Executive & retained search
From the boardroom to the imaging suite
Senior appointments in medical imaging increasingly involve boards, private equity investors and external stakeholders who need confidence that the process is rigorous, discreet and commercially grounded. ImagingHQ works directly with boards and investment partners — understanding the strategic imperatives behind a hire, not just the job description.
Whether you're a PE-backed imaging group scaling for growth, a hospital network navigating leadership transition, or an independent centre making a critical operational appointment, we bring the sector knowledge and executive search experience to get it right.
Our methodology
Why executive search? Why ImagingHQ?
When the stakes are high — a new COO, a Head of Imaging, a mission-critical operational leader — a contingency approach simply isn't enough. Executive and retained search gives you dedicated focus, full market coverage, and the confidence that no stone has been left unturned.
With ImagingHQ, you also get something no generalist firm can offer: 20+ years of deep sector knowledge, active relationships across the imaging community, and consultants who understand the clinical, operational and commercial demands of the roles they're filling. We don't just find candidates. We find the right ones — and we back every appointment with the rigour and discretion it deserves.
FAQs
The questions we're asked most about finding senior imaging leaders, clinical directors and department heads across Australia.
What senior and leadership roles in medical imaging do you recruit for on a retained basis?
ImagingHQ recruits for the full range of imaging leadership — clinical directors, chief radiographers, heads of department, state and regional imaging managers, medical directors, and senior radiologist appointments. We also work on practice manager and general manager roles within private radiology groups and corporate imaging networks. If the role shapes how an imaging service operates, it belongs in our scope.
When does a senior imaging role need retained executive search rather than a standard recruiter?
When the candidate you need isn't looking. Most experienced imaging leaders — clinical directors, chief radiographers, senior radiologists — are already employed, performing well, and not browsing job boards. A contingency recruiter works from a database of active candidates; a retained search firm maps the full market and approaches the right people directly. Retained search is also the appropriate model when confidentiality matters, when the role is genuinely hard to define, or when a mis-hire at leadership level carries serious operational and financial risk.
Most senior imaging leaders aren't on job boards — how do you find passive candidates?
Through genuine sector relationships built over time, not a database query. We know who leads imaging departments across Australia's public and private networks, who is open to a conversation, and who the high performers are in roles that aren't yet vacant. For retained searches, we conduct structured market mapping — identifying the full universe of relevant candidates, making direct approaches, and qualifying interest before anyone appears on a shortlist. The result is a shortlist of the best available people in the market, not the best available people who happened to apply.
How do you manage confidentiality when a leadership search can't be advertised publicly?
Discreetly and by design. Medical imaging is a small professional community in Australia — word travels fast, and a poorly managed search can unsettle a team, alert a departing leader prematurely, or damage referrer relationships. On retained searches where confidentiality is required, we approach candidates without naming the client until mutual interest is established, manage all communications through ImagingHQ, and operate under agreed information protocols throughout. We've handled sensitive leadership transitions for both private practices and corporate imaging groups where discretion was non-negotiable.
Do you work with PE-backed imaging groups and multi-site networks, not just individual practices?
Yes — and this is an increasingly significant part of what we do. Private equity investment in Australian medical imaging has accelerated, bringing with it demand for a different calibre of leadership: executives who can operate at scale, manage multi-site clinical governance, drive commercial performance, and lead through growth or integration. We understand this context. Whether you're a corporatised group expanding into new states, a PE-backed network building out your senior leadership team, or a large public health imaging service navigating a director appointment, we have the market knowledge and candidate relationships to run the search properly.
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