Time commitment: 1 day a month

Compensation: £24,000 p.a. + options

Open Bionics develops pioneering assistive devices which enhance the human body, and is on a mission to make 3D prosthetics beautiful, functional and more accessible. 

The company's first product is the Hero Arm, for people living with a below-elbow limb difference. Hero Arm is the world’s first clinically-approved, 3D-printed bionic arm, with multi-grip functionality and empowering aesthetics. Engineered in the UK, the Hero Arm is a lightweight, affordable myoelectric prosthesis. Through this ground-breaking technology Open Bionics is creating a future where disabilities are superpowers.

Open Bionics was founded in 2014 with the mission to make bionic prosthetics accessible globally. The Hero Arm is less than half the price of the nearest competitor and Open Bionics is working hard to make it as easily accessible as possible through its direct-to-consumer operations in the UK. With a scalable design and manufacturing process in place in the UK, Open Bionics has been steadily growing in terms of revenue (currently £1m per annum) and is ready to continue on its growth journey by breaking into the US market.  

In addition to expanding into the US market, key factors to unlocking its continued growth will be identifying and nurturing scalable marketing channels, including pricing strategy and ensuring all potential reimbursement channels have been explored in order to promote a strong understanding of the product and its benefits in new and established markets. Later growth plans include expanding the technology to include different verticals within prosthetics and orthotics in the future. With one of the clinics located in Denver, Colorado, Open Bionics looks to further strengthen its presence in the US market and has recently appointed a new Chair to lead its Board. At this exciting time in its journey, it seeks a Non-Executive Director with senior commercial experience working with prosthetics, who brings a strong understanding of the US market to help advise and guide the Board and the executive team. 

Open Bionics' social impact is driven by the number of people it can fit with Hero Arms, and it believes this is best achieved if it can get real commercial scale for the business. In consequence, the business is looking for a highly commercial experienced and focussed candidate who will be able to help advise the Executive team and the Chair to ensure this objective. 

With a strong commercial background working in the Prosthetics and Orthotics sector, the Non-Executive Director will be able to advise the organisation on its growth agenda in the US and ensure that it has optimised production processes to gain the most value from the product and the technology, whilst maintaining affordability and market fit. 

As Open Bionics has boots on the ground in the US market already, with a clinic located in Denver, Colorado, the Non-Executive will be able to advise the management team on how to further expand its offering to the US market and continue its growth journey. 

Finally, the Non-Executive Director will be able to effectively contribute to Board discussions and advise on overall growth strategy to ensure that strategic objectives are being met and monitored. 

The successful candidate will have previous experience working in the Prosthetics and Orthotics sector. They will have a strong understanding of consumer needs and will be able to advise the Board on this next phase of the organisation's growth. Experience working in the US as well as a good understanding of the US Prosthetics and Orthotics market is essential for this appointment, and the successful candidate is likely to be based in the US currently.  

Ideally the successful individual will be a leader within Prosthetics and Orthotics and bring a strong network within insurance companies and clinical providers. They will have an extensive understanding of the upper limb reimbursement system and be a commercial expert in upper limb prosthetics and orthotics. The successful candidate will also be able to demonstrate successful revenue generation and scaling of product lines within the sector. 

This role is remunerated, and reasonable, pre-agreed travel expenses will be reimbursed. The appointment is for a three year term, which can be renewed at the discretion of the Board. There are 10 Board meetings per year, four of which are held in person and the rest are held remotely. Candidates based in the US are welcome to join meetings remotely and visit the team in the UK once a year.