Careers

Working in HealthTech

A practical map of how clinicians move from the ward into health technology. Every pathway below lists what the job actually is, who hires for it, what it pays, and the proof of work you need before anyone will take the call.

Pathways

Seven routes out of full time clinical work. Most people take a hybrid of two.

Clinical Informatics

The most direct bridge out of the ward, and the one hospitals pay for.

Time: 6 to 24 months part time inside your current employer
Pay: Often a protected time arrangement first, then 180k to 320k USD as a full time CMIO track

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Medical Affairs and Clinical Strategy

The scientific conscience of a commercial organisation.

Time: 3 to 9 months of focused search
Pay: 170k to 300k USD depending on stage and scope

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Clinical Product Management

You stop asking for the feature and start deciding whether it ships.

Time: 6 to 18 months, often via an associate or clinical specialist role first
Pay: 160k to 290k USD, plus equity

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Health AI and Data Science

The clinicians who keep models honest are scarcer than the people who build them.

Time: 12 to 24 months of deliberate skill building
Pay: 180k to 340k USD, higher with equity at AI first companies

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Founding and Early Stage

The highest variance route, and the one with the fewest safety rails.

Time: Nights and weekends until revenue or funding, then a hard cut
Pay: Near zero, then 120k to 200k USD post seed, with equity as the real compensation

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Regulatory, Quality and Safety

Unglamorous, permanently in demand, and impossible to fake.

Time: 6 to 18 months, often via a certificate plus an internal quality role
Pay: 150k to 280k USD

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Venture, Corporate Development and Advisory

Judgement as the product, and a very small number of seats.

Time: 12 to 36 months, usually via scouting or advisory work first
Pay: Advisory in equity, principal roles 200k to 400k USD plus carry

Read the pathway

Role library

Titles clinicians actually get hired into, with indicative bands. Treat pay as a range, not a promise.

Role	Pathway	Level	Indicative band	Who hires
Physician InformaticistAny specialty, strongest from acute care	Clinical Informatics	Entry to mid	Protected sessions to 220k USD	Health systems, EHR vendors
Chief Medical Information OfficerSenior clinician with governance record	Clinical Informatics	Executive	250k to 380k USD	Hospitals, integrated delivery networks
Medical Science LiaisonSpecialists and pharmacists, PhDs common	Medical Affairs and Clinical Strategy	Entry	150k to 210k USD	Diagnostics, devices, digital therapeutics
Medical DirectorBoard certified with publication record	Medical Affairs and Clinical Strategy	Mid to senior	220k to 320k USD	Series B and later healthtech, payers
Clinical Product ManagerClinicians with systems instinct	Clinical Product Management	Mid	160k to 240k USD plus equity	Care delivery, EHR, workflow software
Clinical Solutions LeadStrong bedside credibility, customer facing	Clinical Product Management	Entry to industry	140k to 200k USD	Growth stage vendors
Clinical Lead, AIRadiology, pathology, critical care over indexed	Health AI and Data Science	Mid to senior	200k to 340k USD	AI diagnostics, model labs
Director of Clinical ValidationTrial design experience valued	Health AI and Data Science	Senior	220k to 320k USD	Diagnostics, SaMD companies
Clinical Safety OfficerRegistered clinician, often required by statute	Regulatory, Quality and Safety	Mid	150k to 240k USD	Health IT suppliers, NHS trusts, device firms
Regulatory Affairs DirectorClinical plus certificate	Regulatory, Quality and Safety	Senior	200k to 280k USD	Device and diagnostics companies
Founding Clinical OfficerDomain owner with buyer access	Founding and Early Stage	Founder	Equity heavy, low cash	Seed stage startups, venture studios
Clinical Advisor or Venture ScoutAny specialty with public writing	Venture, Corporate Development and Advisory	Side role	Equity, small retainers	Funds, corporate venture arms

Transition notes

Composite accounts assembled from common routes, used to show sequencing rather than to profile individuals.

26 months

Hospital medicine, eight years post training to Associate CMIO, then Head of Clinical Product

1.Joined the clinical decision support committee and rebuilt the sepsis alert with measured results
2.Negotiated two protected sessions a week for informatics work
3.Presented the alert rebuild at a national meeting, which produced the first vendor conversation
4.Moved to the vendor as a clinical product lead, kept one clinical session

18 months

Radiology, mid career to Clinical Lead at an AI diagnostics company

1.Spent six months learning Python well enough to interrogate a dataset
2.Ran a silent validation of a purchased model and wrote up the subgroup gaps
3.Chaired the AI governance group, which made the CV legible to industry
4.Hired to own validation and post market monitoring

14 months

General practice, part time to Cofounder, then Chief Medical Officer post seed

1.Wrote the problem statement in one page and tested it with 40 practice managers
2.Signed two letters of intent before building software
3.Found a technical cofounder through an accelerator, kept clinical sessions until seed close
4.Cut to one session a week only after the first paying contract