Head of Commercial Operations – Cognitive Testing

The Client

Our client is an industry-leading Digital Health company that specialises in cognitive assessments and operates internationally in over 15 different global markets. As a company, they have achieved close to 40% year-on-year growth over the last 3 years and have partnered with Collingwood to ensure solid leadership foundations are in place as they prepare for sustained, future expansion.The company’s strong performance has supported a strategic plan for close to 200% growth in headcount by the end of their business plan horizon in 2028.

The Role

As part of this planned expansion and growing market presence in North America, the business required a new Head of Commercial Operations, USA to support, coordinate, and lead the company’s revenue operations and infrastructure across the United States. The role was designed to support their international scale-up ambitions while ensuring the commercial activities remained closely aligned with the needs of US-based healthcare providers and customers.This hire was positioned as a crucial leadership role that would work cross-functionally, integrating marketing, sales, partnerships, and customer operations across the US market, while also acting as a strategic conduit between both the UK and Scandinavian based leadership teams and the US operation.

The Business Challenge

Although our client has a long-established and successful brand in the UK and select European markets, scaling operations in the US presented several unique challenges. The company required a commercially sharp and operationally grounded leader with the right blend of strategic insight, market understanding and executional ability to adapt to the regulatory complexity and business culture of the US healthcare ecosystem.

They needed someone that had experience managing the day-to-day complexities of a large team, but also had experience working directly with payors and with reimbursement codes as well. Our challenge was to identify a credible leader who could:

• Build and scale a commercial structure and empower a performing team.

• Continue a cultural reset internally and improve the performance and team dynamics

• Operate in regulated, clinical, or HealthTech environments

• Align with the vision, culture, and ambition to grow sustainably in the US.

After consulting with the Managing Director, we agreed on a brief that would allow us to consider candidates who had proven leadership credentials and a background in Digital Health or Medical Technology. We were searching for someone that could also future proof the US market with the planned growth as well as perform in the role today.

This broadened perspective allowed us to tap into a wider talent pool of commercially minded, high-growth operators who had scaled operations in similarly complex environments.

The Solution & Result

In summary, the process we delivered was comprehensive and effective. From the initial call to offer acceptance, the full process was completed in under 10 weeks:

The client ultimately selected a candidate from a non-traditional background who brought extensive commercial and operational experience in scaling health-adjacent tech businesses across the US. The successful individual brought the agility, strategic thinking, and leadership acumen required to lay the commercial foundations for our clients US growth journey.This case underscores the value of true collaboration and trust in a search partnership. By working closely with the client and advising on where flexibility would unlock stronger outcomes, we were able to introduce candidates who went beyond the brief, enabling a high-quality, strategic appointment.

Get in touch…