Diagnostic Testing Solutions | Ben Elliott

Binx Health is a diagnostics company that develops and markets diagnostic testing solutions for infectious diseases, including sexually transmitted infections and COVID-19. The company’s main focus is on point-of-care testing, which enables faster diagnosis and treatment. Binx Health’s testing platform is designed to be user-friendly, portable, and deliver accurate results in a matter of minutes. The company aims to improve access to testing and reduce the spread of infectious diseases through its innovative diagnostic technology.

Binx Health sought a Senior Director of Systems Engineering to lead their Mechanical Engineering, Software Development, and Systems Engineering teams in developing their next generation platform. The goal was to drive engineering and technical insights across their product portfolio and pipeline, develop a 2-5 year product development roadmap, and ensure scalable product development. The position required an on-site senior leader in Trowbridge, UK.

Although the company initially used online advertising to find candidates, they did not find individuals of the necessary level or quality. They subsequently engaged two large recruitment agencies on a contingent basis, resulting in a higher volume of candidates, but many were deemed unsuitable upon initial contact. The position remained vacant for over 13 months.

Hunter’s Head of R&D, Ben Elliott, was recommended into the Chief Technical Officer via the Chairman of the business and engaged with the CTO via video conference and in person to gain a deeper understanding of the company’s context, future goals and aspirations, and how the Senior Director of Systems Engineering could contribute to achieving them. Ben also reviewed previous unsuccessful recruitment strategies.

Finding qualified talent for a remote and less well-known location posed a significant challenge. Most of the relevant talent resided in Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and London. To address this, we initially focused our search within a one-hour commute of Wiltshire and surrounding areas before expanding the search geography. Within two weeks of launching the search, we identified a long list of 111 candidates from 85 different companies. Although Systems Engineering is a well established and well recognized role within industries such as automotive and aerospace, it is less so in the Life Science industry. To overcome this, our search targeted senior Engineering professionals with experience in developing complex system-based solutions such as PCR and NGS technologies.

Hunter produced a shortlist of candidates for the interview process within five weeks of initiating the search, and the candidates were evaluated through binx’s internal interview process. Of the candidates, two were considered suitable, and an offer was made to a London-based candidate who could commit to four days of on-site work. The candidate accepted the offer promptly, and the vacancy, which had been open for 13 months, was filled within 13 weeks.