At JRG Partners we sit on the other side of these searches every day, so this reflects what we actually see working for candidates. A 90-day plan for a device executive should look different from a generic one, because the first ninety days must be spent understanding regulatory posture, quality system reality, evidence base, and reimbursement position before making consequential moves. In a regulated business, the executive who arrives with a plan to implement rather than a plan to learn usually creates problems that take far longer than ninety days to undo.
Key Takeaways
- Front-load learning about regulatory, quality, and evidence realities.
- Understand constraints before proposing changes.
- Build relationships with regulatory, quality, and clinical leadership early.
- Identify quick wins that do not touch regulated processes.
- Present findings and a plan at the end, not assumptions at the start.
Days 1-30: Understand the Constraints
The first month should be dominated by learning what limits action. That means understanding the regulatory status and history of the portfolio, reviewing the quality system including inspection history and open CAPAs, understanding the clinical evidence supporting current claims, learning the reimbursement and coverage position, and mapping the manufacturing and supplier constraints. These are the boundaries within which everything you subsequently propose must fit. An executive who skips this and starts proposing changes in week two will propose things that cannot be done, and will lose credibility with the people who know why.
Days 31-60: Build Relationships and Test Understanding
The second month should deepen relationships and test what you learned. Spend real time with regulatory, quality, clinical, and market access leaders, not just your direct team, and use those conversations to check whether your understanding of the constraints is accurate. Visit manufacturing sites. Meet key customers or investigators where appropriate. This period is where you develop the judgment to distinguish genuine regulatory constraints from organisational habits that have hardened into assumed constraints, a distinction that is central to being effective in a device company.
Days 61-90: Form and Test a Plan
The final month is where you convert understanding into a plan, shaped by what you have learned and tested with the colleagues who will execute it. Presenting a plan at day ninety that reflects genuine understanding of the regulatory, quality, and commercial realities is far more credible than presenting one at day thirty based on prior experience elsewhere. Where you have identified changes that require regulatory or quality consideration, involve those functions in shaping the approach rather than presenting a finished plan for them to comply with.
Quick Wins Without Regulatory Consequences
There is legitimate pressure to demonstrate value early, and it can be met without touching regulated processes prematurely. Improvements to how the team works, decision-making clarity, cross-functional communication, reporting and visibility, hiring into open roles, and resolving obvious organisational friction all deliver visible value without regulatory or quality risk. Directing your early action toward these while the substantive learning proceeds satisfies the reasonable expectation of early impact without the danger of making regulated changes on incomplete understanding.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A new device executive spends the first month understanding regulatory status, quality system reality, evidence base, reimbursement position, and manufacturing constraints, the second building relationships and testing that understanding against the people who hold it, and the third forming a plan shaped by what they learned, while directing early visible action toward improvements that carry no regulatory consequence.
The Mistake Candidates Keep Making
The most common mistake is arriving with a plan formed from prior experience and beginning to implement it immediately, which in a regulated business means proposing changes that regulatory or quality constraints prohibit. The executive appears decisive for a few weeks and then loses credibility with exactly the colleagues whose support they need. Confidence from a previous context is mistaken for understanding of this one.
A 90-Day Structure for Device Executives
| Period | Focus |
|---|---|
| Days 1-30 | Learn regulatory, quality, evidence, and reimbursement constraints |
| Days 31-60 | Build relationships, test understanding, visit sites |
| Days 61-90 | Form and socialise a plan grounded in what you learned |
| Throughout | Quick wins that carry no regulatory consequence |
The Bottom Line
A device executive’s first ninety days should be weighted toward understanding the regulatory, quality, evidence, and reimbursement constraints that bound every decision, building relationships with the functions that hold that knowledge, and only then forming a plan, while taking early visible action on improvements that carry no regulatory consequence. Be deliberate about this, and you will be choosing between offers rather than hoping for one.
Related Reading
For more, see Onboarding Best Practices for New MedTech C-Suite Hires, How to Land a C-Suite Role in the Medical Device Industry, How to Position Yourself for a VP-Level MedTech Promotion.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: Why should a device 90-day plan differ from a generic one?
- A: Because regulatory posture, quality system reality, evidence base, and reimbursement position bound every decision, and an executive who acts before understanding them proposes things that cannot be done.
- Q: What should the first thirty days cover?
- A: Regulatory status and history, the quality system including inspection history and open CAPAs, the clinical evidence base, reimbursement position, and manufacturing and supplier constraints.
- Q: How do I show early value without regulatory risk?
- A: Through improvements to decision-making clarity, cross-functional communication, reporting, hiring, and organisational friction, which deliver visible value without touching regulated processes.
- Q: When should I present a plan?
- A: Around day ninety, grounded in tested understanding, since a plan presented at day thirty from prior experience elsewhere reads as assumption rather than judgment.
- Q: What is the most common early mistake?
- A: Arriving with a plan from a previous context and implementing immediately, which proposes changes regulatory or quality constraints prohibit and costs credibility with essential colleagues.
![](https://www.jrgpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tanya-gallardo.jpeg")
Tanya Gallardo
Managing Director, Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy
Tanya Gallardo is the Managing Director of Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy at JRG Partners, leading C-suite and Board engagements across key growth sectors including Technology, Financial Services, and Manufacturing.
With over 18 years of experience specializing in disruptive technology leadership, Tanya is recognized as a leading authority on talent architecture for future-focused executive roles, such as the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) and Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Her expertise lies in accurately assessing the cultural fit and technical depth required to ensure a high return on investment (ROI) for critical leadership appointments.
Prior to her role at JRG Partners, Tanya held senior roles directing global talent acquisition strategies at a major publicly-traded technology firm, advising on organizational design and succession planning for emerging executive functions. She is a recognized speaker and contributor to industry events, sharing data-driven insights on executive compensation, leadership development, and the measurable business impact of C-suite talent.
