Akureyri Hospital Careers, Salaries & Jobs

Akureyri Hospital (Sjúkrahúsið á Akureyri, SAk) in north Iceland describes itself as one of the country's two specialty hospitals, providing general and specialised healthcare with an emphasis on emergency care.

It calls itself a knowledge institution committed to teaching and research, and it is the medical centre for Iceland's air ambulance service.

Its services include a 24-hour emergency department, inpatient wards, maternity care, diagnostic imaging and cardiac testing, and a rehabilitation and geriatric unit at Kristnes. A new 9,200 square metre building was planned to start construction in summer 2026, with opening expected in 2028.

SAk has been short of staff. At its 2025 annual meeting the director described the workload as very demanding, and the hospital has issued a public call for nurses, nursing students and nursing assistants, after a rehabilitation and geriatric unit at Kristnes had to close for lack of staff.

SAk does not publish an English recruitment page. Its posts are on Starfatorg, mostly in Icelandic, and its human resources department answers questions by email. For licensing and permits, the national rules for Iceland apply.

Leadership

• Guðjón Hauksson, Forstjóri (chief executive)
• Ragnheiður Halldórsdóttir, Framkvæmdastjóri lækninga (executive director of medicine)
• Hulda Sigríður Ringsted, Framkvæmdastjóri hjúkrunar (executive director of nursing)
• Helgi Þór Leifsson, Framkvæmdastjóri klínískrar þjónustu (executive director of clinical services)
• Konráð Gylfason, Framkvæmdastjóri rekstrar og klínískrar stoðþjónustu (executive director of operations and clinical support services)
• Erla Björnsdóttir, Framkvæmdastjóri mannauðssviðs (executive director of human resources)

Accreditations

• DNV DIAS HealthCare certification covering all of the hospital's clinical work, support services and buildings; SAk says it was the first hospital in Iceland certified to DIAS across all its operations.
• ISO 9001 (quality management).
• ISO 27001 (information security).
• ÍST 85 equal pay certification (jafnlaunavottun).
• cGMP for medicine compounding. SAk says it is working towards ISO 15189 for its laboratories.

Switchboard

+354 463 0100

• Emergency care

  A 24-hour emergency department.

• Air ambulance

  SAk is the medical centre for Iceland's air ambulance service.

• Maternity care

  Maternity services are among the hospital's listed departments.

• Rehabilitation and geriatrics at Kristnes

  A rehabilitation and geriatric medicine service at Kristnes.

• Diagnostics

  Blood tests, diagnostic imaging, cardiac testing and sleep studies.

• Teaching and training

  SAk describes itself as a teaching institution and recruits junior doctors and specialist trainees.

• SAk does not describe an international recruitment programme and has no English recruitment page. Its vacancies page directs applicants to Starfatorg, the state jobs portal, and to its human resources department at [email protected] for questions.
• The hospital has recently appealed publicly for nurses, nursing students and nursing assistants, and it promotes itself to junior doctors and specialist trainees as a place to gain broad clinical experience with close supervision.
• If you are recruited from outside the EEA, the employer applies for your work permit for expert knowledge together with your residence permit, and the Directorate of Health processes your licence once you have a contract or permit.

• Licence from the Directorate of Health. Every regulated health professional needs a licence to practise (starfsleyfi) from the Directorate of Health (Embætti landlæknis). With an education from outside the EEA and Switzerland, Regulation No. 483/2023 applies: the Directorate usually sends your education to the relevant university faculty for evaluation, then grants the licence, asks for an adaptation period or aptitude test, or refuses. It says an application sent for evaluation should take no longer than four months once every document has arrived.

• The job comes first. The Directorate only takes up a non-EEA application once you have a work and residence permit or a signed employment contract with a health institution in Iceland, and it only issues the licence once you are in Iceland and have been granted the permit.

• Icelandic is not a legal condition of the licence. Article 15 of Regulation No. 483/2023 says knowledge of Icelandic is not a requirement for the licence, and that the employer must make sure you have the language skills and knowledge of the law the job needs. Employers set the standard post by post.

• Work permit. Non-EEA staff usually come on a work permit for expert knowledge, which the employer applies for together with your residence permit. Conditions include a contract for a specific job requiring expertise and that help has first been sought from the Directorate of Labour to find a worker in Iceland or the EEA. Permits are generally granted for one year and can be granted for up to four years at a time.

• EEA and Nordic citizens. EEA, EFTA and Nordic citizens do not need a work permit, but still need a licence from the Directorate of Health.

1. 1

   Search Starfatorg

   Find SAk posts on Starfatorg. Adverts are usually in Icelandic and give the closing date and contact person.
2. 2

   Contact human resources

   Email [email protected] with questions, including about language expectations for the post.
3. 3

   Sign a contract

   For non-EEA applicants, a signed contract lets the Directorate of Health take up your licence application.
4. 4

   Licence application

   Apply to the Directorate of Health; your education is usually evaluated by an Icelandic university faculty.
5. 5

   Work and residence permit

   The employer applies for the work permit for expert knowledge with your residence permit. The licence is issued once you are in Iceland with your permit.

Monthly amounts

• Doctor, grade 2 (foundation year or without it)

  ISK 861,271 to 1,091,033

  Medical Association salary table from 1 April 2026, steps 0 to 8.

• Doctor, grade 4 (after foundation year or in specialist training)

  ISK 913,723 to 1,157,476

  Medical Association salary table from 1 April 2026, steps 0 to 8.

• Specialist doctor, grade 14

  ISK 1,227,967 to 1,555,551

  Medical Association salary table from 1 April 2026, steps 0 to 8.

• Chief physician, grades 22 to 26

  ISK 1,555,551 to 2,217,846

  Medical Association salary table from 1 April 2026.

• Nurses, state salary table (grades 1 to 29)

  ISK 506,030 to 2,037,600

  Nurses' Association state table from 1 April 2026; your grade depends on the hospital's institutional agreement.