buildouts in our history.
Connexis recruits across diagnostics, life sciences, and medical device — these practices often intersect.
Life Sciences
Our full life sciences practice overview — tools, reagents, CDMO, CRO, and biotech.
Explore →Life Sciences
Engineering, project management, and BD talent for contract development and manufacturing organizations.
Explore →Diagnostics
Commercial and scientific talent for molecular diagnostic instrument and assay manufacturers.
Explore →Common questions about medical device recruiting.
Most medical device searches identify a viable shortlist within 4–6 weeks and reach an offer within 8–12 weeks when handled by a specialist. Executive roles, Class III regulatory and clinical affairs roles, and highly specialized engineering roles typically run longer.
We recruit across the medical device industry — surgical instruments, cardiovascular and structural heart, orthopedic and spine, neurological and neuromodulation, capital equipment, and combination products. We work with companies at all stages, from venture-backed pre-commercial startups to established global manufacturers and PE-backed portfolio companies.
Yes. Specialty-specific commercial searches are part of our practice. We understand that surgeon-facing sales, hospital administrative sales, and specialty physician sales are different disciplines requiring different candidate profiles, and we screen for the right specialty commercial experience rather than assuming device sales is device sales.
Yes. PMA-experienced regulatory affairs and clinical affairs candidates are part of our medical device practice. We screen for hands-on submission experience rather than tangential exposure — particularly important at Class III, where regulatory mis-hires can delay clinical trials and FDA submissions by months or years.
Both. Territory sales, field service, and team-expansion searches often run on a contingency basis. Executive, C-suite, and highly specialized regulatory or clinical affairs searches typically run retained. We'll tell you upfront which model makes sense for your specific search and why.
Commercial talent is our primary focus in medical device — territory sales reps, regional managers, and commercial leaders across a broad range of device categories. Our largest single engagement was placing approximately 50 sales representatives for a major vision care company during their U.S. commercial expansion. We've also placed across cardiovascular, spine, respiratory, and reproductive medicine. Medical device isn't our deepest practice the way diagnostics is, but we have a genuine broad commercial network in this space.
