Is Medical Device Sales a Good Career?

The short answer is yes. But let’s dive a little deeper, starting with pay.

How much can you make in medical device sales?

This is an extremely lucrative career. Here are reasonable expectations based on tenure:

• Entry-level roles: Anywhere from $50,000 to about $130,000, with the average around $105,000.
• After two years of experience: You now meet the minimum requirements for many sales rep or territory manager positions. These mid-level roles can pay anywhere from $90,000 to $230,000 or more, with the average around $165,000.
• After five years of experience: You can compete for senior-level positions. There’s no reason you should be making less than $250,000. These roles frequently pay over $300,000. $500,000 and $600,000 are also possible, and I even know reps who have made over $1 million in a year.

That’s just on-target earnings, which combine salary and commission. The company will also typically give you a car package, whether that’s a work vehicle or a monthly allowance or stipend, sometimes $500 to $1,000 a month. You may also receive stock or equity, which can make your total compensation significantly higher.

What are the downsides?

Let’s be transparent. Your experience can vary significantly depending on the role, the product you sell, and even your specific territory within a company. All of those things can affect your hours and work-life balance.

Generally speaking, you’re going to work a lot harder in an entry-level role. You can easily expect to work 60 hours a week, sometimes a little more or less. Once you break in, which is the hard part, you may be able to transition to another role after two years that pays more and provides a little more work-life balance.

There are also very lucrative roles where you can work less than 40 hours a week. If you hit your quota, the company generally does not care what you do with your free time. I know reps who have hit their quota in October and barely had to work during the last two months of the year.

There’s a stigma that everyone in this industry works long hours. Yes, that can be true, but it isn’t the case in every role.

What career paths are available?

Once you’re in medical sales, you can do a lot.

You can become a clinical specialist. In that role, you cover cases, support doctors as they use the technology, and provide in-services. You don’t have the added pressure of selling; that responsibility falls on the rep. And if you’re a clinical specialist who wants to move into sales, that’s usually an easy transition. (It’s also the most common entry point for nurses and surgical techs.)

You can also work your way into management. You may have more days working from home, but you’ll spend a lot of time on company calls, reporting to higher-ups, and managing people. You can be compensated very well to do so, especially if you want to step away from covering cases.

The people who tend to thrive in medical device sales are consistent in their accounts, always put the patient first, and can be proactive without someone micromanaging them.

People who tend to burn out are often in trauma-based roles or roles where they’re on call. If that happens, you can make a move to a role where you don’t have to be in the operating room as much. Here’s how surgical and capital equipment roles differ.

My honest take

This is such a cool career because you get to be the bridge between physicians and innovation. Physicians are busy practicing, so they don’t always have time to keep up with the latest technology. You get to be a collaborative partner, introduce new solutions, and see whether they can help physicians treat their patients.

Some of the devices you sell can have a real impact. I cannot give this career enough praise. It has completely changed my life financially, and it is very rewarding.

Related articles

• Entry-Level Medical Device Sales Salary: What to Expect
• Medical Device Sales Commission Structure Explained
• Is Medical Sales Hard? What Is the Job Really Like?
• Surgical Sales vs. Capital Equipment: What’s the Difference?
• Is Pharmaceutical Sales a Good Career?
• How to Get Into Medical Sales: A Step-by-Step Guide