A smiling, middle-aged bald man in a light pink shirt standing in BD. The BD logo is on the wall behind him.
Padraig FitzGerald, site director, BD research centre. Image: Luke Maxwell

What traits do you need to work at medtech giant BD?

12 Dec 2018

Silliconrepublic.com headed down to BD’s research centre to find out what the ideal candidate looks like.

Medtech is a thriving industry in Ireland and a great sector to build a strong career in. According to the Irish Medtech Association, the medtech sector employs more than 38,000 people in Ireland and is the second largest employer of medtech professionals in Europe.

Ireland is also home to some major players within the sector, including medical device manufacturing company BD.

But for those who want to work in a medtech company such as BD, what do they need to know to shine? What skills do they need to have to stand out? We spoke to Padraig FitzGerald, the site director of BD’s research centre, to find out.

“We’re in the process of building a global centre of excellence for research and development,” said FitzGerald. “A good BD employee is someone who is open to working in a multidisciplinary team and environment [and] is comfortable communicating virtually across time zones and geographies.”

Fitzgerald said when BD is recruiting, it’s essential to build a diverse workforce. Therefore, the company looks for candidates with a broad and varied range of skills and backgrounds.

“Generally, we have a wide range of opportunities here at BD,” he said. “We’ve all the classical engineering disciplines, we’ve full-stack software development from low-level embedded software on instruments and medical devices all the way up to enterprise offerings and informatic solutions.”

With such a wide variety of roles and BD looking for a diverse range of backgrounds, it seems there are plenty of opportunities for those who want to work in medtech. But what kind of traits make a candidate stand out?

FitzGerald said those who are passionate about helping people through their work will gel best with the company culture. “People who are proactive, willing to stand up, speak out [and] challenge the status quo,” he said.

“We live and embody the BD values every day. We respect one another, we do what is right, we hold one another to account and we help each other be great.”

Jenny Darmody
By Jenny Darmody

Jenny Darmody became the editor of Silicon Republic in 2023, having worked as the deputy editor since February 2020. When she’s not writing about the science and tech industry, she’s writing short stories and attempting novels. She continuously buys more books than she can read in a lifetime and pretty stationery is her kryptonite. She also believes seagulls to be the root of all evil and her baking is the stuff of legends.

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