9. Smith & Nephew

This London-based orthopedics company has been in the news lately as an acquisition target of several large U.S. medtech companies. If such a transaction goes through, it will have an impact on headcount for sure.

But in the last five years, Smith & Nephew added an average of 559 people taking overall employment to 11,036 as of 2013. 

Source: Evaluate MedTech

Image: From Smith & Nephew website