David O'Hearn
Senior Talent Advisor
- Based in
- Tulsa, OK (remote)
- At FloodGate since
- 2021
- Years in MedTech
- 5
After 20 years of high-intensity, always-on military leadership, recruiting gave me a way to keep doing work that matters: building teams and connecting people to the right opportunity, without sacrificing time with my family.
A long-standing client would describe working with me as efficient and direct.
The path here
Fills most often
- Territory and field sales
- R&D and engineering
- Sales leadership (RSM, director, VP)
Coverage. Covers every role type FloodGate fills, from clinical and regulatory to the C-suite; these three most often. Works national searches rather than a defined territory.
I served 20 years in the US Army as an aviation officer and helicopter pilot. For sixteen of those years I was in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and on other special operations assignments. I deployed eight times to Iraq and Afghanistan as part of special operations task forces, conducting combat operations in support of national objectives, alongside numerous other deployments globally supporting US and partner special operations teams. While I’m newer to MedTech recruiting, I’m not new to talent and leadership. For two decades my job was to evaluate people, lead them, and align them with critical missions. Now, that means I know how to vet candidates, understand what they really want, and line that up with what you genuinely need to grow your team.
Senior Talent AdvisorNow
2021 to presentFloodGate Medical
Owns and executes full-cycle recruiting strategy across executive leadership, commercial sales, engineering, regulatory, quality and operations functions within regulated MedTech organizations.
Senior Operations Analyst (USSOCOM)
2019 to 2021Jacobs Technology
Built executive-level reporting and analytics frameworks informing senior leadership decisions for a 70,000-person global Special Operations Force.
Special Forces Officer
1999 to 2019United States Army
Progressive leadership roles culminating in command of five Special Operations organizations, with full accountability for talent selection, leadership development and performance management.
Building a compliance function from the ground up
A fast-growing DME start-up had reached a turning point. With roughly 60 employees, it could no longer rely on the third-party firm that had always handled its healthcare and privacy compliance. It needed someone in-house for a role that had never existed.
The CFO led the search and struggled to define the profile. The ideal candidate needed deep healthcare compliance expertise along with the ability to build a function from scratch and thrive in a start-up culture. Because the role was hybrid, that person also had to be based in Denver.
I worked with the CFO to sharpen the focus on a rare combination: someone who understood both the regulatory demands of healthcare and the realities of an early-stage company. That led me to a candidate who had spent her career consulting for start-ups facing exactly this situation. She had solved this problem many times as an outside advisor, and now she had the chance to own it.
After a handful of interviews, she joined as the company’s first full-time Director of Healthcare and Privacy Compliance, less than eight weeks after the search began.
David’s corner of MedTech.
- Translating military leadership experience into hiring criteria commercial MedTech companies recognize
- Building AI-enabled sourcing workflows and advanced Boolean search frameworks to find passive candidates
- Compensation benchmarking and workforce planning for regulated MedTech organizations
- Competitive market mapping and talent intelligence for executive and commercial searches
Trained, and certified for it.
- Degree
M.S. Defense Analysis
Naval Postgraduate School
2011
- Degree
B.A. Psychology
Northeastern State University
1999
- Certified
Hiring for Attitude
2022
- Certified
PRECISE Selling
2024
What most people get wrong
The belief
A longer candidate slate means a better hire.
The reality
Skills can be learned. Adaptability, judgment, and drive are what make great hires.
The questions that come up every week
Put any of these to David directly and you'll get a straight answer.
What is the compensation range and structure for this role?
How long will it realistically take to fill this position?
What do I need to do to stand out for this role?
Where to hear more
FloodGate video and Buzz Reports
Clients who come back
- One endoscopy client has used me for 16+ searches over three years.
Last reviewed by David O'Hearn on .
Retention isn't about keeping everyone. It's about keeping the people the organization can't afford to lose.