Global Head Clinical Assurance Quality Development Unit
About this opportunity
#LI-Hybrid Location: Basel, SwitzerlandThis role is based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is unable to offer relocation support for this role. Please only apply if this location is accessible for you. Are you ready to shape the quality strategy behind some of the world's most innovative medicines? As Global Head CQA Development Unit, you will play a pivotal leadership role at the intersection of clinical development, patient safety, and regulatory excellence. Leading a global team of Clinical Quality professionals, you will drive strategic quality oversight across complex development programs, enabling quality-by-design approaches that accelerate innovation while safeguarding compliance, data integrity, and patient well-being. This is a unique opportunity to influence critical business decisions, partner with senior leaders across Novartis, and help bring transformative treatments to patients worldwide.
Key responsibilities: Lead and develop a global team of Clinical Quality Program Leads, fostering a high-performance quality culture. Define and execute the quality strategy for assigned Development Units, ensuring alignment with business objectives. Provide strategic quality oversight across clinical development programs to support regulatory success and patient safety. Partner with senior stakeholders to identify, mitigate, and escalate quality risks across global studies. Champion inspection readiness and lead quality support for regulatory inspections, audits, and remediation activities. Drive continuous improvement initiatives that strengthen compliance, operational excellence, and quality-by-design principles. Influence organizational quality mindset by embedding proactive risk management and quality governance practices. Essential Requirements: Advanced degree in Life Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy, or a related scientific discipline. Extensive experience in clinical development, quality assurance, pharmacovigilance, or regulated healthcare environments. Proven leadership experience building, developing, and leading global teams within a complex matrix organization. Deep understanding of end-to-end clinical trial processes and global regulatory requirements for clinical research. Demonstrated success managing high-complexity programs and influencing senior stakeholders across functions. Strong communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills with the ability to drive collaboration globally. Benefits & Rewards At Novartis, we’re committed to reimagining medicine together - and rewarding the people who make it happen. Expected Annual Base Salary Range for role: 133,700.00 - 248,300.00 CHF The base salary offered is determined based on gender-neutral objectives, such as relevant skills, competencies and experience in accordance with the Novartis pay setting policy and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. In addition to your base salary, you may be eligible for a performance-based bonus depending on certain performance parameters. The rewards of being part of our team go far beyond base pay and incentives. We also offer a variety of competitive benefits in kind to help you thrive personally and professionally, such as insurance plans, retirement plans, wellbeing resources and global recognition programs. In addition, we provide flexible and hybrid working options, where possible, and minimum 14 weeks paid parental leave. In addition to your base salary, you may be eligible for a performance-based bonus depending on certain performance parameters. Long-term equity awards granted at group level may also be part of your package. Further details will be provided during the application process. Read our brochure to learn more about our global total rewards offering: https://www.novartis.com/sites/novartis_com/files/novartis-life-handbook.pdf Note: Benefits and compensation may vary by country and are subject to local legal requirements, including provisions of collective bargaining agreements where applicable. A full overview of your compensation package, including any relevant collective bargaining agreement details applicable to your role based on your employment location and Novartis employer entity, will be communicated separately to you during the application process.Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion / EEO paragraph Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams’ representative of the patients and communities we serve.Accessibility and AccommodationNovartis is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to all individuals. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the recruitment process, or to receive more detailed information about the essential functions of a position, please send an e-mail to diversity.inclusion_ch@novartis.com and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message.
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Quality role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 644 comparable Quality roles across 85 biopharma companies.
Salary context
110 of 644 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 644 comparable roles
+ 39 more countries
Seniority mix
309 of 644 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
0 of 644 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.
Similar opportunities
The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.
How we calculate "similar"
No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.
Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.