Biomedical engineer : Career development

There are three main career directions for a biomedical engineer:

• research;
• industry;
• The National Health Service (NHS)  

If you choose to go into research, your career path will typically involve a PhD in biomedical engineering, followed by a role at a university or academic institute as a lecturer and/or researcher.

Working in industry generally involves going into a job after your degree and working towards becoming a chartered engineer (CEng). Senior posts may offer roles in management, research, technical advice, quality assurance, production or marketing. There may be scope for international work if a company has branches outside the UK.

A career path in the NHS has a clearer structure in the early years after graduation. The main bottleneck occurs as graduates compete for a small number of pre-registration clinical scientist training posts. Beyond this point, competition for higher posts is likely to be less intense, though a willingness to relocate is important. Progression to state registration with the Health Professions Council (HPC)  is the next step, or possibly a post in a research unit.

The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)  runs a four-year Programme of Advanced Training and Responsibility (PATR), which incorporates preparation for state registration (after two years) and culminates in corporate membership (MIPEM) and CEng application (where appropriate).

Career prospects are reasonable, as there is a slight shortage of suitably qualified and experienced applicants. Movement between hospital-based jobs and the healthcare industry to gain wider experience is possible in either direction, bearing in mind the requirement for NHS engineers to obtain state registration.

Beyond this, you could expect to manage a department (e.g. in a hospital trust) with responsibility for medical equipment and technical staff across a regional area. Engineers at this level have status equivalent to medical consultants.

Biomedical engineers have the opportunity to specialise in areas such as biomechanics, biomaterials, medical instrumentation or rehabilitation. Some engineers pursue PhDs or obtain fellowships with their professional body.