LUMC Leiden Careers, Salaries & Jobs

Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) is the university medical centre for care, research, education and valorisation linked to Leiden University, and part of the Leiden Bio Science Park.

Its 2025 annual report says it had more than 11,000 staff at the end of 2025, about 3,500 academic students and 1,650 PhD candidates.

LUMC's strategy picks out regenerative medicine, including gene and cell therapy, population health and data-driven healthcare and AI. Its own vacancies describe a CAR-T unit, the Willem-Alexander Children's Hospital and complex work from organ transplantation to neurosurgery.

LUMC is open about recruiting from abroad: its annual report counts 70 nationalities among staff, and its international employees pages explain how its Visa Service Desk handles permits. Because LUMC is a recognised sponsor, it asks new staff not to file their own IND application.

As with every Dutch employer, a clinical job needs BIG registration and Dutch at the level the BIG register sets. Most clinical vacancies on its careers pages are written in Dutch. Pay follows the Cao umc.

Run by

Leiden University Medical Center, linked to Leiden University

Leadership

• Prof. dr. Martin Jan Schalij, Voorzitter (chair)
• Prof. dr. Henk Jan Guchelaar, Lid en vice-voorzitter (member and vice chair)
• Prof. dr. Marlies Reinders, Lid en decaan medische faculteit (member and dean of the medical faculty)
• Drs. Ymke Fokma, Lid (member)

Switchboard

071 526 91 11

• Regenerative medicine

  Gene and cell therapy are a strategic theme, visible in both research and the clinic, according to LUMC's 2025 annual report.

• Haematology and CAR-T

  LUMC advertises a CAR-T unit that it says is organised in a way found nowhere else in the Netherlands.

• Willem-Alexander Children's Hospital

  LUMC's children's hospital, including intensive care for children having long treatments such as stem cell transplantation.

• Organ transplantation and neurosurgery

  LUMC's theatre vacancies describe complex procedures from organ transplants to neurosurgery.

• Congenital heart disease

  LUMC is part of the Centrum Aangeboren Hartafwijkingen Amsterdam-Leiden (CAHAL).

• Population health and AI

  Preventive population health and data-driven healthcare with AI are the other two strategic focus areas.

• LUMC has pages for international employees and a Visa Service Desk (VSD) to help international staff find their way around LUMC and Dutch regulations. The VSD handles the appointment of foreign employees, applications for entry and residence permits for family members, and applications for the 30% rule.
• Once the VSD receives a formal request from the head of department, it contacts the new employee, lists the documents needed, files the application with the IND and guides the process. Because LUMC is a recognised sponsor (erkend referent), it asks you not to submit an application yourself, as this can delay things. Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum (LUMC) is listed in the IND public register (checked 21 October 2026).
• After the entry visa is approved you collect it at the Dutch embassy and should book travel only after approval. The VSD then arranges the IND appointment to collect your residence permit and, depending on country of birth and role, a TB test, medical check or MRSA screening.
• Housing, banking and health insurance you arrange yourself; LUMC points to the Leiden International Centre and recommends the free NLResearch app. We did not find a dedicated recruitment programme for internationally trained nurses or doctors.

• BIG registration. To work at LUMC as a doctor, nurse, physician assistant, pharmacist, midwife, physiotherapist or in another profession listed in Article 3 of the BIG Act, you must be in the BIG register. With a diploma from outside the EEA and Switzerland you first need a certificate of professional competence, assessed by the BIG register on the advice of the CBGV. The BIG register says the whole process takes on average 6 months to 1.5 years from your application, the application and assessment are free, and registration costs €85. Your first registration is conditional: you work for 3 months under supervision before it becomes definitive.

• Dutch at the level the BIG register sets. You prove Dutch before you apply for recognition: B1 for nursing, B2 for higher vocational professions such as physiotherapy and midwifery, and B2+ (above B2, below C1) for doctors, dentists and pharmacists. The BIG register also asks for proof of English reading skills, and says learning Dutch to the right level takes on average one and a half to two years.

• The BI-test. Doctors, dentists and nurses sit a professional knowledge test (BI-toets) as part of the assessment. The BIG register lists the fee for nurses as €400. For doctors it said, when we checked in October 2026, that there are no test places available at the moment and that it is not known when doctors can be scheduled again.

• A residence permit. Non-EU staff usually come on the IND's highly skilled migrant (kennismigrant) permit, which only a recognised sponsor can apply for. Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum (LUMC) is listed in the IND public register of recognised sponsors for labour and highly skilled migrants (register updated 5 October 2026, checked 21 October 2026). In 2026 the salary must be at least €5,942 gross a month if you are 30 or older, or €4,357 if you are under 30, excluding holiday allowance; the fee is €423 and the IND decides within 90 days.

• BIG registration for the permit. The IND states that if you will practise a profession listed in Article 3 or 36a of the BIG Act, you must be registered (or conditionally registered) in the BIG register. For doctors in specialist training the salary only has to reach the minimum wage, but the training must be recognised by the RGS or another listed committee.

1. 1

   Check your profession and start BIG recognition

   If your job is a BIG profession, use the BIG register's advice wizard and apply for a certificate of professional competence through mijn.bigregister.nl. It is free, but it takes months and may end with extra training, so start well before you apply for jobs.
2. 2

   Get your Dutch to the required level

   Plan for the language certificate the BIG register asks for: B1 for nurses, B2+ for doctors. Certificates must be no more than two years old when you apply.
3. 3

   Find a vacancy at LUMC

   Search the vacancies at lumc.nl/en/about-lumc/werken-bij. Set a job alert if nothing fits yet. Read each advert for the Cao umc scale, the hours and whether BIG registration is required.
4. 4

   Apply online

   Apply through the vacancy with your CV and motivation letter. Mention your BIG status (registered, in progress or not yet started) and your Dutch level, because both decide whether you can start in a clinical role.
5. 5

   Work with the Visa Service Desk

   Once the head of department instructs the Visa Service Desk, it contacts you, requests your documents and applies to the IND. Do not file your own application, and book travel only after your entry visa is approved.
6. 6

   Start under supervision

   If your BIG registration is conditional, you work your first 3 months under the supervision of a BIG-registered colleague in your profession, then send the signed supervision form to the BIG register.

• All general scales (1 to 18)

  €2,744 to €13,171 a month

  Cao umc appendix A, from scale 1 step 0 to the top of scale 18, 1 July 2026.

• Salary scales for nurses (8aM, 8M, 9aM, 9M)

  €3,626 to €5,845 a month

  Cao umc appendix Aa, 1 July 2026. Which scale applies depends on how the nursing job is graded.

• Doctors not yet specialists, including residents (scale 11a)

  €4,642 to €6,393 a month

  Cao umc appendix B, steps 0 to 10, 1 July 2026. Covers aios and anios.

• Medical specialist (MS scale)

  €7,727 to €9,136 a month

  Cao umc appendix C, 1 July 2026.

• University medical specialist (UMS scale)

  €10,032 to €14,265 a month

  Cao umc appendix C, 1 July 2026.

• Holiday allowance

  8% of annual salary

  Cao umc article 4.5.

• Year-end bonus

  8.3% of annual salary

  Cao umc article 4.4.