SVP – Commercial Growth — Diagnostic-Instruments Business

The mandate

A diagnostic-instruments business expanded its hospital footprint through reagent-rental and managed placement agreements. Installed units grew rapidly, but test utilisation and reagent pull-through vary widely. Some placements serve clinically important low-volume pathways; others were won against ambitious volume commitments that never materialised. Service travel, duplicate analysers and expiring reagent inventory mean several apparently strategic accounts contribute less than commercial reporting suggests.

Hospital procurement is now consolidating contracts across networks and asking suppliers to support standardised pathways, uptime, interoperability and measurable laboratory productivity. Regional sales teams still manage opportunities instrument by instrument. Application science and service are involved late, and the account forecast often assumes test migration without budget, validation or clinician agreement. A proposed volume campaign would add placements before the existing base is understood.

The SVP – Commercial Growth will rebuild the commercial model around laboratory and network value. The remit covers strategic accounts, channels, pricing, contracting, commercial excellence, application adoption, installed-base productivity and the interfaces with service and market access. The SVP will influence approximately 1,125 employees and material partners across the broader customer and operating system.

This urgent, unplanned appointment is based in Galway with a hybrid pattern and reports to the Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor. The executive must spend substantial time in hospital laboratories and regional businesses. Growth is required, but the board will measure quality of installed revenue and customer outcomes rather than the number of instruments placed.

Why this seat is open

The role has been created after an enterprise review found that commercial responsibility ended too early at contract signature. Existing regional leaders remain accountable for their markets. The new SVP will establish global account and installed-base discipline and take direct ownership of the largest hospital-network opportunities and recovery plans.

What you will own

• Build a complete installed-base view by instrument, account, contract, test menu, utilisation, reagent pull-through, uptime, service cost and remaining commitment.
• Redesign the hospital-network proposition around workflow, turnaround, clinical pathway, interoperability, resilience and total laboratory economics.
• Lead commercial teams and partners across an approximately 1,125-person perimeter, with clear ownership from opportunity through validation, activation and sustained use.
• Set placement, pricing and contracting rules that incorporate committed volume, minimums, service, reagent expiry, redeployment, termination and data access.
• Create recovery, redeployment or exit plans for underused instruments while protecting clinically essential capacity and customer continuity.
• Integrate application science, service, digital and operations into bids before commitments are made; require resource and validation plans for assumed test migration.
• Govern distributors and regional channels using end-customer utilisation and service evidence rather than sell-in or placement volume alone.
• Reset commercial incentives and forecasts around activated tests, recurring contribution, retention and contract quality.

The first 12 months

• Days 1–90: Reconcile instruments, contracts, volumes and service records in priority markets. Stop placements that lack a credible activation case, identify accounts where clinical value and financial performance diverge and select hospital networks for direct executive engagement. Establish temporary contract and discount authorities.
• Months 4–9: Implement installed-base segmentation and account recovery, redeploy selected units and renegotiate priority agreements. Launch the network proposition with application, service and digital readiness built into bids. Introduce incentives and forecasts based on validation, activation, utilisation and contribution.
• Months 10–12: Demonstrate improved reagent pull-through and contribution in targeted accounts, sustainable utilisation at new placements and lower service cost dispersion. Complete the market and channel plan, establish leadership succession and show a qualified growth pipeline supported by laboratory conversion evidence.

What the board will measure

• Activated and sustained test volume per relevant instrument, distinguished from shipment, installation and validation milestones.
• Recurring account contribution after reagent, service, application support, inventory and contractual cost.
• Recovery, redeployment or orderly exit of underused placements without disruption to clinically necessary testing.
• Hospital-network wins with documented workflow, interoperability, validation and adoption plans, not price and instrument count alone.
• Forecast accuracy from contract through test migration, including visibility of customer, laboratory and resource dependencies.
• Distributor and regional performance based on end-user utilisation, service and retention with fewer hidden inventory or placement distortions.

The person

You are an SVP or VP of commercial, diagnostics business-unit leader, regional president or strategic-account executive with 22–28 years in in-vitro diagnostics, laboratory instruments or adjacent clinical technology. You have managed reagent-rental, placement or managed-service economics and corrected an installed base that was growing faster than utilisation. You have owned at least EUR 500 million in revenue or P&L and led at least 500 employees and partners.

You understand laboratory conversion beyond procurement. You can work through assay validation, clinician and laboratory adoption, workflow, interface, quality control, reagent logistics and service capacity. You have negotiated multi-hospital or laboratory-network agreements and can show where you declined an instrument placement because the full activation case did not exist.

Relevant candidates may come from diagnostics, pathology, laboratory automation or other medical technology with capital and recurring product economics. A general capital-equipment seller will not fit without clinical workflow and consumables depth. Distributor-led leaders must demonstrate visibility to end-customer use and the ability to change channel incentives.

The role is based in Galway with hybrid work and substantial international travel. Candidates elsewhere may qualify with realistic relocation and current European hospital-market experience. The SVP must be willing to expose unproductive placements even when doing so reduces headline installed-base growth.

Compensation and terms

The indicative base is EUR 285,000–390,000, with annual incentive and long-term participation. Measures will cover activated utilisation, recurring contribution, contract quality, hospital outcomes and leadership depth. This is a permanent role created urgently. Relocation and documented forfeited awards may be considered.

Confidentiality

The business, hospital networks, distributors and installed-base data are confidential. Identifying information will be released only after fit and confidentiality protections are complete. Applicants must not contact laboratories, procurement bodies or industry channels to infer the client.

Each response must contain no more than 49 words.