This is a CEO appointment at an early-stage structural heart company developing a differentiated heart valve technology with broader platform potential.

The company has completed its seed financing, is backed by investors with both commercial and mission-driven objectives, and is building toward a Series A within 18–24 months. The lead programme is progressing through pre-clinical development toward first-in-human preparation.

What the company needs now is a leader to refine a multi-year company road map, build the organisation around it, secure the next round of capital, and lead the product into clinical development.

What You Will Do

Capital and Investor Leadership

- Own and execute the Series A fundraise, working alongside the existing team, board, and advisors
- Build credibility with institutional healthcare investors, and construct the equity story that supports the raise
- Operate with capital discipline and with an "owner's mindset" as a leader and shareholder in the company

Product and Clinical Progression
- Drive the product through animal studies (current financing), first-in-human preparation, and early clinical studies (future financing)
- Develop clinical and regulatory strategy across both established and non-standard pathways relevant to the target markets
- Work closely with the technical advisory board to translate the technology into a commercially viable product
- Define the longer-term platform roadmap beyond the lead indication

Organisation Building
- Build the personnel plan, and then the team and functions required to support clinical and regulatory progression
- Establish the culture, cadence and standards of a company moving from research to clinical execution

Market and Stakeholder Engagement




- Build credibility and relationships with cardiac surgeons, clinical advisors and key opinion leaders
- Represent the company to investors, clinicians, regulators and strategic partners, globally
- Work closely with the existing leadership and board to ensure an effective transition of executive responsibility.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 24 months, the incoming CEO will have:

- Closed a Series A on terms that support the business through to first-in-human
- Managed the team through completion of animal studies and established a clear, funded pathway into a first-in-human study
- Built a chronological organisation plan with the functions required for clinical progression
- Established the company as a credible name among cardiac surgeons and the structural heart community
- Maintained the capital discipline that has characterised the business to date
- Work closely with the team to maintain and build on a culture of success

The Idóneo Candidate
- Startup operating experience. Senior operating responsibility within an early-stage medical device company, with a track record of delivering meaningful development milestones. First-time CEOs may be considered where startup operating experience is strong, and the individual is credible with the next-round funder.
- Fundraising capability. Demonstrable experience raising institutional capital, or significant exposure to the process,



with credibility among healthcare investors.
- Pre-clinical to first-in-human. Direct experience navigating a medical device from animal studies through regulatory strategy and into a first-in-human study
- Cardiac surgery understanding. A background in cardiac surgical devices or procedures, or deep familiarity with how cardiac surgeons evaluate and adopt new technology, is strongly preferred.
- Regulatory breadth. Experience developing regulatory strategies across international markets, with the judgement to navigate pathways beyond conventional FDA and CE Mark routes.
- Heart valve or wider structural heart background
- An established network across the structural heart clinical and investor community

The Right Mindset
- Substance over style – the board values evidence and clear thinking over presentation
- Low ego but decisive – able to draw on the experience already around the table, absorb robust technical challenge, and then drive execution
- Personally resourceful; comfortable building with limited resources and operating in a start-up environment
- Committed to both the mission and the commercial opportunity

Why This Role
- The first dedicated CEO seat at a company with a genuinely differentiated technology and a defined route to the clinic
- A board and advisory group with deep, directly relevant heart valve experience
- Investor backing that combines commercial ambition with a long-term, mission-driven view and strong advisory expert network
- A technology with the potential to change outcomes for a population that every existing option currently fails
- Meaningful equity participation and direct influence over the trajectory of the business

📌 Chief Executive Officer (La Mancha)
🏢 Synova Partners
📍 La Mancha