Why a Recruitment Agency Can Be Vital for Building a Radiotherapy & Imaging Business Unit in Germany
- William Menard
- Sep 27
- 4 min read
When companies think about expanding into new markets, the conversation often starts with strategy, investment, and regulation. But in radiotherapy and imaging, success doesn’t just depend on a brilliant product or regulatory approval. It depends on people, the ones who will introduce your technology, support clinical adoption, and manage growth sustainably.
Germany, with its world-class healthcare system and large oncology footprint, is a natural target for radiotherapy and imaging businesses. But here’s the hard truth, building a new business unit here is not just about hiring quickly, it’s about hiring the right mix of people. And without a recruitment agency that knows this market inside out, you’ll be flying blind. ✈️
The German MedTech & Oncology Landscape 🏥
Germany is Europe’s largest healthcare market and one of the most advanced in terms of oncology treatment. Radiotherapy plays a critical role, with over 300 radiotherapy centres across the country, including highly specialised university hospitals and private clinics.
⚡ Key challenges you’ll face entering Germany:
Fragmented healthcare system both public and private actors, each with different procurement processes.
MDR regulations stricter clinical-data requirements mean your people must not only sell but also speak the language of physicists, oncologists, and radiographers.
Talent scarcity there simply aren’t enough professionals who combine technical knowledge with commercial skill. The same few names appear in sales, applications, and management shortlists.
This means you’re not just competing with direct medtech rivals (Varian, Elekta, Brainlab, Philips, Siemens Healthineers, RaySearch), but also with broader imaging players and AI-health companies.
Why Recruitment Agencies Are Strategic Partners (Not Just CV Pushers) 🤝
In most industries, recruitment is seen as support. In radiotherapy and imaging, it’s strategic. A good recruitment partner will:
Map the entire candidate ecosystem 📍They know who’s working at Varian in Bavaria, who just moved from Elekta to Brainlab, and which physicist-turned-application-specialist in Frankfurt might be open to a move. This kind of mapping is impossible to do if you’re sitting outside Germany with no network.
Screen for both technical & cultural fit 🎯A sales specialist who doesn’t understand treatment planning (TPS), QA workflows, or MRI/CT integration won’t gain trust from oncologists and physicists. Agencies can pre-screen to make sure only candidates with genuine clinical credibility reach you.
Benchmark salaries realistically 💶Offering €80k for a BU Head? Forget it they’ll walk. Agencies prevent costly missteps by aligning your budget with real German market data.
Accelerate time-to-field ⏱️Every month you don’t have a sales specialist or application expert in the field, you’re losing revenue and reputation. Agencies shrink hiring cycles from 6–9 months to 2–3.
De-risk your launch 🛡️A bad first hire in Germany can damage your credibility with hospitals for years. Recruiters reduce the risk of mismatched hires by validating networks and references.
Technical Role Deep-Dive 🔬
Here’s what you actually need to know when building a BU in Germany:
🔹 Sales Specialist (Radiotherapy/Imaging)
Core skills: consultative sales, KOL management, hospital procurement navigation, ability to sell high-value capital equipment AND recurring service contracts.
Technical edge: familiarity with treatment planning systems (TPS), dose calculation algorithms, linear accelerator workflows, and imaging integration (CT/MRI/PET).
German reality: most successful sales specialists already know oncology department heads — you’re hiring a network, not just a person.
Compensation: €60k–€140k OTE (base + bonus), depending on region and seniority.
🔹 Clinical / Application Specialist
Core skills: training radiographers and physicists, supporting installation of TPS or imaging systems, workflow optimisation, troubleshooting.
Technical edge: deep knowledge of QA, dosimetry, contouring, DICOM standards, and integration with hospital PACS systems.
German reality: candidates often come from clinical backgrounds (medical physicists, RTTs) and demand recognition for their expertise.
Compensation: €60k–€100k+, especially if the candidate has multi-modality experience (RT + imaging).
🔹 Senior Management / Head of BU
Core skills: P&L ownership, building cross-functional teams, aligning sales, marketing, and applications, negotiating distributor vs. direct sales channels.
Technical edge: must understand MDR, reimbursement codes, hospital procurement cycles, and clinical validation.
German reality: leaders here are not just “managers.” They’re ambassadors who sit with oncologists, regulators, and investors.
Compensation: €120k–€250k+ total comp, depending on scope (regional vs. national).
The Cost of Getting It Wrong ⚠️
Vacancy time: leave a role open for 9 months, and you’ve lost nearly a year of revenue in a new market.
Bad hires: hiring a salesperson who can’t sell in a hospital environment costs you not just salary, but damaged relationships.
Slow adoption: if your application specialist can’t convince physicists your system is reliable, installations will stall.
The ROI of a recruiter here is simple: if a fee of 20% saves you 6 months of missed sales (€500k–€1M in potential contracts), the math speaks for itself.
Recap ✍️
To succeed in building a radiotherapy/imaging BU in Germany, you need:
🎯 Sales specialists who already know oncology procurement.
🎯 Application specialists with real clinical credibility in TPS, QA, and imaging workflows.
🎯 Senior leaders who can navigate MDR, reimbursement, and P&L.
But more than that, you need a partner who can bring these people to your table quickly.
👉 A recruitment agency in this sector isn’t just a vendor it’s your launch accelerator, your risk mitigator, and often the difference between a slow, painful entry and a successful, credible market presence. 🚀
Comments