If you’re working in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) or planning your next move into it, the job descriptions being posted right now tell a clear story about how the function is changing. We analysed roles with HTA explicitly in the title, posted in the Pro membership of EuropeanHealthEconomics.com. These are a subset: only roles where HTA is in the job title, not the many more health economics positions with HTA among their responsibilities. That narrower lens gives you a sharper picture of where the function is heading.
EU-HTA Is Now the Default
EU-HTA, JCA and JSC appear in over 80% of these job specs. Not under “nice to have.” In the core responsibilities: developing PICO positions, coordinating JCA dossier teams, translating EU-level assessments into national pricing and reimbursement implications.
If you’ve been treating EU-HTA readiness as something you’ll pick up later, the market has already moved past that. Employers now expect you to operate across both national HTA processes and the EU-level framework simultaneously. The roles that reference AMNOG, for example, don’t just ask for German benefit assessment expertise. They ask you to handle the methodological requirements of both the AMNOG dossier and the EU-HTA dossier in parallel.
For hiring managers, that dual-track expectation changes who you hire. You’re not adding EU-HTA tasks to existing country roles. You’re asking people to hold two regulatory frameworks in their head at once, and that’s a different candidate profile.
The German Market Sets the Pace
Over a third of roles are based in Germany, and all of them require scientific-level German and English. That bilingual requirement isn’t a formality. These roles involve drafting lay-friendly dossier texts, preparing G-BA hearing statements and translating IQWiG methodology requirements for international teams. You need to work fluently in both languages at a technical level.
If you’re a German-speaking health economist, this is a competitive advantage worth leaning into. If you’re a hiring manager looking to fill these roles, the bilingual candidate pool is smaller than you think, particularly when you’re also asking for AMNOG dossier experience and EU-HTA knowledge.
GenAI: The Market Isn’t Asking for It Yet
Given the noise around AI in health economics, you might expect AI requirements to show up everywhere. It doesn’t – yet. Only 20% of HTA roles mention generative AI, and in those cases it sits under desirable skills, not requirements. The phrasing is cautious: experience with genAI to support model development and HTA deliverables, or interest in digitalisation and AI processes.
This doesn’t mean AI won’t matter. But right now, EU-HTA fluency and cross-functional leadership will get you further than AI skills in the current hiring cycle. If you’re deciding where to invest your development time, that’s the signal worth paying attention to.
You Will Manage External Partners
Nearly half of roles explicitly require managing external vendors, consultancies or agencies. This appears across both industry and consulting roles, and at varying seniority levels. It’s not positioned as occasional oversight. It’s a core part of the job: coordinating dossier work with external agencies, managing modelling projects undertaken by vendors, driving alignment with external business partners.
If you’re building your career in HTA, project management and vendor coordination skills matter as much as your technical HTA knowledge. This is the kind of capability that doesn’t show up in academic training but makes or breaks your effectiveness in the role.
Every Role Is a Cross-Functional Role
Picture the typical week in one of these roles. You’re aligning with statisticians on an indirect treatment comparison, briefing the regulatory team on JCA timelines, presenting value messages to the commercial lead and fielding questions from three country affiliates. Over 80% of listings describe exactly this kind of cross-functional or matrix collaboration as central to the job. In several, you’re described as the single point of orchestration between these functions.
HTA used to be a relatively contained technical function. That version of the job is gone. Your ability to influence without authority across a matrix environment is now as important as your dossier skills. For consulting roles, this extends further: business development, proposal writing and client pitches are explicitly required alongside technical delivery.
The Experience Sweet Spot Is 5-7 Years
Where roles specify years of experience, the most common range is 5 to 7 years for mid-senior positions, rising to 8-10+ for lead and director-level roles. There’s a notable gap at the junior end: only consulting firms appear to offer entry-level pathways into dedicated HTA work. If you’re early in your career and want to specialise in HTA, consulting may be your most realistic entry point.
A master’s degree is near-universal across these listings. A PhD is only specifically required or preferred in about a third of roles, concentrated in modelling and patient-centred outcomes positions. For most HTA roles, an MSc with relevant experience is sufficient.
Oncology Leads the Therapeutic Areas
Over a third of roles are oncology-focused or oncology-preferred, making it the single most referenced therapeutic area. If you’re targeting senior HTA roles, oncology experience positions you well. But several roles are TA-agnostic, which suggests that strong HTA methodology skills can still outweigh disease-area specialisation depending on the employer.
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