Medical device companies are trying to fill thousands of medtech jobs. [Photo by ijeab – stock.adobe.com]
Medtech developers — and medtech jobs — are resilient, with the industry’s COVID-19 pandemic performance only bolstering its recession-proof reputation.
That’s not to say there haven’t been job cuts in medtech, led by thousands of layoffs at Philips as it struggles with a massive recall of deadly respiratory devices. But many medical device manufacturers are still hiring, and in some cases they can’t attract enough candidates to fill every vacancy in a tight labor market.
Stryker, for example, grew to approximately 51,000 employees as of the end of 2022, increasing its headcount by nearly 11 percent last year. Boston Scientific reported nearly 10% employment growth to 45,000 people in the same time.
While some of that growth may come from acquisitions, Stryker currently lists nearly 1,200 job openings on its website, while Boston Scientific’s website lists more than 900 open positions.
As medical device companies disclose their latest financials and employee totals in their annual reports for 2022, we’re collecting those figures for our next Medtech Big 100 ranking of the world’s largest medical device companies. We’ll let you know of any big changes — positive or negative — in medtech job counts as they’re reported.
At the same time, we’ve ranked our 2022 Medtech Big 100 list by year-over-year employee growth to help anyone looking for medtech jobs identify large, fast-growing medtech companies. We’ve also ranked the Medtech Big 100’s top R&D spenders and the projects they’ve launched.
The table below lists medical device company employee counts and their year-over-year growth rates as of last September’s 2022 Medtech Big 100 ranking, which included data from late 2021 and the first half of 2022. Be aware that those figures have likely changed since then. For example, Royal Philips is on the list below because the ranking pre-dated the company’s layoffs.
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| Company | 2022 Employee Count | 2021 Employee Count | Job Growth |
| Alphatec | 561 | 296 | 89.5% |
| Inari Medical | 800 | 456 | 75.4% |
| Fisher & Paykel Healthcare | 7,375 | 5,788 | 27.4% |
| Cook Medical | 13,898 | 11,131 | 24.9% |
| Align Technology | 22,540 | 18,070 | 24.7% |
| Steris | 16,000 | 13,000 | 23.1% |
| Straumann | 9,000 | 7,340 | 22.6% |
| Intuitive Surgical | 9,793 | 8,081 | 21.2% |
| Integer | 9,000 | 7,500 | 20.0% |
| Baxter | 60,000 | 50,000 | 20.0% |
| Medacta | 1,341 | 1,142 | 17.4% |
| AtriCure | 875 | 750 | 16.7% |
| Abiomed | 2,003 | 1,725 | 16.1% |
| Sonova | 16,733 | 14,508 | 15.3% |
| Dexcom | 6,300 | 5,500 | 14.5% |
| Novocure | 1,167 | 1,023 | 14.1% |
| Demant | 18,116 | 16,155 | 12.1% |
| Nevro | 945 | 843 | 12.1% |
| iRhythm | 1,700 | 1,517 | 12.1% |
| Conmed | 3,800 | 3,400 | 11.8% |
| Glaukos | 727 | 653 | 11.3% |
| Elekta | 4,631 | 4,194 | 10.4% |
| Masimo | 2,200 | 2,000 | 10.0% |
| Boston Scientific | 41,000 | 38,000 | 7.9% |
| Terumo | 28,000 | 26,000 | 7.7% |
| Merit Medical Systems | 6,446 | 5,989 | 7.6% |
| ICU Medical | 8,500 | 7,900 | 7.6% |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec | 3,531 | 3,290 | 7.3% |
| Össur | 3,761 | 3,505 | 7.3% |
| Medline Industries | 30,000 | 28,000 | 7.1% |
| Stryker | 46,000 | 43,000 | 7.0% |
| Amplifon | 18,600 | 17,500 | 6.3% |
| Medtronic | 95,000 | 90,000 | 5.6% |
| Bruker | 7,765 | 7,400 | 4.9% |
| Orthofix | 1,087 | 1,036 | 4.9% |
| Haemonetics | 2,821 | 2,708 | 4.2% |
| NuVasive | 2,900 | 2,800 | 3.6% |
| Alcon | 24,389 | 23,655 | 3.1% |
| B. Braun Melsungen | 66,234 | 64,317 | 3.0% |
| Henry Schein | 21,600 | 21,000 | 2.9% |
| Integra Lifesciences | 3,800 | 3,700 | 2.7% |
| GE HealthCare (General Electric) | 48,000 | 47,000 | 2.1% |
| Smith+Nephew | 18,369 | 18,000 | 2.1% |
| Olympus (medical business) | 21,898 | 21,512 | 1.8% |
| Royal Philips | 78,189 | 77,000 | 1.5% |
| ConvaTec | 10,025 | 9,900 | 1.3% |
| GN Hearing | 4,553 | 4,500 | 1.2% |
| Insulet | 2,300 | 2,287 | 0.6% |
| ResMed | 8000 | 7,970 | 0.4% |
Related: The biggest medtech personnel moves in 2022
Senior Editor Danielle Kirsh contributed to this report.
