Job Description Summary
The Country Medical Affairs Head serves as the lead medical representative in the country and a trusted advisor to the Country Leadership Team. The role defines and executes the near and long-term medical strategy, drives scientific and medical excellence across disease areas, ensures best in class launch readiness, shapes the external healthcare environment, and fosters partnerships with the healthcare communities and governmental entities that improve patient outcomes. The position leads, develops, and transforms the medical organization to meet evolving business, scientific, and ecosystem expectations. The position is accountable for integrated and innovative evidence plans, developed and executed early, to ascertain optimal access and patient outcomes in the real world, transforming the standard of care.
Job Description
Job Dimensions:
Financial responsibility: Medical budget incl. evidence generation, capability building, launch investments, external engagement activities.
Decision making: Strategic decisions on medical resource allocation, talent, and capability build; Oversight and prioritization of the Country Medical Tactical Plan; Decisions related to evidence generation, compliance, and external engagement.
External/internal stakeholders Interface:
External: KOLs, scientific/medical societies, regulatory bodies, HTA organizations, patient associations, policymakers, investigators, universities
Internal: Country President, TA Heads, Value & Access, Regulatory Affairs, Public Affairs, EE, ERC, Patient Engagement and communications, regional, international and global Medical teams
Impact on the organization: Member of the Country Leadership Team; High organizational impact shaping medical strategy, product success, scientific positioning, and policy environment across TAs
Major accountabilities:
Strategic Leadership & Country Medical Strategy
Shape, lead, and execute the country medical strategy aligned with global & international priorities
Serve as the scientific, ethical, and medical authority on the Country Leadership Team
Influence health policy, guidelines, and care standards through proactive engagement with authorities, payer bodies, scientific societies, and ecosystem partners
Translate complex scientific and market insights into strategic recommendations and impactful actions
Create trusting relationship and shape regional/international and global medical strategy
Medical Governance, Excellence, Evidence Generation & Scientific Leadership
Ensure full scientific integrity and medical accuracy across all internal & external engagements
Lead integrated evidence generation plans addressing local data gaps (incl. RWE, observational studies, IITs)
Collaborate on execution of global clinical research locally with CRMA and Development
Oversee local data generation activities (IITs, non-interventional studies)
Oversee MAPs requests and programs
Ensure early implementation science plans to support HTA submissions, guideline shaping, and clinical adoption
Champion innovative and digital approaches for data generation, insights, and stakeholder engagement
Launch Leadership & Product Lifecycle Support
Drive early, end-to-end launch readiness (diagnostics, biomarkers, KOL mobilization, medical education, evidence requirements)
Co-lead launch excellence with commercial, access, and regulatory teams‑lead launch excellence with commercial, access, and regulatory teams
Ensure medical contribution to pricing, reimbursement, and HTA strategies
External Engagement & Ecosystem Partnership
Build bold, innovative partnerships beyond traditional HCPs (e.g., payers, policymakers, digital health partners, patient groups)
Represent Novartis at key medical, governmental, and scientific events
Shape external perceptions and scientific leadership of Novartis in the country
Build collaborative networks to accelerate quality of care, reimbursement, and health system innovation
Organizational Transformation & Capability Building in collaboration with EE
Lead ongoing transformation toward a future ready, agile, digitally enabled medical organization
Define capability strategy based on future TA needs, scientific trends, and evolving healthcare dynamics in close collaboration with EE
Drive medical excellence frameworks, quality standards, and operational efficiencies
Ensure robust governance, compliance, and risk management
Leadership & Culture
Lead and coordinate cross-functional teams to execute strategic priorities
Build a high-performance culture, manage recruiting, performance, and coaching; develop critical capabilities and talent pipelines
Attract, develop, and retain top talent; strengthen succession plans and capabilities across the country organization
Role-model Novartis Leadership Expectations & Behaviors, inspire transformation and performance, and demonstrate self-awareness with a growth mindset
Key performance indicators:
Strategic & Medical Excellence
Execution rate of Country One Brand Plan KPIs
Quality, scientific rigor, and compliance metrics (audit readiness, risk indicators)
Field excellence and customer engagement metrics
Evidence Generation
Timely initiation and execution of local studies in line with portfolio needs
Quality and impact of evidence generation and RWE initiatives
Launch Success
Launch readiness metrics across TAs (diagnostic availability, scientific engagement, KOL readiness)
Contribution to reimbursement & HTA outcomes
Ecosystem Collaboration
Impact of external partnerships on policy, access, and guideline evolution
Medical engagement quality and reach (incl. new models & digital channels)
People & Culture
Talent development, retention, and internal mobility
Succession bench strengths (both internally & externally)
Medical capability uplift and training completion
Engagement and leadership index scores
Operational Excellence
Budget adherence, process efficiency, and operational improvements
Effectiveness of medical governance & compliance processes
Ideal Background:
Education:
MD preferred; PhD/PharmD or comparable advanced scientific degree acceptable depending on country regulation
Languages:
Fluency in English
Local country language required
Experience/Professional Requirement:
Experiences:
10+ years of experiences in Medical Affairs, including 3–5 years in senior medical leadership roles (e.g., Medical Director, Medical Unit Lead, TA Medical Lead).
Demonstrated leadership of 10–20+ associates in medical or scientific roles, with a track record of building and developing high performing teams.
Experience working in an above country role and/or across different market archetypes preferred.
Deep knowledge of local healthcare systems, payer dynamics, policy frameworks, and therapeutic area science.
Proven success leading multiple pre‑launch and launch strategies across therapeutic areas.
Experience shaping HTA, reimbursement, pricing and access strategies, including integration of local evidence requirements.
Strong experience in evidence generation (IITs, MAPs, RWE, observational studies) and collaboration with Development on clinical trials.
Extensive engagement with KOLs, scientific societies, policymakers, payers, regulatory bodies and broader healthcare ecosystem partners.
Experience leading organizational transformation, including digital enablement and capability building within Medical Affairs
Functional & Leadership skills:
Navigating Complexity: ability to translate complex data into clear and strategic relevant insights, executive presentation skills and ability to build compelling scientific narratives to support internal alignment and external advocacy; and strong knowledge of product LCM.
Delivering Impact: Demonstrating TA depth with ability to interpret and communicate clinical trial results, RWE and guidelines updates and strong knowledge of the regulatory and compliance frameworks such as GCP, PV, promotional vs non promotional standards; fully immersed in the business landscape demonstrating high business acumen, leverage data driven insights to inform decisions and cross-functional collaboration.
Leading People: demonstrated ability to lead transformations and changes while leading continued efforts on managing resources, performance and launch preparations; expertise
of building and maintaining relationships with medical experts, medical societies, regulators, guideline boards, and policy makers.
Skills Desired
Agility, Agility, Clinical Practices, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Data Analysis, Drug Development, Employee Development, Healthcare Sector Understanding, Health Sciences, Influencing Skills, Innovation, Inspirational Leadership, Integrated Evidence Generation, Medical Affairs, Medical Communication, Medical Education, Patient Care, People Management, Pharmaceutics, Priority Disease Areas Expertise, Product Launches, Product Strategy, Real World Evidence (RWE), Regulatory Compliance, Research Methodologies {+ 4 more}