DukeMed didn't start in a boardroom; it started with a realization during a 70-day journey through Australia’s Top End and Gulf.
That period of reset gave me the perspective to see that the MedTech industry didn't need faster recruitment—it needed more disciplined search.
The "Enduro" Mindset
In January 2020, I left a visbible medtech recruitment role at an established firm to race the Andes-Pacifico in Chile—a multi-day mountain bike enduro challenge. Racing on "anti-grip" terrain at high altitude taught me a singular truth:
Optimism gets you killed. Preparation gets you home.
I'd realised the recruitment industry was also running on optimism—racing to send CVs and relying on speed rather than navigation. I didn’t found DukeMed to be another resume-shuffling agency. I founded it to run talent acquisition like an expedition.
In the big mountains, you either have the map and the discipline to follow it, or you fail. I’ve brought that same rigor to the MedTech search market as "Post-and-Pray" isn't always a fit for purpose option
We don't wait for talent to find us; we map the terrain, sense-check the environment, and execute with precision.
The Reality of the Search Led-Intelligence Pivot
The DukeMed you see today isn't the one I launched during Covid in 2021. I’ve moved beyond the transactional.
In the early days, I tried to be everything to everyone—offering candidate-led career coaching alongside supporting clients and experimenting with "Rec-Tech" video platforms. I thought technology was the differentiator, but I was wrong.
Technology only fixes admin; it doesn't solve Hiring Risk.
The last few years have been a process of stripping back distractions to focus on Market Specific Insights - modules found within a search mandate or skimmed over in a contingent setting which can now be delivered standalone ( and credited back towards search ).
We now provide these unbundled talent reports through bespoke scoped projects, flowing into our core search methodology.
Explore the live frameworks below:
We Map Markets: To ensure you aren't hiring blind.
We Benchmark Salaries: To ensure you don’t lose talent to competitors.
We Sense-Check Sentiment: You hear what you usually don't find out until it's too late.
We Execute Search: Our methodology for securing the top 15% of the "Ghost Market."
Our 2026 Commitment: Product-Led Search Intelligence
Whether I am navigating a ridge in the French Alps or mapping a complex commercial territory, the principle is the same:
The best outcomes don’t come from perfection; they come from how fast you adapt, communicate, and reset.
If you valued these reflections on the evolution of search, you can follow the next chapter of this journey on my Substack, Inside MedTech Hiring, where I share audio drops and deep-dive market intelligence.