Chief Strategy Officer — Implantable-Devices Division

The mandate

An implantable-devices division is seeing selected procedures move from major hospitals into ambulatory and short-stay settings. The clinical technique is established, but the buying and operating model changes. Smaller sites carry less inventory, have limited on-site technical support and evaluate procedure time, instrument burden and reimbursement differently. Products designed around broad hospital trays and consignment can create unattractive working capital and workflow outside that environment.

Regional teams have responded with local kits, pricing and service arrangements. Their initiatives reveal demand but also risk portfolio fragmentation and inconsistent evidence. The board must decide which procedures and markets justify a dedicated ambulatory proposition, which existing products can be adapted and where the site-of-care shift is more headline than sustainable economics.

The Chief Strategy Officer will own the enterprise site-of-care and portfolio response. The remit spans strategy, portfolio, market development, evidence economics, partnership and board decision support. Product, clinical, commercial and operations leaders retain delivery authority. The CSO must connect reimbursement, clinical workflow, inventory, service and product design before capital and customer commitments scale.

Approximately 800 employees and material partners sit within the wider strategic perimeter. This planned new role is on site in Munich and reports to the Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor. International market work is central; the answer will differ by procedure, payer and healthcare system and must not be copied indiscriminately.

Why this seat is open

Site-of-care decisions currently sit among regional commercial teams, product franchises and market access. No executive owns the total portfolio and operating consequences. The board created the CSO seat after local pilots produced conflicting cases and new product requests without a common evaluation standard.

What you will own

• Define priority procedures and markets for ambulatory or short-stay strategy using clinical appropriateness, reimbursement, site capability, workflow and economics.
• Govern portfolio and evidence investment above EUR 250 million across implants, instruments, sterile kits, digital support and selected service models.
• Build complete site economics covering price, reimbursement, procedure time, inventory, consignment, sterilisation, waste, training, support and conversion.
• Decide which hospital products can transfer, which require dedicated configuration and which should not be pursued outside existing sites of care.
• Establish partnership strategy with distributors, service providers, facilities and digital or logistics capabilities where ownership is not essential.
• Prevent local variants and discounts from becoming portfolio commitments without regulatory, supply and lifecycle assessment.
• Chair strategic portfolio reviews and stop, sequence or scale pilots based on evidence, releasing capital and technical capacity.
• Build a strategy team able to work across clinical, access, product, commercial and operations and maintain explicit assumptions by market.

The first 12 months

• Days 1–90: Review procedure migration evidence and local pilots, observe representative hospital and ambulatory workflows and establish decision criteria. Freeze expansion of unsupported variants, reconcile site economics and choose a small set of procedure-market combinations for deeper validation.
• Months 4–9: Secure board approval for the selected strategy, align product, evidence, supply and commercial work and close weak pilots. Test the proposition with payers, clinicians, facility leaders and operations. Define partnership and portfolio boundaries before scaling.
• Months 10–12: Demonstrate clinical, workflow and economic viability in selected settings, complete the three-year site-of-care roadmap and show resources released from non-priority work. Establish triggers for expansion, adaptation or exit and successors across strategic disciplines.

What the board will measure

• Procedure and market choices supported by clinical appropriateness, reimbursement and full site economics.
• Portfolio and evidence resources concentrated on approved ambulatory propositions, with unsupported variants stopped.
• Inventory, instrument, service and training model proven in selected facilities without hidden hospital infrastructure.
• Adoption and procedure outcomes in pilots supported by sustainable facility and company contribution.
• Partnerships preserving clinical, quality and strategic rights and providing capabilities the company chose not to own.
• Strategy forecasts updated as reimbursement, workflow or site evidence changes, without protecting an attractive migration narrative.

The person

You are a Chief Strategy Officer, SVP of strategy and portfolio, implant business leader or market-development executive with 22–28 years in medical devices. You have led a site-of-care shift or created a proposition for ambulatory, office or home settings. You have governed at least EUR 200 million in portfolio investment and influenced 600 or more employees.

You understand that lower-acuity settings are not simply smaller hospitals. You can evaluate procedure selection, reimbursement, clinician and staff workflow, inventory, sterile processing, training and emergency pathways. You have stopped a market or product expansion after full site economics contradicted demand signals.

Relevant backgrounds include orthopaedics, cardiovascular, surgical, drug delivery or other implantable and procedure-based devices. Health-services or payer candidates may qualify only with substantial product and portfolio accountability. Consulting backgrounds require direct resource and implementation consequences.

The role is on site in Munich with international travel. Candidates elsewhere may qualify with relocation and broad European site-of-care experience. The CSO must recognise real market variation without allowing every region to create its own uncontrolled portfolio.

Compensation and terms

The compensation framework includes EUR 285,000–390,000 in base salary, annual incentive and long-term participation. Measures will reflect site-of-care choices, evidence, portfolio concentration, pilot economics and strategic rights. This is a permanent new appointment. Relocation and verified forfeited awards may be considered.

Confidentiality

The company, products, facilities, pilots and market cases are confidential. Identifying information will be released only after fit and protections are established. Candidates must not contact clinicians, payers or facilities to infer the organisation.

Each response must contain no more than 49 words.