If you’re building a digital health product in the UK right now, whether that’s a clinical decision support tool, a patient-facing app, or an AI diagnostic, clinical safety is a key part to safe deployment.

That role itself is called a ‘Clinical Safety Officer’ And I think it’s one of the most important, undervalued, and misunderstood positions in health technology today.

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There’s a version of your job search that nobody talks about.

Picture this.. you spend hours rewriting your CV…you refresh job boards…you apply…you wait. Only to hear nothing. And then you find out, through a WhatsApp message from someone in your network, that your dream role was filled two weeks ago and it was never posted…

Welcome to the hidden job market and to be honest, it features across all verticals.

Why job boards are already too late…

Research suggests up to many roles are filled before they’re ever publicly advertised. In health tech, where teams are small, hiring is personal, and culture fit matters enormously.

Startups don’t always have the bandwidth to run a full recruitment process. They hire the person they already know, or the person someone they trust recommended. By the time a role reaches LinkedIn, the hiring manager may already have someone in mind and you’re competing against hundreds of others just to get a first call.

This isn’t a reason to stop applying to posted roles. It’s a reason to stop only applying to posted roles.

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How to access roles before they exist

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If you’re reading this, you’re probably already convinced that health technology is where you want to be or where you want to go next. Whether you’re a clinician or an engineer drawn to work that genuinely matters the time is now. The demand for people who can sit at the intersection of clinical understanding and technological capability is growing.

But a strong market pull does not necessary mean it is easy to obtain a role within the sector.

This post will identify where to actually look for roles in health technology.

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The Health technology sector is a growing and so are the available roles. If you’ve been watching the health technology sector from the sidelines and wondering whether now is the right time to make a move….

The answer is at the bottom of this blog…

This week I want to do something a little different and get practical. Across social media I get asked how to actually navigate the health tech job market — which roles to look for, where to look, and how to position yourself.

This will be a three part blog series so lets dig in to Part 1: Which roles to look for?

The Market Right Now…

Let’s start with some grounding context. Healthcare remains one of the few sectors showing genuine growth. Healthtech was the strongest UK sector for investment in Q1 2025, raising $1.8 billion, surpassing both fintech and enterprise software. This investment demonstrates the potential growth and economic empowerment in the future of roles available in the health technology sector.

The Roles Worth Pursuing

Health technology is not a monolithic field. Depending on your background, there are multiple entry points. Here are some of the roles available:

Clinical Analyst

Clinical analysts sit at the intersection of patient data and decision-making, transforming raw clinical information into insights that improve treatment plans and streamline operations. If you have a clinical or data background, this is worth exploring.

Data Engineer

Data engineers in health tech are responsible for building and maintaining the systems that keep health information accurate, secure, and usable. With interoperability still a huge unsolved challenge in healthcare (a large percentage of patient data remains unstructured and siloed), skilled data engineers are always needed.

Business Analyst

Business analysts evaluate healthcare processes to identify efficiencies and translate clinical needs into technical requirements. Increasingly, this involves leveraging AI and machine learning to derive actionable insights from data. Understanding AI tools are key competitive advantages.

Digital Health Product Manager

As digital health companies mature, there is growing demand for product managers who understand both the clinical context and the technology stack. If you have a product background from another industry and any exposure to healthcare, this could be your path in.

Remote Care Roles

Remote prescribing roles involve qualified healthcare professionals—typically Independent Prescribers (IP)—issuing medications via telephone, video call, or secure digital platforms without a face-to-face consultation. These roles are rapidly expanding within the NHS and private sectors to improve patient access and reduce GP workloads.

Final Thoughts

Health Technology is changing the traditional image of healthcare. Whether you’re a data-driven analyst or a remote clinician, the 'digital front door' is wide open. For those willing to embrace AI and remote delivery, the career opportunities aren't just growing—they’re evolving into entirely new ways of evolving Healthcare.

The Industry Needs You to Be Bold

Problems the health technology industry are trying to solve are genuinely hard. Fragmented data. Clinician burnout. Health inequity. An ageing population etc. These are not small problems, and they will not be solved by people who are waiting to feel ready.

Audacity is about being ready and taking that step to follow your passion. Audacious candidates are the ones who reach out before they’re “qualified,” who write before they have an audience, who ask hard questions in interviews, who apply to the role that feels slightly out of reach.. and these are candidates health tech needs.

Because solving hard problems takes people who fundamentally believe they can.

A Framework for Audacious Entry

If you want to land your first health tech role in the next six months, here’s what I’d actually do:

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The health technology sector is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing industries. However, it is competitive — especially around the availability of jobs. It sits at the intersection of life sciences, data, policy, and patient outcomes. The stakes are high. The work is meaningful. And the door is not going to swing open just because you knocked politely.

I get asked frequently on how to break into health tech. Some enter with “I’ve been applying to entry-level roles on LinkedIn,” or “I’m waiting until I finish my certification,” or “I don’t feel ready yet.”

To truly secure a role you must be bold..

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For many professionals looking for a new challenge, this creates an obvious question:

How do I move into HealthTech without starting from scratch?

Whether you are clinical, commercial, operational, academic, technical or entirely outside healthcare — your previous industry experience is not a disadvantage. It is the one thing that will set you apart from your peers.

This article will help you reframe what you already know into language the HealthTech ecosystem understands.

1. Stop Asking “Am I Qualified?” Start Asking “What Problems Have I Solved?”

HealthTech is not a monolith. It is a collection of companies solving different types of problems:

• Data fragmentation

• Workforce inefficiency

• Patient access

• Safety and compliance

• Financial sustainability

If you come from an industry outside of health technology, experiences can be translated across. For example:

Experience in retail builds a deep understanding of operations at scale — balancing volume, efficiency and customer experience under constant pressure.

A background in finance develops fluency in governance, compliance and risk management within regulated environments.

Consulting sharpens the ability to navigate ambiguity, structure complex problems and align diverse stakeholders with competing priorities.

Clinical work grounds you in real-world constraints, resource limitations and the human consequences of system inefficiencies.

The real differentiator is not the industry itself, but your ability to clearly articulate the problems you have solved and the measurable impact you delivered. HealthTech companies do not hire job titles — they hire problem-solvers.

2. Learn the System You Want to Enter

Every healthcare market operates differently.

In the UK, companies often sell into the NHS — a publicly funded system with layered procurement processes and strict regulatory oversight.

In the United States, the landscape includes private providers, insurers and large health systems.

In Europe, reimbursement pathways differ again.

Before applying for roles, understand:

• Who pays for the product?

• Who uses the product?

• Who approves the product?

• What evidence is required?

For example, if you are targeting companies that integrate with Electronic Health Records, you should understand the ecosystem around providers such as EMIS, SystmOne, or Cerner.

This is not about memorising technical specifications. It is about demonstrating commercial awareness of how healthcare actually functions.

3. Translate Industry-Specific Expertise into HealthTech Language

This is where most transitions fail.

You describe what you did.
The hiring manager cannot see how it applies.

Here is how translation works:

If You Come from Finance

Instead of saying:

Managed regulatory reporting across multiple jurisdictions.

Say:

Led compliance processes in a heavily regulated environment, aligning operational delivery with external governance requirements.

HealthTech companies operate under strict frameworks such as UK GDPR and clinical risk standards like DCB0129. Demonstrating comfort with regulatory scrutiny is powerful.

If You Come from Operations or Retail

Instead of:

Improved warehouse efficiency.

Say:

Redesigned high-volume workflows to reduce processing time and minimise error risk under operational pressure.

Healthcare environments are operationally complex. Flow matters. Bottlenecks matter. Error reduction matters.

The context changes. The principles do not.

If You Come from Tech (Non-Healthcare)

Instead of:

Built scalable SaaS products.

Say:

Delivered user-centric digital solutions with cross-functional teams, balancing technical feasibility with end-user experience.

Then add:

Currently building understanding of interoperability standards and healthcare data governance.

That final sentence signals intent and direction.

4. Demonstrate Respect for Clinical Reality

Healthcare is different from other industries for one central reason:

The margin for error is smaller.

A bug in an e-commerce checkout creates frustration.
A bug in a prescribing system can create harm.

When you speak about innovation in HealthTech, anchor it in safety, usability and clinical context.

Discuss:

• Human factors

• Workflow integration

• Risk mitigation

• Evidence generation

Even if you are not a clinician, show that you understand the responsibility that comes with building in this space.

This earns credibility quickly.

5. Build Evidence Before You Need It

You do not need a HealthTech title to build HealthTech credibility.

You can:

• Write publicly about digital health trends.

• Analyse case studies of product rollouts.

• Volunteer for digital transformation projects internally.

• Take short courses in healthcare data or regulation.

Document what you learn. Reflect on it.

Hiring managers are looking for signals of initiative.

6. Be Strategic About Where You Apply

HealthTech includes:

• Early-stage startups

• Scale-ups

• Established software vendors

• Consultancy and digital transformation partners

• Public sector innovation arms

Large organisations may value formal healthcare experience.
Startups may value adaptability, pace and commercial instinct.

If you are transitioning from another industry, early-stage or growth-stage companies often provide more flexibility — particularly if you bring skills in operations, growth, compliance, or product delivery.

7. Rewrite Your CV with Translation in Mind

Your CV is not a biography. It is a positioning document.

For each role, ask:

• Does this demonstrate regulated environment experience?

• Does this show cross-functional collaboration?

• Does this highlight measurable impact?

• Does this reflect decision-making under uncertainty?

HealthTech companies look for individuals who can operate in complexity.

Try to demonstrate:

• Structured thinking

• Stakeholder management

• Operational improvement

• Technical literacy

• Ethical awareness

Final Reflection

Moving into HealthTech is not about abandoning your previous identity.

It is about reframing it. Healthcare needs people who understand systems. Your previous industry taught you something valuable. In order to use this to your advantage it is important to translate this — clearly, confidently and strategically.

Taking a step to change careers or industries can be daunting but having the ability to plan and outline key steps to reach your goal is a strong tool for success. Historically, from school to now, the education system has supported our ability to plan and reach our goals. For example, when revising for an exam, the most efficient way to do this is to plan a revision schedule and execute.

Planning your career is no different.

How to plan for Five Years?

It might seem farfetched to think about what might happen in five years time. But it is important to have a vision of where you would like to end up. Planning a Five Year plan is usually split into two stages.

Stage 1

The first stage of planning is self reflection. Understanding who you are, who you want to be and where you want to end up, is a critical stage to the Five Year Plan.

Key questions to ask yourself are:

• Where do I see myself in Five Years?

• What do I enjoy doing?

• What kind of roles do I like doing?

Stage 2

The second stage is rooted in working backwards. The best place to start is at Year 5 and work your way to the current year.

Year 5

Many roles in Health Technology have a requirement of 3+ years. If you are new to the field - taking the time to plan now would be ideal.

Sometimes it takes real imagination and creative thinking to get your brain to view what could be possible and the role you want to undertake.

Imagine your ideal role…

What is the title? What Salary would you like to earn? Where would it be based?

Year 3

Year 3 focusses on growth - what things need to be done to ensure Year 5 occurs. This could be training, courses, presentations etc.

What major milestone must be hit to make Year 5 possible? Possibly training?

Year 1

Year 1 requires the reflection of the points in stage 1 and think about what are the basic things which can bed done now to set you on your journey.

Final Thoughts

A 5-year plan is a compass, not an absolute.

Set a “Quarterly Calibration” date. Every three months, check in on your progress. If the goal no longer excites you, change the goal and grow.

Step 1: Domain Literacy

Whether you are a Clinician, Technical or Non-Technical, health technology has its own domain dictionary. If you are a clinician you may find it easier to understand and grasp the language. However, many times the nuances between clinical practice and health technology are different, so it would be ideal to swot up on some of the following areas:

• Interoperability: HL7 and FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) are data standards. These are the protocols that allow different systems (like a Pharmacy Management Record, Electronic Health Record and Wearable) to talk to each other.

• The Regulatory Landscape: Regulation in healthcare can be overwhelming. There are many different types of regulations to be adhered to. However, it would be ideal to know of them, rather than study each one in depth. Some include:

  • UK GDPR

  • Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT).

  • DCB0129 / DCB0160

• Clinical Workflows: Understand how a patient moves through the system. Many health technology products are developed with a goal to transform clinical and non-clinical workflows across healthcare organisations. Understanding this will be critical to obtaining your next role. Be mindful, that different countries deliver healthcare differently and therefore it would be ideal to review the healthcare system of the country you are applying to.

Step 2: Bridge the Technical Gap

Health technology companies, like any other are developing teams and therefore having the ability to relay your thoughts and ideas across different teams is critical. To do this it is important to:

• Understand common language used by different members of the team. For example, engineers will use language such as ‘parse’ ‘code’ ‘deploy’. Whereas product owners will use words such as ‘user stories’, and clinicians will use terms such as ‘patient journey’.

Step 3: Translate Your “Human Factor” Skills

In HealthTech, the “User” is often a stressed clinician or a vulnerable patient. Your ability to apply Human Factor Analysis is a massive asset.

• The “Context of Use”: Highlight your understanding that a product used in a high-pressure pharmacy environment needs different UI/UX than a social media app.

• Stakeholder Management: You will sit across different teams, for example between engineers, clinicians, and business owners. Practice articulating technical constraints to clinicians and clinical needs to developers.

Step 4: Build a “Proof of Knowledge” Portfolio

In your current role or work experience, there will be things you do everyday which consist of transferable skills. Highlight these examples and document them. This will help you in your interview.

• The Problem

• The Solution

• The Impact

Step 5: Target the “Right” Companies for Roles

Don’t just look at “Big Tech.” Look at the ecosystem supporting the Healthcare system (e.g. NHS)

1. Electronic Health Record (EHR) Providers: Companies like EMIS, SystmOne or Cerner

2. Specialist Platforms: Private prescribing tools companies

3. InsurTech & MedTech Startups: These firms often value “agile” experience from other industries more than traditional NHS clinical backgrounds.

Final Thought

Whichever role you want to go for, you will be asked to share a cover letter and up to date CV. Therefore, it is essential that you update your CV to ensure you map to the job description.

A recent opening for an Enterprise Lead in Healthcare & Life Sciences at Anthropic offers a total compensation package of up to £280,000.

Whether you are a clinician looking to leave the ward/primary care or a non-clinician looking to move into health technology, this role is an incredible demonstration of what ‘big tech’ is willing to put in to land the best candidates for the role.

What are they actually looking for?

Breakdown of the Role:

Data is huge in Healthcare, however access and assimilation are somewhat up for debate. Through this role, Anthropic seem to be looking for an individual who can explain how an LLM can support Healthcare and Life sciences.

Health Technology is a complex landscape requiring fluency in multiple languages - Regulation, Technology and Clinician speak.

This role requires the candidate to be a translator.

• The Language of the Lab (aka Anthropic): You must understand “Constitutional AI,” context windows, and why a model like Claude is potentially more equipped for clinical documentation than a standard chatbot.

• The Language of the Ward (Clinical Area): You must understand Electronic Health Records, FHIR standards for data exchange, and linking this with AI and why taking the step to subscribe to Claude would be beneficial.

How to Apply?

1. Sell “Safety,” Not “Speed”

In fintech or retail, AI is about being fast. In health tech, AI is about being steerable and safe. Anthropic is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) whose purpose ‘whose purpose is the responsible development and maintenance of advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity’

If you are going to apply to this role, it is important to understand how Anthropic’s position could impact the procurement of this technology as a standalone but also in comparison to its competitors.

One way to do this is to sell the aspects of transparency and how the model is trained to support the underlying philosophy of the company.

An example could be:

• From: “Our AI will save you 40 hours a week.”

• To: “Our AI provides an auditable, transparent trail that reduces risk while automating an administrative burden.”

2. The “Stakeholder Map” Strategy

Ultimately, this is a sales role - You aren’t just selling to one person. Procurement in healthcare is long, laborious and incredibly complex. But one way to add ease to the role is to clearly define your stakeholders and navigate using a clear strategy. As this is a technology, which could impact patient care but also would require buy in from the procurement team. The following would be my initial list of stakeholders:

• The CEO of the Trust/ICB

• The Commissioner(s)

• The Chief Clinical/Medical Informatics Officer

Final Thought

Healthcare is the hardest industry for AI to penetrate because the stakes are human lives. However, when done safely and minimising risk to as a low as possible it can have an incredible impact.

Good luck! Comment if you’d like the link to the role!

Focussing on Health technology specifically - everything is new. There are new teams, building new technology, attempting to build new pipelines to change healthcare as we know it. With so much at stake, the odds of being successful are stacked against founders and teams. Therefore, to ensure the highest level of success teams will hire based on experience, trust and recommendation.

If you’re looking to break into Health Tech in 2026, applying through job boards and Linkedin won’t be enough. This post will explain why networking isn’t just “nice to have”, but should be your primary strategy to securing the role that you want.

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Here is a deep dive into some specific roles that might take your interest…

1. Business Development Manager (BDM)

In health tech, Business Development isn’t just “sales”—it’s Partnership Building. In healthcare, the sales cycles are incredibly long and money tends to be scarce…therefore being able to build a relationship counts for more than you might think.

Unlike traditional software companies, where you might sell to a single manager, in health tech BDMs often navigate three or more points of contact: the Payer (Insurance - US, Commissioner - UK), the Provider (Hospital/Clinic/Pharmacy), and the Patient.

• The Mission: Identifying new commercial opportunities, such as getting a digital health app onto a hospital’s approved vendor list or securing a contract with an ICB/private insurer.

• Key Tasks: Bid writing for government contracts, managing the long sales cycles (which can take 12–18 months), and building trust with Chief Medical Officers.

• Why it’s great for non-clinicians: It rewards those who understand commercialisation - how a piece of tech can actually save/make a hospital money.

2. Service Designer

Service Design is a brilliant way to be creative yet pragmatic. A Service Designer focuses on the entire patient journey, including what happens off-screen.

• The Mission: Mapping out how a digital tool fits into a physical clinic. If an app tells a patient to go get a blood test, the Service Designer ensures the clinic is ready for that request.

• Key Tasks: Creating “Service Blueprints” that show the front-stage (what the patient sees) and behind the scene (what the doctors and practice staff do) processes.

• Why it’s great for non-clinicians: It requires systems thinking. You are essentially an architect for the “flow” of care, ensuring technology reduces friction rather than adding to a doctor’s burnout. This type of role can be challenging yet rewarding.

3. Project / Program Manager

In health tech, Project Managers (PMs) are the “glue” that keeps a deployment from falling apart. Implementation is notoriously difficult because you are often managing multiple teams (design, engineering, clinical safety). Your role is to take everyone to the finish line on time.

• The Mission: Leading the rollout of a technology within a specific health system or region.

• Key Tasks: Managing “Interoperability” (making sure Data A talks to System B), ensuring you have the right team to manage compliance, and coordinating between software engineers and clinical staff.

• Why it’s great for non-clinicians: You don’t need to know how to treat a patient, but you do need to be a closer. You need to be able to manage the project and ensure the product is released at the right time.

If these roles have piqued your interest, the next step is to identify how to secure these roles and where to find them. My next sub will take a deep dive and focus on the ‘how’.

Some of the most impactful people in health tech are non-clinicians. For example, Product managers, engineers, designers, operators, data scientists, policy thinkers and marketers to name a few.

These are the roles which are helping to shape the future of Healthcare.

However, the path in isn’t obvious, but there is a formula to finding the right role.

What is Health Technology as an Industry?

In order to make a play for this vertical, it is critical to understand the industry. Healthcare as an industry is unique, you might think ‘oh this is because it is regulated’. However, this is a common misconception. There are many industries which are regulated such as:

• Finance

• Aerospace

• Food and Agriculture

Health technology is slightly different because it stems (naturally) from Healthcare.

Healthcare as an industry (since its inception) has been notoriously complex. This is because it has been built in blocks that have been layered on top of each other - irrespective of whether the blocks are the same shape, size or format.

Therefore by proxy, health tech is a messy intersection of several industries:

• Healthcare delivery

• Software and data

• Regulation and policy

• Business models and incentives

• Human behaviour

Leaders of Health Technology companies are forward thinkers and incept a vision for innovation and future thinking. Sometimes visionaries find it hard to assimilate the practical steps to make the vision come to fruition. To add a layer to this perception, many founders/leaders of health technology companies who have a clinical background (including myself to an extent) - find it hard to generate revenue. I know what you are thinking - ‘ this is because clinicians aren’t business people’ but actually this is incorrect. Anyone can build a business and make money, but for clinicians it is because of deep ingrained alturism. We see this trait more within the UK ecosystem because Healthcare is ‘free at the point of use’ via the National Health Service (NHS) and therefore it can feel inherently difficult to charge for a service we (clinicians) feel should be free.

This is where being a non-clinician is a huge advantage…

Where Non-Clinicians Thrive

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The first step to landing your first product role is to know your expertise and what you bring to the table as a clinician.

The Anatomy of Clinical Insight

In product development, “insight” often refers to data analytics and user stories. In healthcare, clinical insight is more nuanced. It consists of three layers:

• Workflow Intuition: Understanding that clinicians in practice don’t work in a straight line. They move from patient to phone to computer to hallway. A product that assumes a linear path will fail.

• The “Silent” Risks: Identifying where a software lag or a confusing UI could lead to a medication error or a missed critical lab value.

• User centricity: Recognising that the clinician is a user under extreme stress. Clinical insights ensures the product reduces “cognitive load” rather than adding to it.

The most successful products translate clinical observations and workflows into specific technical requirements.

Bridging the Gap: From Insight to Role

If you are a clinician looking to move from clinical practice to a product role, you are essentially becoming a “translator.” Your new role will be to translate clinical workflows for engineering teams to build.

Here is a 3 step guide to secure your new role:

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As a Clinician we have incredible insights on what products work best within our area of practice. However, product managers spend years developing their methodology on what makes a good product. To marry up being both a clinician and wanting to enter a product role here are some tips to help you land the perfect role:

1. Master the “Product Language”

You already know the medical jargon; now you need the tech stack vocabulary. You don’t need to know how to code, but it would be helpful to understand how software is built. A few terms which will help you along the way:

• Agile/Scrum:

  Agile methodology is an iterative cycle of managing a product, whereby a project is broken down into a life cycle.

  • Work is broken down into small manageable cycles called ‘sprints’.

  • The important thing here to note is each team may work differently and it is your job to ask the question and understand how, for you to know where to slot in.

• The MVP (Minimum Viable Product): In the perfect world, we would want everything to be perfect before it reaches the patient. In real life, with scarce resources this is quite difficult to do. Within product teams, you will learn to ship the simplest version that works and iterate based on feedback. It is important to note here that as a clinician it would be ideal for you to review the product to ensure it is clinically safe to do so with each new release.

• UX/UI: User experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) are key components of how users interact with the screens of the tool.

  • Familiarise yourself with how humans interact with screens. A course in Human Factors can help gain experience in this.

• Health Informatics: Understanding data and how it moves through a system can be valuable in your role within clinical product. Learn about FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) and how different systems (EHRs, wearables) talk to each other. I discuss this a lot on my instagram/tiktok.

2. Audit Your Own Workflow

Start looking at the software you use daily through a critical lens.

• The “Why” Exercise: When you find an EHR feature frustrating, don’t just complain—diagnose it. Why is it frustrating? Is it a UI issue (button placement) or a logic issue (the workflow doesn’t match the clinical steps)?

• Solution Mapping: Write down how you would fix it. This is essentially “Product Spec” writing. Use this as an example when you get to your interview round.

3. Build your Experience

You don’t have to quit your job tomorrow. Most health technology companies look for part-time advisors or “Clinical Champions” to help pilot their tools.

• Internal Opportunities: Volunteer for your hospital’s Informatics committee or participate in UAT (User Acceptance Testing) for new software rollouts.

• Consulting: Offer your expertise to early-seed startups as a Subject Matter Expert (SME). This builds your resume and proves you can work with engineers.

A Final Piece of Advice: Lean into your “Edge”

Lean into your experiences - Your value lies in the fact that you have lived and breathed the area and problems the company is trying to solve for.

Build your experience to be able to seamlessly enter product teams and support them with their growth and designs.

In health technology, clinical insight isn’t just about knowing your clinical area; it’s about understanding the interplay between technology and human behaviour.

However, does every health technology company have clinicians onboard?

In the high-stakes world of health technology, there is a recurring cautionary tale:

“A well-funded startup builds a sleek, AI-powered platform designed to “disrupt” patient care”

It makes the headlines across the top digital health publications, Digital health, Sifted, Linkedin etc..

Only to find out that it doesn’t land it’s first customer…

Why?

Because it doesn’t fit the actual workflow of its user base.

Across many companies the missing ingredient is?

Traditional Clinician Roles in Health Technology Companies

In many tech circles, clinicians are seen as “SMEs” (Subject Matter Experts). SMEs tend to be interviewed once a month and may review designs. But to build a product that is actually fit for purpose which scales— requires deep understanding of the area for which the product is being built.

Clinicians have lived experience of each eventuality that occurs within their field of practice. Therefore embedding clinicians in teams provides the highest rate of developing a successful product because they have lived and breathed the problems companies are trying to solve.

What do Clinical-led teams bring to the table (IRL)?

1. Bridging the Clinical Gap

Engineers and traditional Product Managers (PMs) are trained to solve for efficiency and logic. However, healthcare is often governed by clinical intuition, regulation and patient safety.

• The Tech View: “Let’s add a mandatory 10-field form to ensure high-quality data.”

• The Clinical Reality: A nurse is balancing a tablet in one hand while managing a crashing patient with the other. They will skip the form every single time.

A clinician on the product team acts as a “reality filter.” They understand that a tool that adds 30 seconds to a task isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a barrier to care.

2. Navigating the “Hidden” Risk

Standard software risk is about bugs and downtime. Healthtech risk is about morbidity and mortality.

Clinicians bring a trained eye for “edge cases” that aren’t just technical glitches, but safety hazards. They can spot when an algorithm’s recommendation might lead to a prescription error or when a User Interface layout could cause a doctor to misread a critical lab value.

Having a clinician in the room shifts the focus from:

“Can we build this?” to “Should we build this, and is it safe?”

3. The Language of Trust

In healthcare, trust is the primary currency. To sell to a Chief Medical Officer or get a busy surgeon to adopt a new tool, you must speak their language.

When a product is built with clinical leadership, it shows in the details:

• The use of standard medical taxonomies (SNOMED, ICD-10) instead of custom labels.

• Workflows that mirror the natural progression of a patient encounter.

• Evidence-based features that prioritise patient outcomes.

4. Avoiding “Solution-First” Thinking

Solution-ising is a habit found across all entrepreneurial verticals - Let’s face it - that is the fun part! However, Clinicians start with a patient pain point or a pain point of theirs. By having a clinician lead or influence product strategy, the roadmap stays anchored in solving actual clinical problems. For example, reducing burnout, improving diagnostic accuracy, or increasing patient access.

The Bottom Line

The “move fast and break things” era should be used in caution within health technology. Clinician embedded teams provide a clear path to scalable success, allowing products to be built with patient care at its focus. If you want to build a product that clinicians love and patients benefit from clinicians should be part of the design and build.

At this point we had the growth of the big Tech Giants (google, meta, amazon) and if they were using technology to innovate why can’t healthcare?

This curiosity led me into the world of health tech, where I discovered roles I never knew existed. And what surprised me most? The industry is not just open to clinicians — it needs us.

Healthcare is changing fast—and so are the careers available to people who understand it from the inside. As health tech companies race to build safer, smarter, more effective digital tools, they’re discovering something essential: you can’t innovate in healthcare without clinicians.

If you’re a clinician curious about transitioning into health tech, there has never been a better time. Below is a practical overview of the key roles clinicians are stepping into today…

Why Health Tech Needs Clinicians

Many teams in tech are brilliant at engineering, user experience, and scaling digital products. But healthcare isn’t just another vertical - it is a regulated, high-risk environment.

Clinicians bring:

• Real-world understanding of clinical workflows

• Insight into patient needs and safety risks

• Credibility with investors

• A systems-level view of how care is delivered

Key Roles for Clinicians in Health Tech

1. Clinical Product Manager

Clinical Product Managers work at the intersection of care delivery and digital product development. They help teams build products that are clinically relevant, workflow-friendly, and safe to deploy.

What you’ll do:

• Translate clinical problems into product requirements

• Work with designers and engineers on feature development

• Validate clinical accuracy of product content and algorithms

• Conduct user interviews with clinicians and patients

• Ensure workflows mirror real-world practice

2. Clinical Safety & Governance Lead

As digital health tools become more complex, ensuring clinical safety is non-negotiable. These roles are critical for companies developing diagnostic support, triage, care navigation, and AI-driven tools.

What you’ll do:

• Build and maintain clinical risk management frameworks

• Conduct hazard analyses,

• Oversee clinical incident management

• Review content and decision-support logic for safety

3. Regulatory & Compliance Advisor

Every digital health product that diagnoses, monitors, or influences clinical decision-making intersects with regulation—whether it’s the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Medicines Health and Regulatory Agency (MHRA), EU Medical Device Regulation, or other bodies.

What you’ll do:

• Classify products (e.g., whether they qualify as Software as a Medical Device)

• Guide teams on regulatory pathways

• Write or review clinical evaluation reports

• Develop post-market surveillance plans

• Ensure documentation complies with ISO standards (e.g., 14971, 62304)

4. Clinical Operations & Service Design

Digital health solutions often integrate with real human teams—nurses, doctors, care coordinators, telehealth providers. Someone has to design the clinical pathways behind these services.

What you’ll do:

• Design scalable virtual care models

• Define care pathways and escalation protocols

• Work with operations teams for staffing and workflow planning

• Test clinical workflows before launch

5. Medical Affairs / Clinical Specialist

Medical Affairs roles support internal teams and help external stakeholders (clinics, hospitals, regulators, payers) understand the product.

What you’ll do:

• Represent the clinical voice during sales and partnerships

• Create clinical education content

• Conduct clinical trainings and onboarding

• Support evidence generation and clinical validation studies

Final Thoughts

Health tech needs clinicians—not just as advisors, but as builders. Whether you’re interested in product development, safety, regulation, evidence generation, or strategy, there is a role where your clinical experience becomes a superpower.

If you’re feeling the pull to step beyond the walls of traditional care, consider this your sign. The future of healthcare is with clinicians and their collaborators who are ready to reinvent what care can look like.

If you’re reading this, chances are you want to have a change..and maybe into health technology… the best thing is that clinicians are uniquely positioned to lead that change.

I’m Yasmin—a pharmacist, a health tech founder of two companies. I am a self taught coder and a mum to four incredible kids. My world is a constant collision of dispensing advice, writing code, networking, and, yes, desperately trying to do the laundry.

This is exactly what this newsletter is about: the fun, challenging, and often messy process of working at the intersection of clinical practice, technology, and real life.

The Question I Get Asked Most…

Over the years, as I transitioned from the dispensing bench into health technology, the same question kept coming up from other clinicians: “How did you get into Health Technology?

There’s a misconception that you need to know how to code to break in. But I am here to tell you that’s wrong. Your clinical background— your deep understanding of patient pathways, risk management, and real-world needs—is your superpower.

Your Clinician Superpower:

Being a Clinician is an incredible achievement, you’ve studied for years to understand your area of expertise and build your confidence. Working in health technology is no different. The transition is about leveraging your experience and translating this into the world of health technology.

Here are three practical steps to start your journey:

1. Pick your area

Transitioning to health technology is about leveraging your expertise. There are two ways to do this:

• Continue in your current area of expertise and leverage what you know to support health technology companies in your area to build their product

• Up skill and move into to an area you would like to explore.

2. Translate Your Expertise

Stop viewing your role as “just a pharmacist” or “just a clinician”. Start viewing yourself as a Clinical Product Manager.

• Identify Friction Points: What frustrates you most about your current workflow (e.g., prescribing, patient transfer, documentation)? These are the problem statements for companies building products in your space.

3. Advertise yourself

Health technology is a relatively new sector, people in this space need to get to know who you are and what your expertise are in. Two ways to do this are:

• Post on Linkedin: Write about your experiences - what you like about your current area, what you think could be better?

• Speak to Health Technology Teams: Reach out to teams on Linkedin and find out what products they are building and how you can support them.

Working in health technology is a whirlwind. It’s strategic growth mixed with constant pivots, and yes, sometimes taking a meeting while simultaneously trying to manage a school meltdown.

But the work matters. The intersection of your clinical care and your ability to build scalable portfolio career.

Thank you for being here. Let’s build the future of care, one imperfect step at a time.

What is the biggest friction point in your current clinical workflow that you think code could solve? Reply and let me know!

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