Optometrists can find interesting and rewarding job roles in larger national and international companies which undertake research, development and deliver a range of healthcare services.

• Senior director for a territory or number of countries
• Director of professional services or research
• Manager of individual markets or research projects
• Professional services consultant or manager
• Practice development manager
• Researcher
• Trainer.

Routes into this kind of work can include academic work and achieving a PhD, community or multiple practice to gain clinical and management skills and working with professional bodies, like the College, to engage with research and education programmes.

For field work roles, such as practice development managers, there is a need for you to be a good communicator and have good presentation skills.

Professional services managers are more usually responsible for the development of education and training materials and this role requires people with an interest in researching and understanding materials and products.

Key business areas might include pharmaceuticals, medical devices or consumer products. Working in this part of the sector means you will work more directly with other optometrists and healthcare professionals than with patients.

Some of the jobs involve field work, visiting practices to train optometrists and other staff on products and techniques. The research projects or programmes will be commercially funded. There is variety, if the responsibilities and often the jobs are not nine to five, some involve travel, but many will be weekday, rather than include weekend work.

Job tasks can include:

• educating healthcare professionals through conferences and training events
• visiting practices to train staff and demonstrate products, for example contact lenses
• researching new treatments and devices
• writing or commissioning journal articles
• managing regional or professional teams.