Country Manager, Italy (all genders)

At FICUS Health, we are building the future of rehabilitation care. With AI-powered software, we enable clinicians to focus again on what matters most: their patients.

We are digitising one of the last largely analogue areas of healthcare, with the speed and ambition of a high-growth technology company. Our AI-powered clinical documentation platform is already used by rehabilitation clinics across Germany and supports real clinical workflows every day.

And Germany is only the beginning. Step by step, we are developing FICUS beyond clinical documentation into the intelligent AI layer that will support clinical, administrative and operational processes across rehabilitation providers throughout Europe. As we prepare to enter Italy, FICUS is already evolving into a broader rehabilitation operating system that covers a growing part of the rehabilitation workflow.

Our team is based at the Merantix AI Campus in Berlin, at the heart of one of Europe’s most concentrated AI ecosystems.

We are looking for the person who will take ownership of the Italian market-entry phase for FICUS Health.

Your initial mandate is to validate the market, establish FICUS with the most relevant stakeholders and secure our first lighthouse partnerships.

There is no finished playbook waiting to be executed. Italy is a market that needs to be understood, opened and built from the ground up.

You already know the Italian rehabilitation and healthcare market from the inside: how providers make decisions, how they are funded and reimbursed, and which institutions and individuals they trust.

You will report directly to our founding team and initially operate as a senior individual contributor. You will shape the key market-entry decisions and build your own local team over time.

This role is designed around genuine country ownership, not as a support function. You will own the market-entry phase from day one and grow into full operational and P&L responsibility as the Italian business develops.

You will introduce more than a standalone AI documentation tool. While clinical documentation is where FICUS started, our product is evolving into a broader rehabilitation operating system and the AI layer for clinical, administrative and operational workflows.

You will help determine how this platform should be positioned, adapted and scaled in Italy.

What you will do

Market strategy and market entry

You will validate our market-entry assumptions and determine how FICUS should enter and scale in Italy.

This includes analysing the market, competitive landscape, funding and reimbursement structures, procurement processes and provider decision-making across the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale and Italy’s regional healthcare systems.

Your judgment will directly shape our priorities and market-entry decisions.

Partnerships and sales

You will build our first relationships with rehabilitation providers, hospital and clinic groups, professional associations, payers and other relevant healthcare stakeholders.

You will lead the first commercial conversations yourself and take responsibility for developing, negotiating and closing our initial pilot partnerships.

You will secure our first lighthouse partnerships and turn early market experience into a repeatable commercial approach.

Regulation and reimbursement

You will navigate Italy’s regulatory, data-protection, procurement and reimbursement requirements at both national and regional level.

You will ensure that our market entry is compliant, clinically relevant and commercially viable.

Product and market development

You will bring a deep understanding of Italian rehabilitation workflows and provider needs into our product development.

You will help determine which parts of the product require local adaptation and which clinical, administrative and operational processes FICUS should address as it develops into a broader rehabilitation operating system.

Team and operations

You will initially build the Italian market hands-on, supported directly by our founding team and our teams in Germany.

Once the market has been validated, you will build the local team and take full operational and financial responsibility for Italy, including team leadership, operations and P&L.

• At least ten years of relevant experience in the Italian healthcare or rehabilitation market, for example as a leader within a provider or clinic group, in healthcare consulting, in market access or in a commercial leadership role at a digital-health company
• A strong understanding of the Italian healthcare system and its national and regional decision-making structures
• Relevant experience in rehabilitation, hospital care or an adjacent provider market
• An established and relevant network, together with the credibility to open doors across rehabilitation providers, hospital or clinic groups, payers, professional associations or regional health authorities in Italy
• A track record of building rather than simply managing, such as establishing a new market, business unit, commercial operation or partnership structure
• The ability to operate effectively in a highly ambiguous environment without a finished playbook and to create one yourself
• A combination of strategic thinking and hands-on execution
• The willingness and credibility to lead conversations, negotiate agreements and build partnerships personally
• Fluent Italian and professional English; German is an advantage
• Willingness to travel regularly within Italy and to Berlin

Hard facts

• Competitive base salary plus equity participation
• Flexible starting date, ideally at short notice
• Remote within Italy, with regular travel across the country and to our team in Berlin

What to expect

• Direct collaboration with and reporting to our founding team
• The opportunity to shape market-entry decisions rather than simply execute them
• Genuine ownership of the Italian market-entry phase from day one
• A clear path towards full operational and P&L responsibility as the market grows
• The opportunity to help build a European HealthTech company in a new country
• A central role in establishing FICUS as the AI layer and operating system for rehabilitation care in Italy
• Close collaboration with our team at the Merantix AI Campus in Berlin
• Regular company and team events