Synopsis · tap to expand
The candidate pool is real but highly distributed, so a national, precision outbound campaign is the realistic route, Minneapolis-St Paul is the deepest single market, and the posted pay sits below comparable California benchmarks.
This report maps the market for Surgistar's Product Development and Manufacturing Engineering Manager role: who can do the job, where they are, what it costs to hire and relocate them, and why the role has stayed open without a confirmed hire. Solutions Driven researched thirteen US markets, fifteen direct competitors and the full compensation band to answer one question, is this role fillable and how.
The pool is real but distributed. Nationally there are roughly 1,578 manager-level candidates in surgical instrument manufacturing, with senior engineers below and directors above forming a proper pyramid. Once filtered for metallurgical or precision-metal instrument experience and willingness to relocate to Vista on-site, the realistic addressable pool is 120 to 200 people, small enough for a mapped, proactive search and large enough that the role is genuinely fillable.
The route is outbound, not inbound. The role has sat open for over thirty days on Surgistar's own careers page with no confirmed hire, which is what happens when a role combines a rare technical requirement, an on-site-only location and moderate employer brand recognition, rather than any reflection of the talent acquisition function. Minneapolis-St Paul is the deepest single market for this profile, and the posted range of $140k to $185k sits under the California Senior Manager average, so compensation will likely need to flex for relocating candidates.
01 · Executive SummaryThe candidate pool exists but highly distributed across many markets.
This report maps the market for Surgistar's Product Development & Manufacturing Engineering Manager role: who can do this job, where they are, what it costs to hire and relocate them, and why the role has stayed open without a confirmed hire. Solutions Driven researched thirteen US markets, fifteen direct competitors, and the full compensation band for this profile to answer one question, is this role fillable, and how.
National Candidate Pool by Career Stage
Confirmed profiles, United StatesThe pool is real but will likely require a national search.
Nationally there are 2,339 senior engineers one step below this role, 1,578 manager-level candidates in surgical instrument manufacturing, and 900 directors one step above it, a proper pyramid, narrowing with seniority. Once filtered for metallurgical or precision-metal instrument experience and willingness to relocate to Vista on-site, the realistic addressable pool is 120 to 200 people, small enough for a mapped, proactive search, large enough that the role is genuinely fillable.
The complexity of the search will warrant a precision, outbound campaign.
The role has been posted for over 30 days without a confirmed hire. That is not a reflection of Surgistar's talent acquisition function, it is what happens when a role sits at the intersection of a rare technical requirement (metallurgy), an on-site-only location, and moderate employer brand recognition. This is precisely the profile of role where proactive, named-candidate search outperforms posted vacancies.
Minneapolis–St Paul is the deepest single market for this profile
Medical Alley houses 142 senior engineers, 60 managers, and 27 directors against this role's requirements, the deepest total candidate pool of any market researched. Minneapolis should be treated as a primary sourcing market in parallel with the San Diego metro, not a secondary fallback.
The posted compensation range will need to flex for relocators
A candidate relocating from Minneapolis on comparable pay needs approximately $185k in San Diego just to preserve their purchasing power, given San Diego's cost of living sits roughly 50% above the national average. The top of Surgistar's posted range sits at the lower end of what's needed for this; strong candidates from lower-cost markets will look for the offer to flex, or a substantive relocation package to close the gap.
Solutions Driven's read, can this role be filled, and how
Yes, with a proactive, three-tier search run in parallel across the strongest markets, not a single posting left to run its course.The candidate population exists in sufficient depth. Engaging them will require a methodical approach and sustained campaign.
Three things change the outcome: running step-in, step-up, and step-back sourcing tracks simultaneously rather than waiting on one channel; treating Minneapolis, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles/Orange County as primary markets alongside San Diego rather than backups; and resolving compensation flexibility above the posted ceiling before candidate conversations begin, since the strongest relocators will benchmark this offer against comparable roles paying up to $213k.
A single job posting reaches only the small share of this population that is actively looking. The majority of the addressable pool, particularly step-up senior engineers and step-back directors, are employed and not applying to postings. A named, direct-approach search reaches candidates a posting cannot.
Step-in, step-up, and step-back candidates require different messaging and different urgency, but there is no reason to sequence them. Running all three from day one shortens time to shortlist and gives Surgistar genuine choice across seniority levels rather than settling for whichever tier responds first.
The single biggest lever in this search is not sourcing volume, it is whether the offer can move above the posted ceiling and what the relocation package actually covers. Resolving this before outreach begins avoids losing a strong candidate late in process over an avoidable gap.
02 · Role & Company ContextThis is the integration hire, not a routine backfill.
Surgistar's Product Development & Manufacturing Engineering Manager role sits at the centre of a live post-acquisition integration. Understanding why the role is structured this way, and why it is genuinely difficult to fill, shapes how it should be sourced and positioned to candidates.
Halma plc, Group Structure
Three sectors, decentralised operating modelHalma operates a deliberately decentralised model: each of its operating companies runs its own P&L, sales, and, critically for this search, its own hiring. Group functions provide capital, M&A support, and shared standards, but day-to-day manufacturing and engineering decisions sit entirely with each company. Surgistar's engineering leadership answers to MST and, ultimately, Halma Healthcare, not to a centralised group manufacturing function.
Halma Healthcare, Full Portfolio
17 operating companies; headcount shown where independently verified| Company | Sub-Sector | What It Makes | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| MST | Therapeutic Solutions | Ophthalmic surgical instruments, parent of Surgistar | ~260 |
| ↳ Surgistar (Vista, CA) | Sub-brand of MST | The subject of this report, acquired April 2026, $90m | Unconfirmed |
| Keeler | Discovery, Prevention & Diagnostics | Ophthalmic diagnostic instruments (slit lamps, tonometers, ophthalmoscopes) | 250 |
| SunTech | Discovery, Prevention & Diagnostics | Blood pressure monitoring | ~140 |
| Medicel | Therapeutic Solutions | IOL injector systems, ophthalmic surgical consumables | 62 |
| TSI Group | Therapeutic Solutions | Surgical access systems, comprises TeDan Surgical Innovations, West Coast Surgical (manufacturing), and Axcess Surgical Innovations. HQ: Houston, TX and Half Moon Bay, CA | 57 |
| Volk Optical | Discovery, Prevention & Diagnostics | Ophthalmic diagnostic lenses and imaging | ~78 |
| NovaBone | Therapeutic Solutions | FDA-cleared synthetic bone graft biomaterials | 46 |
| Arcmed | Discovery, Prevention & Diagnostics | Diagnostic/analytical equipment design and build | – |
| CenTrak | Life Sciences | Patient/staff/asset tracking (RTLS) | – |
| IZI Medical | Therapeutic Solutions | Cancer therapy support devices | – |
| Lamidey Noury Médical | Therapeutic Solutions | Electrosurgical devices (urology, gynaecology) | – |
| Longer | Discovery, Prevention & Diagnostics | Infusion/patient care pumps | – |
| PeriGen | Therapeutic Solutions | Childbirth/maternal-fetal monitoring | – |
| Riester | Discovery, Prevention & Diagnostics | General diagnostic healthcare devices | – |
| Rovers | Discovery, Prevention & Diagnostics | Cancer screening devices | – |
| Salaera | Therapeutic Solutions | Gas technology (surgical/anaesthesia adjacent) | – |
| SSG | Life Sciences | Care-tech / digital health | – |
Combined engineering headcount across the seven companies with verified figures: approximately 104 people, a useful reference point for the scale of Halma's existing in-house ophthalmic and surgical engineering capability, separate from this hire. None of Halma's Healthcare Sector companies compete with the Tier 1 or Tier 2 employers named in Section 04, the competitive field mapped in this report is genuinely external to the Halma group.
MST, Platform Company Profile
Redmond, Washington| Founded | 1976 |
| Headquarters | Redmond, WA |
| Employees | ~260 |
| Core product | TrabEx goniotomy devices for glaucoma surgery, plus wider ophthalmic surgical instrument range |
| Engineering headcount | 14 |
| 12-month headcount growth | -5.8% |
| 24-month headcount growth | +8.6% |
Surgistar, Acquired Bolt-On Profile
Vista, California| Founded | 1992 |
| Headquarters | Vista, CA (2310 La Mirada Drive) |
| Acquired | April 13, 2026, $90m, bolt-on to MST |
| Product catalogue | 600+ SKUs, blades, cannulas, trephines |
| Procedures served | Cataract, corneal, refractive, vitreoretinal, oculoplastic, ENT, dental |
| Manufacturing profile | Specifically noted by Halma for highly automated manufacturing capabilities |
Reporting Structure
Who this role reports to, and where it sitsThis role reports to Tom Hensley, Sr. Plant Director / GM at Surgistar, who has led the Vista site since October 2023, predating the Halma acquisition by roughly two and a half years, meaning the plant leadership is an established, known quantity through the ownership transition rather than a new appointment. His background spans DMAIC, Lean methodology, FDA/ISO 13485 compliance, IEC 60601, sales & operations planning, and medical device product development project management, directly relevant to how this role's automation and NPI mandate will be evaluated day to day.
The Accounting Manager – Surgistar role is a separate hiring line, not part of this role's team
MST's parallel Accounting Manager – Surgistar requisition is a finance function and would not report into this engineering role, nor is it confirmed to report to Tom Hensley directly, it may sit under a shared Halma/MST finance structure instead. It's included elsewhere in this report only as evidence of parallel integration hiring, not as part of this role's reporting line.
No dedicated manufacturing engineering manager currently sits at the Vista site specifically; MST's own senior manufacturing engineering leadership is based in Redmond, WA, which is part of why this hire matters, Surgistar's engineering function has been running without a site-level leader since the acquisition closed.
What Might Team Size Look Like?, Sister-Company Reference Points
Not a Surgistar figure, a benchmark to frame the scoping conversationSurgistar's own headcount is not reliably available in any source used for this report. Rather than guess, here is what engineering headcount looks like as a share of total headcount at the seven Halma Healthcare companies where both figures are independently verified, useful context for the scoping call, not a stand-in for the real number.
| Company | Total Employees | Engineering Headcount | Engineering Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| SunTech Medical | ~140 | 27 | 19.3% |
| TSI Group | 57 | 10 | 17.5% |
| Keeler | 250 | 34 | 13.6% |
| NovaBone | 46 | 6 | 13.0% |
| Volk Optical | ~78 | 8 | 10.3% |
| Medicel AG | 62 | 5 | 8.1% |
| MST | ~260 | 14 | 5.4% |
Average across these seven: approximately 12.5% of headcount sits in engineering, ranging from 5.4% to 19.3%. If Surgistar's total headcount becomes known during scoping, this range gives a starting estimate for what a proportionate engineering team might look like, treat it as a reference point to test on the call, not a figure to plan against.
Surgistar is the integration event, not a standalone hire
Halma acquired Surgistar as a bolt-on to MST in April 2026, combining MST's goniotomy and glaucoma instrument specialism with Surgistar's broader cataract, corneal, and vitreoretinal blade and cannula portfolio. Surgistar is specifically noted for its highly automated manufacturing capabilities, directly relevant to this role's automation and process-improvement scope.
This is one of several parallel integration hires, not an isolated requisition
MST currently has six live requisitions, including an Accounting Manager role specific to Surgistar, confirming that finance, commercial, and engineering functions are all being built out in parallel as the two companies integrate. This role sits inside a broader hiring wave, not a one-off vacancy.
Halma's acquisition pattern is continuous, not one-off
Surgistar follows a steady cadence of Halma Healthcare bolt-ons, including Lamidey Noury Médical (November 2024, €50m) and others across the group's history. Halma's own trading commentary points to an ongoing pipeline of similar acquisitions, this hire is a live instance of a repeatable pattern, not an isolated event.
Role Summary
Product Development & Manufacturing Engineering Manager| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location | Vista, CA, on-site, non-negotiable (manufacturing floor dependency) |
| Reports to | Tom Hensley, Sr. Plant Director / GM, Surgistar |
| Posted range | $140,000–$185,000 base (California Pay Transparency disclosure) |
| Experience band | 3–10 years in a regulated manufacturing environment |
| Time live | 30+ days, no confirmed hire as of this report |
Three distinct disciplines compressed into one manager title
The role combines metallurgical processing (raw metal to finished instrument), NPI and product development (SolidWorks, DFM, validation, ISO 13485/FDA compliance), and manufacturing automation and process improvement (Lean, Six Sigma, OEE, cycle time). Each is typically a separate function at this level; here they sit under one manager.
KPIs span all three disciplines simultaneously
Performance is measured on NPI schedule and budget adherence, machine and system uptime, automation adoption rate, OEE, cycle time reduction, and operational cost reduction, a genuinely full manufacturing engineering function compressed into a single scorecard.
Core Responsibility Areas
What the role actually does, broken down by disciplinePerformance Scorecard
How this role is measured| KPI | Discipline |
|---|---|
| NPI schedule and budget adherence | Product Development |
| Machine and system uptime / reliability | Manufacturing Automation |
| Automation adoption rate | Manufacturing Automation |
| Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) | Manufacturing Automation |
| Cycle time reduction | Metallurgical Processing / Automation |
| Operational cost reduction | Cross-discipline |
Experience & Qualifications
- , 3–10 years in a regulated manufacturing environment (medical device, aerospace, or comparable quality-systems industry)
- , Metallurgical or precision-metal instrument manufacturing background, the single largest filter on candidate pool size
- , SolidWorks proficiency and hands-on DFM/NPI experience
- , Working knowledge of ISO 13485 and FDA 21 CFR 820 quality systems
- , Lean/Six Sigma exposure; Green Belt or equivalent is a strong signal, not always a hard requirement at comparable postings
Team size and structure remain an open scoping question
The job spec does not disclose team size or composition under this role. This materially affects both the seniority framing candidates will expect and how the role should be positioned, resolving it is one of the six scoping questions in Section 06. See the Company Context tab for sister-company engineering headcount benchmarks that offer a starting reference point.
The role inherits an engineering function without a site-level leader
As noted in the Company Context tab, Surgistar's Vista site has had no dedicated manufacturing engineering manager since the Halma acquisition closed, MST's own senior engineering leadership sits in Redmond, WA. This role is filling a genuine structural gap, not adding headcount to an already-staffed function.
Employer Review Signals, MST
MicroSurgical Technology, the parent company, Surgistar has no separately meaningful review data| Source | Rating | Sample Size | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glassdoor | 2.8–3.1 / 5 | 35–36 reviews | Manufacturing sector benchmark ~3.5 / 5 |
| Indeed (combined across both company listings) | 2.9 / 5 | 32 reviews | – |
Indeed carries two separate company profile pages for MST, a common platform artifact, not two different companies. The figure above is the review-weighted average across both (27 reviews at 3.1, 5 reviews at 1.8), rather than presenting either in isolation. Glassdoor additionally reports 38–50% would recommend to a friend and 39% positive business outlook, based on its 35–36 review sample.
Employer brand awareness is moderate, and addressable through direct engagement
Recurring review themes include turnover and inconsistent management, alongside more positive mentions of an ambitious, turnaround-phase leadership push. Candidates at this level frequently research employers independently before engaging, this is worth knowing rather than being surprised by mid-search.
This is about MST, not Surgistar, and Surgistar has no reliable review data of its own
Every figure above is about MST, the Redmond, WA parent company. Surgistar carries its own separate listings on Glassdoor and Indeed, but each has only one or two reviews, far too thin to draw any conclusion, positive or negative. No Surgistar-specific figure is used anywhere in this report for that reason.
Important nuance: MST's reviews skew toward Redmond, not Vista
Review content skews toward MST's Redmond, WA commercial and technical staff. Surgistar's Vista site has separate leadership and has only been under this ownership since April 2026, a genuinely distinct site under new ownership, not a continuation of whatever review history exists elsewhere in the group. This is a positioning opportunity for candidate conversations, not a reason for concern about the site itself.
03 · Location & Talent PoolThirteen US markets, mapped and sized at every career stage.
San Diego is the natural starting point given Vista's location, but it is not the deepest market for this profile. Six other US markets hold genuinely comparable or deeper candidate populations once step-in, step-up, and step-back tiers are counted separately.
Workforce Diversity Context
National occupational data, not a description of this report's identified candidate poolWhy this is national data, not pool-specific data
The figures below are current US-wide occupational statistics for engineering roles (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, 2025 annual averages), not a description of the roughly 120–200 candidates identified elsewhere in this report. Solutions Driven does not collect, infer, or report the race, gender, or other demographic characteristics of individual candidates identified through professional-network research, attempting to infer this from names, photos, or similar proxies would be both unreliable and inappropriate to use in a hiring context. These figures exist only to give a general, honest sense of what representative outcomes look like at the occupational level nationally; they say nothing about who is actually in this specific talent pool.
| Occupation | Women | White | Black | Asian | Hispanic/Latino |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture & engineering occupations (all) | 19.3% | 75.9% | 6.2% | 15.1% | 11.7% |
| Industrial engineers, closest match to this role's core duties | 23.3% | 72.5% | 7.1% | 16.3% | 11.0% |
| Mechanical engineers, relevant given the product-development component | 11.2% | 84.0% | 2.4% | 11.5% | 10.9% |
| Architectural & engineering managers, closest match to this role's manager level | 10.8% | 77.9% | 3.7% | 16.8% | 8.6% |
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, 2025 annual averages (Table 11). Note the drop in women's representation between "industrial engineers" (23.3%) and "architectural and engineering managers" (10.8%), representation narrows materially at the manager level specifically, which is directionally relevant to this search but is a general occupational pattern, not a measured characteristic of the candidates identified below.
Reading the map: San Diego is the anchor, not the ceiling
Vista sits within the San Diego metro, the natural first market for any local, no-relocation hire. But Minneapolis–St Paul, the Bay Area, Los Angeles/Orange County, and Boston/Waltham all hold candidate populations at least comparable to, and in Minneapolis's case, deeper than, San Diego itself once senior-engineer and director-level tiers are included.
Total Candidate Pool by Market
Step-in + step-up + step-back combinedCandidate Pool by Market and Career Stage
Step-up = senior engineers ready to move up · Step-in = direct manager-level equivalent · Step-back = directors who would step back in scope| # | Market | Step-Up (Sr Engineer) | Step-In (Manager) | Step-Back (Director) | Total | Relocation Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego metro (local) | 34 | 10 | 22 | 66 | No relocation needed |
| 2 | Minneapolis–St Paul | 142 | 60 | 27 | 229 | Significant CoL gap |
| 3 | Los Angeles / Orange County | 64 | 34 | 73 | 171 | Short in-state move |
| 4 | Bay Area | 83 | 47 | 26 | 156 | In-state, near-parity CoL |
| 5 | Indiana (Warsaw) | 82 | 37 | 20 | 139 | Largest CoL gap of any market |
| 6 | Salt Lake City / Utah | 34 | 20 | 21 | 75 | Moderate gap, growing hub |
| 7 | Boston / Waltham | 40 | 14 | 13 | 67 | Long distance, near-parity CoL |
| 8 | Texas (Fort Worth/Houston/Dallas/Austin) | 28 | 12 | 17 | 57 | Moderate, no state income tax offset |
| 9 | New Jersey | 28 | 13 | 7 | 48 | High CoL, long distance |
| 10 | Chicago / Illinois | 16 | 6 | 9 | 31 | Significant CoL gap |
| 11 | Seattle / Redmond / Bellevue | 12 | 7 | 10 | 29 | West coast, near-parity CoL |
| 12 | Raleigh-Durham, NC | 8 | 6 | 3 | 17 | Lower CoL, favourable gap |
| 13 | Tampa Bay, FL | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | Lower CoL, favourable gap |
Methodology note
Figures above use identical, strict methodology across all three career stages and all thirteen markets, the same industry classification and exact title matching throughout, avoiding broad generic titles (such as "Director of Operations") that would otherwise blur distinct seniority levels together. This produces a normal seniority pyramid, narrowing at each more senior stage, in twelve of the thirteen markets, consistent with what a well-defined candidate population should look like.
Minneapolis–St Paul is the single deepest market researched
Medical Alley's device manufacturing base produces 142 senior engineers, 60 managers, and 27 directors against this role's requirements, the deepest total pool of any market and a clean seniority pyramid at every stage. The trade-off is cost of living: a candidate on comparable pay in Minneapolis needs roughly $185k or more in San Diego just to preserve purchasing power, making relocation package design the deciding factor for this market.
Los Angeles/Orange County and the Bay Area are genuine secondary markets, not long-tail options
Both hold candidate depth comparable to or exceeding San Diego's own local pool while sitting within the same state, RxSight (Aliso Viejo) and Intuitive Surgical (Sunnyvale) both anchor real ophthalmic and precision-manufacturing talent in-state, with a materially smaller relocation ask than an out-of-state move.
LA/Orange County is the one market where directors outnumber senior engineers and managers combined
73 directors against 64 senior engineers and 34 managers, the only genuine exception to the pyramid pattern across all thirteen markets, even after correcting for the methodology issue described above. This plausibly reflects Orange County's concentration of large device manufacturers (Edwards Lifesciences, Beckman Coulter, Alcon's California operations) that support a deep director layer, while manager-level titles at those same large companies may use naming conventions this search did not capture. Worth a follow-up title sweep before this market is prioritised on step-in candidates specifically.
Raleigh-Durham and Texas both connect to Halma's own existing footprint
Riester and SunTech Medical, both Halma Healthcare companies, share an office city in Morrisville, NC, inside the Raleigh-Durham market. TSI Group, also a Halma company, comprises TeDan Surgical Innovations and its manufacturing arm West Coast Surgical, headquartered in Houston, TX and Half Moon Bay, CA, meaning Halma's own footprint touches both the Texas market and California itself. Neither changes the candidate pool numbers, but all of this sits inside Halma's own operating footprint, worth factoring into relocation support and any internal-referral outreach.
New Jersey is a legitimate mid-tier market, and it sits on two named competitors' doorsteps
New Jersey's total pool of 48 sits comfortably ahead of Chicago, Seattle, and Raleigh-Durham. It is also home to Corza Medical (Parsippany), the second-largest Tier 1 competitor in this report at 3,000+ employees, and to Bausch + Lomb's global headquarters (Bridgewater). Samsara Vision (Far Hills) adds a third ophthalmic name, though its actual manufacturing appears to sit in Israel rather than New Jersey. Worth treating as a genuine sourcing market rather than an afterthought.
Tampa Bay is the thinnest market of all thirteen, its value is strategic, not volume
Tampa Bay's total pool of 7 is smaller than any other market researched, including Raleigh-Durham. It earns its place on this list for a different reason: RUMEX International (Clearwater), MedOne Surgical (Sarasota), and Halkey-Roberts (St. Petersburg), all named competitors or component manufacturers, are headquartered here, and LENSAR (Orlando) sits close by in the same Central Florida region. Treat this market as a targeted, named-account approach to these companies specifically, not a broad sourcing market.
Priority Weighting, Rank the Eleven Markets Against What Matters Most to Surgistar
Adjust the sliders, the ranking recalculates instantlyEvery market above scores differently depending on what Surgistar weighs most heavily. Use the sliders to reflect this search's actual priorities, the ranking table and chart below update in real time as you adjust them.
Combined step-in/step-up/step-back candidate volume in this market
How far the posted range stretches for a candidate relocating from this market
Estimated willingness of candidates in this market to move to Vista for the right role
Whether Halma already has operations, offices, or brand presence in this market
Flight time, time zone alignment, and ease of interview/onboarding logistics
Weighted market ranking
Updates as you adjust the sliders| Rank | Market | Weighted Score | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adjust sliders to generate ranking | |||
Score comparison
Weighted scores by marketHow to read this tool
The ranking reflects the priorities set above, applied to the fixed research in this report. A market ranking highly under your weighting is where to focus outreach effort first, it does not mean candidates there are easier to close, only that the market scores best on what you have told the tool matters most. Weight pool depth heavily and Minneapolis and Los Angeles/Orange County dominate. Weight relocation cost and Halma footprint heavily and San Diego, Raleigh-Durham, and Seattle rise.
04 · Competitor LandscapeSeven direct competitors, a much larger employer field, and a genuinely external market.
None of the companies competing for this candidate population sit inside the Halma group, this is a genuinely external competitive field. Several are actively hiring the same profile right now, at comparable or higher pay.
Tier 1, Direct Ophthalmic Surgical Instrument Manufacturers
Closest product and skill overlap with Surgistar| Company | HQ | Employees | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|
| BVI Medical | Waltham, MA | ~1,000 | Direct overlap, blades, cannulas, vitreoretinal |
| Corza Medical / Katena | Parsippany, NJ | 3,000+ | Direct overlap, cataract, glaucoma, corneal |
| New World Medical | Rancho Cucamonga, CA | 201–500 | Direct overlap, glaucoma devices, same specialty as MST |
| RxSight | Aliso Viejo, CA | ~400 | Closest geographic target, Orange County |
| Sight Sciences (NASDAQ: SGHT) | Menlo Park, CA | Public, $310m market cap | Direct overlap, glaucoma & dry eye surgical devices |
| RUMEX International | Clearwater, FL | 51–200 | Direct overlap, precision microsurgical instruments |
| ASICO LLC | Westmont, IL | Small | Direct overlap, smaller operation |
| MedOne Surgical | Sarasota, FL | Small–medium | Vitreoretinal/ophthalmic instruments |
| Katalyst Surgical | Chesterfield, MO | Small | Titanium ophthalmic instruments |
| Presbia (NASDAQ: LENS) | Irvine, CA | Public, ~$10m revenue | Corneal inlay niche; flat headcount growth |
| LENSAR (NASDAQ: LNSR) | Orlando, FL | 51–200 | Femtosecond laser cataract surgery systems, publicly traded |
| DemeTECH Corporation | Miami, FL | Mid-size | Independently confirmed as a named MST competitor |
| Samsara Vision | Far Hills, NJ | Very small US HQ | Implantable ophthalmic devices; manufacturing appears based in Israel, not NJ |
| Ambler Surgical | Exton, PA | 21–50 | Ophthalmic line among broader specialty portfolio |
| Mastel Precision | Rapid City, SD | 12–18 | Tiny, but founded specifically on metallurgy + ophthalmic instrument manufacturing, validates the skill niche |
What qualifies as Tier 1: a company whose core product line directly overlaps with Surgistar's own catalogue, ophthalmic surgical blades, cannulas, trephines, or closely adjacent glaucoma, cataract, and corneal surgical devices, regardless of company size. This is the tier with the closest possible skill and product match for candidate sourcing.
Tier 2, Larger Adjacent Ophthalmic Employers
Looser profile match, larger engineering benches| Company | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alcon | Fort Worth, TX / Lake Forest, CA | Large cataract/glaucoma/retina portfolio; active director-level manufacturing vacancy |
| Johnson & Johnson Vision / MedTech | Santa Ana, CA / San Jose, CA | Multiple active manufacturing engineering manager vacancies in California |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec (DORC) | Dublin, CA | Ophthalmic diagnostics and surgical equipment |
| Bausch + Lomb | Bridgewater, NJ (HQ) + multiple US sites | Post-carve-out restructuring; some candidate availability; acquired AcuFocus (Irvine, CA) in 2023 |
| Halkey-Roberts (Nordson MEDICAL) | St. Petersburg, FL | Precision medical device components, genuinely inside the Tampa Bay market |
| IRIDEX Corporation | Mountain View, CA | Laser-based ophthalmic therapy hardware |
| Centricity Vision | Southern California | IOL manufacturer, direct product adjacency to cataract-surgery portfolio |
BVI Medical is the most aggressive hirer in the category right now
Active job postings up roughly 39% month over month and 45% quarter over quarter, alongside a recent $1bn capital raise. This is the strongest signal of competitive hiring pressure for this exact candidate population.
Ophthalmic instrument consolidation is active and ongoing
Halma/MST/Surgistar, Corza/Katena, and Revenio/Visionix have all consolidated within a similar window. Post-acquisition integration at Corza in particular has run for several years, engineers there may be more receptive to a move to a newly-acquired, well-resourced site than the market average.
New World Medical competes directly in MST's own specialty, one hour from Vista
New World Medical (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) makes the Ahmed Glaucoma Valve and Kahook Dual Blade, glaucoma surgical devices in the same specialty as MST's own goniotomy instruments. At 201–500 employees and growing (+24.5% headcount over 24 months), it is large enough to hold a genuine engineering bench, and close enough geographically to be a realistic local sourcing target rather than a relocation case.
California-Based Competitors
Every named Tier 1 and Tier 2 competitor with a California presence, in one viewPulled together from Tiers 1 and 2 above, this is the subset with a real California footprint, which matters for local sourcing and for candidates unwilling to relocate out of state.
| Company | California Location | Tier | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|
| New World Medical | Rancho Cucamonga | Tier 1 | Glaucoma devices, same specialty as MST |
| RxSight | Aliso Viejo | Tier 1 | Ophthalmic IOL manufacturing, cleanroom, Lean/V&V |
| Sight Sciences | Menlo Park | Tier 1 | Glaucoma and dry eye surgical devices, publicly traded |
| Presbia | Irvine | Tier 1 | Corneal inlay niche; smaller, flat headcount growth |
| Alcon | Lake Forest | Tier 2 | Large cataract/glaucoma/retina portfolio |
| Johnson & Johnson Vision / MedTech | Santa Ana / San Jose | Tier 2 | Multiple active CA manufacturing engineering vacancies |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec (DORC) | Dublin | Tier 2 | Ophthalmic diagnostics and surgical equipment |
| IRIDEX Corporation | Mountain View | Tier 2 | Laser-based ophthalmic therapy hardware |
| Centricity Vision | Southern California | Tier 2 | IOL manufacturer, direct cataract-surgery adjacency |
Nine of the sixteen named Tier 1 and Tier 2 competitors in this report have a California presence, a genuinely deep in-state competitive field, independent of the national picture in Section 03.
Live Comparable Vacancies
Currently open roles competing for the same candidate population| Company | Role | Location | Salary | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J&J / DePuy Synthes | Manufacturing Innovation Engineering Manager | Raynham, MA / Warsaw, IN | $122k–$212.75k | Closest comparable, explicit metal manufacturing requirement |
| J&J MedTech (Monarch) | NPI Manufacturing Engineering Manager | San Jose, CA | $114k–$197k | Surgical instruments, California, similar scope |
| Teradyne | NPI Manufacturing Engineering Manager | North Reading, MA | $129.2k–$207.9k | Not med device, but comparable scope and pay band |
| Karl Storz | Senior Manager, Engineering | Charlton, MA | $115.3k–$156k | Endoscopic devices, precision manufacturing adjacency |
| Corza Medical | Director, Product Management | Remote, US | $180k–$200k | Same ophthalmic instrument niche, director level |
| RxSight | Senior Manufacturing Engineer | Aliso Viejo, CA | $100k–$130k | Best step-up sourcing signal in Southern California |
Talent Pool by Competitor Tier
Where the candidate population actually sits todayThe national and market-level figures elsewhere in this report (Sections 01 and 03) come from industry classification codes, not named-company lists, they capture the whole surgical instrument manufacturing sector, not just the companies named below. This table answers a narrower, more concrete question: of the companies actually named in this competitive landscape, how many candidates at each career stage currently sit there.
| Competitor Tier | Step-Up (Sr Engineer) | Step-In (Manager) | Step-Back (Director) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1, Direct ophthalmic instrument competitors BVI Medical, Corza/Katena, ASICO, MedOne, Katalyst, RxSight | 5 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| Tier 2, Larger adjacent ophthalmic employers Alcon, J&J Vision/MedTech, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Bausch + Lomb, IRIDEX, Centricity Vision | 86 | 50 | 39 | 175 |
| Named competitors combined | 91 | 54 | 39 | 184 |
Tier 2's larger employers hold nearly twenty times the candidate depth of Tier 1
The direct ophthalmic instrument competitors named in this report are, without exception, small companies, none over roughly 1,000 employees, several under 200. Their combined engineering bench (9 people across all three career stages) is tiny next to the larger adjacent players. Alcon and J&J Vision/MedTech alone account for the great majority of the 175 candidates identified at Tier 2 employers. See the Broader Employer Landscape tab for where the rest of the addressable pool sits.
184 named-competitor candidates is a small fraction of the national totals, this tab covers the rest
The companies below are grouped strictly by actual scale, because conflating a multinational with a 40-person instrument shop would misrepresent both. Three genuinely different tiers of employer sit between the named competitors and the true long tail.
Large / Enterprise-Scale Employers
Thousands of employees each, not part of the 11–500 employee search belowThese are multinational or large national manufacturers where step-up, step-in, or step-back candidates were directly identified. Each employs from several thousand to well over 100,000 people group-wide, they belong in their own category, not blended in with the smaller manufacturer search that follows.
| Thermo Fisher Scientific | Philips | Siemens Healthineers | Boston Scientific |
| Abbott | Stryker | Zimmer Biomet | Edwards Lifesciences |
| Merit Medical Systems | Hologic | Haemonetics | Cook Medical |
| Baxter International | Olympus Corporation of the Americas | Grifols | QuidelOrtho |
| Starkey Hearing | Inari Medical |
Mid-Size & Specialty Employers
Roughly 500–1,500 employees, established but not enterprise-scale| PROCEPT BioRobotics | Spacelabs Healthcare | Avalign Technologies | Primo Medical Group |
| Fort Wayne Metals | Theragenics Corporation | OrthAlign | Glaukos Corporation |
| Osteogenics Biomedical |
Smaller Manufacturers, 11 to 500 Employees
3,269 US companies carry this industry's classification at this size band, this is a curated sample, not the full listFiltering specifically for surgical and medical instrument manufacturers in the US at 11–500 employees returns 3,269 companies. Most will never appear on a "top competitors" slide, but collectively this is where the majority of the addressable candidate population actually works.
| Category | Named Employers Identified |
|---|---|
| Precision / orthopedic / specialty instrument & implant manufacturers | Treace Medical Concepts, Lexington Medical, SeaSpine, SI-BONE, Acumed Foot & Ankle, Medacta USA, Life Spine, Highridge Medical |
| Dental instrument manufacturers | COLTENE USA, BioHorizons, S.S. White Technologies (NJ), Karl Schumacher Dental (NJ) |
| Implantable & neuromodulation device manufacturers | CVRx, Nalu Medical, Recor Medical, Bioness Medical, Imperative Care, Endologix, HistoSonics |
| Surgical robotics & precision hardware | Blackrock Neurotech, Noah Medical, Augmedics, ZAP Surgical Systems |
| Diagnostic & lab hardware manufacturers | PENTAX Medical Americas, Greiner Bio-One Americas, Opentrons Labworks, Pinnacle Technology, Pulmonx Corporation, Kestra Medical Technologies, Syneron Candela |
| Emerging and early-stage medtech | Resolution Medical, gener8, Scientia Vascular, Neptune Medical, Element Science, Siro Diagnostics, AuST Group, Rocket Science Health, Asensus Surgical |
| Contract design and manufacturing partners | Gilero (A Sanner Group Company), Invetech |
This 3,269-company field is a genuine sourcing route, not just background noise
184 candidates across the named Tier 1 and Tier 2 competitors is a small fraction of the national totals. The remainder, the bulk of the realistic 120–200 addressable pool, is spread across the large, mid-size, and smaller-manufacturer tiers above. Many of the smaller-manufacturer engineers are exactly the kind of candidate open to a step up, precisely because a company of this size offers less room to grow into a role like this one internally. This is a genuine second sourcing lane worth running alongside outreach to the named competitors, not an afterthought.
Tier 2 Adjacent Industries for Sourcing Expansion
Beyond ophthalmic-specific employers, several adjacent industries share this role's core skill requirements: dental instruments (Dentsply Sirona, Hu-Friedy, Brasseler), general surgical instruments (Symmetry Medical, Medline, BD), minimally invasive surgical robotics (Intuitive Surgical, Stryker, Medtronic), contract medical device manufacturing (Freudenberg Medical, Viant, Integer, Cirtec), California aerospace precision manufacturing, and the Warsaw, IN orthopedic instrument cluster (DePuy, Zimmer Biomet, Cook Medical, Merit Medical).
05 · Compensation BenchmarkingThe posted range works for a local hire, and will benefit from added flexibility for relocators.
Surgistar's posted range of $140,000–$185,000 sits close to market for a local San Diego hire, but under the California Senior Manager average and below several directly comparable open roles once relocation economics enter the picture.
Medical Device Engineering Salary Ladder
US average vs CaliforniaThe posted ceiling sits below the California Senior Manager average
California's Senior Manager average for this role family is $194,653, roughly $10k above Surgistar's posted ceiling of $185,000. A strong candidate benchmarking offers will notice the gap.
Three directly comparable postings already sit above this ceiling
J&J DePuy Synthes ($212.75k), Teradyne ($207.9k), and J&J Monarch ($197k) all advertise upper bounds above Surgistar's $185k ceiling for materially similar scope.
Surgistar's Posted Range vs Comparable Open Roles
Base salary range, USDRelocation Economics, Purchasing-Power-Adjusted
What a relocator needs in San Diego to preserve purchasing power| Origin Market | Equivalent at $140k | Equivalent at $185k |
|---|---|---|
| Boston, MA | ~$141k (near-parity) | ~$187k |
| Seattle/Redmond, WA | ~$150k | ~$198k |
| Minneapolis, MN | ~$186k | ~$246k |
| Indianapolis / Warsaw, IN | ~$206k–$210k | ~$272k–$278k |
San Diego is 50% above the US cost-of-living average
The posted ceiling covers a candidate relocating from Boston or Seattle with little room to spare, and will need to flex further for anyone moving from Minneapolis or Indiana to maintain their current purchasing power.
Relocation package design matters as much as base salary
Whether the package is a lump sum or a managed move, and whether there is room to flex above the posted ceiling for a strong candidate, will determine whether Minneapolis and Indiana convert into real hires or stay names on a longlist.
Compensation Benchmark Summary
All figures USD base salary| Level | US Average | California |
|---|---|---|
| Supervisor / Lead | $121,834 | ~$134,400 (est.) |
| Manager (this role) | $153,720 | $169,544 |
| Senior Manager | $176,476 | $194,653 |
| Director | $206,064 | ~$220k+ |
| VP Engineering | $253,554 | ~$270k+ |
Supervisor/Lead California figure is estimated: the published benchmark for this specific level does not report a California breakout directly, so the figure applies the ~10.3% California premium observed consistently at both the Manager and Director levels within the same benchmark series to the US Supervisor/Lead average. All other rows are directly published state-level figures.
06 · Recommended ApproachRun all three candidate tiers in parallel, from day one.
Solutions Driven's Hiring Operating System applies a structured six-stage process to every search. For this role, three decisions made early in Scoping determine how quickly the rest of the process moves.
Resolve the open questions before sourcing begins
Six questions materially change the size and shape of the search:
- , Is metallurgical processing a Day 1 requirement or a strong preference?
- , Is there flex in the offer above the posted $185k ceiling?
- , What does the relocation package cover, and what is the ceiling?
- , Is there an internal MST (Redmond) candidate already under consideration?
- , What team size and structure does this role inherit?
- , Is this a new role created by the acquisition, or a backfill?
Three tiers, run simultaneously
Step-in, step-up, and step-back candidates require different messaging but no sequencing advantage from running them separately:
- Step-in: direct manager-level approach, Minneapolis and the Bay Area hold the deepest pools nationally; San Diego's own local step-in pool is comparatively shallow, but requires no relocation
- Step-up: senior engineers ready to move up, Minneapolis leads by a wide margin, with the Bay Area and Indiana close behind, both ahead of LA/Orange County
- Step-back: directors seeking a hands-on, builder-scope role, LA/Orange County holds the deepest pool at this level, followed by Minneapolis and the Bay Area; position the acquisition and automation mandate as the draw
Protect conversion, not just volume
Two things determine whether a strong candidate actually accepts:
- , Position Surgistar's Vista site as distinct from MST's broader employer-review history, new ownership, new leadership, genuinely separate site
- , Have the relocation and above-ceiling conversation early, not at offer stage, for any candidate outside California
Recommended Market Sequencing
Based on the priority-weighting analysis in Section 03| Wave | Markets | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego, LA/Orange County, Bay Area | No or minimal relocation cost; LA/OC and Bay Area also rank among the deepest pools nationally |
| 2 | Minneapolis–St Paul, Indiana (Warsaw) | Deepest and fourth-deepest national pools respectively; both carry a significant cost-of-living gap that relocation package design needs to close |
| 3 | Utah, Boston, Texas, Seattle, Raleigh-Durham, Chicago | Smaller pools individually; Seattle and Raleigh-Durham carry existing Halma footprint, Texas and Utah offer more favourable relocation economics than Boston or Chicago |
Expect 60–90 days to shortlist via a proactive search
This sits at the upper end of typical timelines for a specialist manager-level search, a direct function of the metallurgy filter and the on-site constraint. The current inbound-only route sits within this same window, reinforcing the case for a parallel proactive search alongside it.
This is one of several parallel Halma Healthcare hiring needs
MST currently has six live requisitions and a demonstrated pattern of continuing bolt-on acquisitions across the group. A search built well for this role has a natural extension into the wider integration hiring wave.
07 · Methodology & SourcesHow this report was built.
Every figure in this report is drawn from named, verifiable sources. Candidate pool figures reflect confirmed professional profiles at the time of research; market conditions may shift as roles are filled or new postings appear.
Primary Sources
Named datasets and platforms| Source | Used For |
|---|---|
| LinkedIn, company pages and professional profiles | Candidate identification, competitor headcount, hiring velocity signals |
| Halma plc, investor relations, annual report, company pages | Group structure, acquisition history, Healthcare Sector portfolio |
| Company career pages, Surgistar, MST, and named competitors | Live vacancy data, posted salary ranges, role requirements |
| Salary.com | Compensation benchmarking by level and geography |
| Glassdoor / Indeed | Employer review signals, comparable role postings |
| Levels.fyi | Individual contributor compensation percentiles |
| California Secretary of State business search | Corporate entity verification |
| FDA establishment registration database | Facility location verification |
| CBRE US Life Sciences Outlook | Secondary market identification and growth trends |
Candidate pool figures are named-profile counts, not estimates
Step-in, step-up, and step-back figures throughout this report reflect confirmed individual profiles matching the relevant seniority, title, and industry classification in each market, not extrapolated or modelled estimates.
A note on data currency
All figures reflect conditions as of the research date in July 2026. Talent markets, competitor postings, and compensation benchmarks shift continuously; figures should be refreshed if this search extends beyond a few months.