Health Tech Product Leadership, Confidence & Building AI-Native Teams with Brigitte West

In this episode of On the Pulse, Tony Mulcock (Pulse Group) sits down with Brigitte West, a senior product leader in health tech, to unpack her journey from studying medical sciences and founding an early beauty tech company to leading product, design, engineering, and clinical teams at executive level. Brigitte shares why she’s stayed focused on healthcare impact, how shipping real products (from early breastfeeding support tools to systems used in millions of NHS appointments) shaped her career, and what she looks for when hiring across regulated and non-regulated backgrounds. The conversation explores women in tech and self-belief, learning by doing versus waiting for permission, leading in scale-ups with ROI-focused “bets,” building international teams in India with autonomy and strategic context, and how AI is changing workflows, decision-making, and the boundaries between PM, design, and engineering.00:00 Believe Before Ready00:44 Podcast Welcome Intro03:03 From Med Sci to Startup04:53 Health Tech Calling11:45 Impact Driven Product Work14:58 Hiring for Motivation Balance24:45 Women in Tech Mentors29:28 Action Over Permission34:29 Leading at Different Scales36:09 Crafting Product Strategy36:33 Org Design Follows Strategy37:46 Aligning With CEO And CFO38:38 Products As Portfolio Bets40:07 ROI Mindset In Scaleups42:11 Balancing People Process Politics42:58 Planning For High Impact45:00 Redesigning Work With AI Tools48:29 Building Teams In India54:46 Autonomy And Decision Speed58:06 AI Experimentation Culture01:00:52 Personal AI Workflows01:05:38 Leading Through AI Change01:07:14 Impact Over Frameworks01:09:18 Advice For Aspiring Leaders01:12:38 Final Thanks And Wrap