Build the team that takes healthcare AI from innovation to adoption.
Optima helps AI diagnostics, AI-enabled MedTech, health data and digital health companies hire the leadership, commercial, technical and clinical talent they need to scale across Europe — one business-critical appointment or a full European organisation.
The AI Healthcare ecosystem we recruit for
AI Diagnostics & Medical Imaging
Radiology AI, digital pathology, early detection, biomarker-based diagnostics.
AI-enabled MedTech & SaMD
Software as a medical device, connected devices, remote patient monitoring, clinical workflow technology.
Health Data & Clinical AI
Clinical data platforms, interoperability, clinical NLP, real-world evidence, personalised medicine.
Digital Health Platforms
Virtual care, chronic-care platforms, patient engagement, hospital workflow technology.
Established MedTech going AI-first
Diagnostics, imaging and device businesses adding AI products, data capability and digital commercial models.
Not sure which category fits? Most AI Healthcare clients sit across two or three of these at once — that's exactly the territory we specialise in.
AI Oncology Pathology · Lyon, FranceBuilding the European Sales Director role for a CE-IVDR certified AI pathology company
DiaDeep's AI applications — DiaKwant™ and DiaSurv™ — help pathologists quantify biomarkers and predict prognosis. Following a global distribution partnership with Leica Biosystems via the Aperio AI Store, DiaDeep needed a European Sales Director who could sell a certified AI diagnostics product into hospital and lab pathology departments — a fully passive, narrow candidate market.
Search: European Sales Director · Pan-European, 100% passive headhuntThanks again for the excellent service!
My-Tien Pham — Chief Operations Officer, DiaDeep
Discuss a search like this → · See more Optima case studies →
Recognise your situation
Scaling after investment
Series A/B/C or a strategic investment has just created a leadership and specialist-hiring requirement you didn't have six months ago.
Entering Europe
You've proven the model elsewhere and now need your first European leader, commercial team, or specialist organisation on the ground.
Innovation to commercialisation
The technology works. The next hires are the ones who get it adopted, funded through procurement, and sold.
Scaling regulated AI
You need people who can operate where AI, clinical evidence, data privacy and regulation genuinely intersect — not a generalist who'll learn on the job.
Entering new markets
A Country Manager, Sales Director, Market Access or Partnerships hire who understands the specific market you're entering next.
Upgrading leadership
The team that got you here isn't automatically the team that scales you from here.
Grouped by function, not job-board keywords
Recognise one of these roles as your next hire?
Executive Search
For CEO, C-suite and VP-level appointments where the wrong hire is a board-level problem.
View Executive Search →Mid-Management Search
For department heads, specialist leaders and the people who turn a funded strategy into execution.
View Mid-Management Search →Most AI Healthcare clients use both across a single build-out — Executive Search for the leadership layer, Mid-Management Search for the specialists who report into it.
The hardest candidates sit at intersections, not in single disciplines — machine learning and healthcare, product and hospital adoption, technology and regulatory reality, commercial ambition and clinical credibility.
A technically excellent candidate without healthcare context often stalls in front of a hospital buyer. A healthcare expert without the technology or scale experience often can't operate at the pace the business needs. Our role is finding the smaller number of people who can do both.
specialised sectors since 2013 — not generalist recruitment
internal sales targets — quality isn't traded for quota
candidate network across the UK, Europe and North America
CVs typically presented per role — depth over volume
of clients refer Optima to their own contacts
The best candidate is rarely in your home market
Optima recruits AI Healthcare talent across the UK, Germany/DACH, France, Benelux, the Nordics and Southern Europe, with North American reach for US companies building a European base.
See the full breakdown of Europe's AI healthcare talent clusters on ourDigital Health & MedTech sector page →
Strategic & clinical-commercial consultation
Proprietary market mapping
Targeted headhunting & assessment
Presentation & shortlist
Interview, offer & onboarding support
Building Your Next AI Healthcare Team?
Whether you're making one business-critical appointment or building a European organisation, talk to Optima about the talent market, the realistic candidate pool, and the right search strategy.
Common questions
What roles does an AI Healthcare recruitment agency recruit?
Everything from CEO and C-suite through to AI/ML leadership, clinical and regulatory specialists, and the commercial roles that get healthcare AI adopted — see the full breakdown above.
Can Optima help a US HealthTech company build a European team?
Yes — this is one of Optima's most common AI Healthcare briefs: a first European leader, commercial team, or full specialist organisation for a company that's already proven itself in the US.
Which European markets does Optima recruit AI Healthcare talent in?
The UK, Germany/DACH, France, Benelux, the Nordics and Southern Europe, with North American reach.
Does Optima recruit both executives and technical specialists?
Yes, through two services matched to seniority: Executive Search for C-suite/VP appointments, Mid-Management Search for department heads and specialists.
How do you find passive AI Healthcare candidates?
Through proprietary market mapping and direct, targeted approaches — not job-board advertising.
Can Optima support AI medical imaging and diagnostics companies specifically?
Yes — this sits within Optima's existing Digital Health & MedTech specialisation.
Do you recruit commercial as well as technical HealthTech roles?
Yes — commercial and European-expansion hiring gets equal priority to technical hiring on this page and in Optima's search work.
When should we use executive search rather than standard recruitment?
When the hire is business-critical, hard to find through advertising, and the cost of getting it wrong is high — typically C-suite, VP and specialist leadership roles.