Digital health start-ups are a burgeoning business area but there isn’t enough UK talent working in this space to go around. We examine the recruitment challenges and what companies need to be doing to stay ahead.
Everyone is getting in on digital health, including big brands not traditionally associated with the sector. The global market for digital health was worth roughly £114 bn in 2021 and has an expected annual growth rate of around 17%. In the UK, it is now the second largest sector within the life science industry – with 60% of digital health businesses formed since 2010.
For the companies operating in this space, it means successfully grappling with IT and mobile tech needs alongside the world of life science and healthcare. Whether it’s digitised systems for hospitals, mobile medical devices or health apps, this can involve complicated medical regulations and an understanding of pharmaceuticals and biotech. So there are one or two challenges to overcome, including the availability of skilled staff, such as software engineers and programme managers who are used to working in highly regulated life science environments.
Matthew Moulton, Recruitment Manager for Medtech and Diagnostic at Real Staffing, says there is insufficient UK talent in this sector because digital health is still in its infancy compared with other markets.
Medical device, pharmaceutical and biotech companies must also deal with the risk exposure posed by using digital tech for virtual health and care delivery through to re-implementing digital aspects into a product’s lifecycle.
On the candidate side, everyone working in medical devices wants to get into digital health – “it’s likely they won’t turn down these jobs,” according to John Lennon, UK Medtech Principal Consultant for Real Staffing. But he says their current training and knowledge can be a barrier. “It’s very important for these people to have such skills as connected health, SaMD, IEC 62304 or mobile application experience,” he explains. Another key standard candidates should aim to have knowledge in is ISO 27001 for Information Security Management.
Tapping into European talent
So how can UK-based digital health companies land the talent they need? Lennon suggests medtech start-ups can take advantage of hybrid working to fill positions remotely with skilled candidates from abroad. In countries like France and the Netherlands, there is a much broader candidate base, he says, because they have “more mature digital health markets”.
Lennon believes to improve the UK landscape, universities could do with introducing more degrees in digital health and medtech. In Ireland, for example, students have a wide and established range of options at undergraduate and postgraduate level. “There are courses in the UK, but it all feels relatively new. So the market has yet to see many graduate candidates coming through with these degrees,” he explains.
Exposure to on-the-job training during a degree course is also vital, he stresses. In France, for example, students undertake a six-year degree, which includes two years’ workplace experience.
“I worked with a big digital health start-up last year and most of my candidates were coming from Portugal, Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands,” says Lennon.
These people don’t need to work on site because much of the work is based around coding for a program or device and tying in with people who focus on the regulatory side, which they can do remotely from their laptops.
“Even medical device companies, some of whom would never have entertained home-working for their staff, are now seeing absolute value in hybrid working,” Lennon explains.
Moulton says the pressure on UK businesses to get existing products ready for the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) has also likely hindered the pace of new product introduction or development over here.
Keeping an open mind
Companies can, of course, leverage people internally by upskilling current staff around medical devices and other relevant regs. But it’s crucial they also consider casting the net wider to attract experienced recruits from other industries and sectors, says Moulton.
He urges companies to be open-minded and see what transferable skills can be applied to roles within their organisations. “If they are struggling for people who have medical device or life science-specific experience, what other highly regulated industries are there, where people would have had to work under [similarly] strict guidelines?” For example, they could look to hire people currently working within nuclear or aerospace, he suggests.
“There aren’t actually that many job titles in digital health,” explains Lennon. “At the end of the day, it’s about creating a platform or architecture, which needs senior level CTOs, but also program and product managers, software engineers and then people on the quality and regulatory side who have a software background.”
For program and product manager positions, preferable candidates will likely come from other start-ups, he says, adding: “I don’t think the talent would be as useful coming from multinationals that have been around for years.”
Software development engineers can certainly transfer into digital health from outside the sector or life science industry. It could be from banking or even big brands in banking and FMCG multinationals, says Lennon.
And with the explosion in digital health set to continue, skilled people with experience in cyber security, data migration and analysis will also become increasingly valuable.
Accelerating hiring decisions
In the current labour market, the number one tip for digital health companies that need more staff is to ensure the interview process is fast and efficient. Rather than a three to four-stage procedure, particularly for a business-critical role, Moulton advises trimming this right down. “If a company identifies someone they think is a good person, they’re not going to hang around for long,” he says. “So, it’s important to make sure the interview process is as slick as possible for both sides.”
Lennon adds: “If companies don’t act quickly, they’re going to lose out massively. So, if they’re using a recruitment partner, make sure the partner knows how vital the role is and trust them when they find someone. It will speed things up a lot.”
For start-ups that naturally want to grow their business, contractors are a useful avenue, too. “Companies now need to be aware that it’s going to be a struggle to get good people; it won’t necessarily just take two to three months to find someone,” explains Moulton. “So, I would suggest they consider contractors as well, where they can, if it’s very business-critical.
“If they're focusing purely on permanent staff to grow out their business, the turnaround time for these people is getting longer and the element of risk for the client is going to be very, very high.”
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