Novartis Posted May 26, 2026

Head of China C&BD

Shanghai (Shanghai), China Regular
BD&L & Strategic Planning

Novartis is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

He/she serves as Novarti C&BD’sprimary external representative in China, maintaining deep industry and competitive insight while cultivating strong relationships across biotechs, investors, and the broader innovation ecosystem. The person is deeply entrenched in the community with an emphasis to expand even further and acts as the Site Head for C&BD in China.The Head C&BD China leads the creation and execution of a structured, proactive approach to identifying and evaluating significant business and licensing opportunities in China, spanning from early-stage research collaborations to late stage commercial deals to assets at all development stages with global or ex China rights. The position brings sophisticated deal making expertise to unlock novel opportunities, and ensures execution on clear, strategically aligned search priorities that support research, development, and commercial needs as defined by the Global Head of S&E and the respective Therapeutic Area S&E Heads (as well as platform/AI). It drives proactive pipeline gap identification, fosters creative and agile sourcing mindsets, and ensures robust triage and documentation of inbound prospects. As part of the C&BD Leadership Team, the role provides scientific, strategic, and commercial perspectives, acts as the main C&BD liaison to China leadership, and strengthens integration with the global C&BD organization with an emphasis on S&E in particular. It champions Novartis’ positioning as a preferred partner in China by instilling urgency, agility, and collaboration, increasing engagement with the biotech community, ensuring strong conference representation, enabling deal type creativity, and developing high-performing talent.

Within C&BDEnsures the China S&E team delivers on the Global search prioritiesEnsures team proactively identifies external growth opportunities along the RDC continuum in ChinaEnsures team efficiently screens inbound global opportunities and liaises with the global S&E team to triage these opportunities; ensures documenting of all incoming opportunities and all declines / next stepsAs member of C&BD LT, provides insights, strategic guidance on deal-making in China while staying closely connected to the respective C&BD functions globally (S&E, DD, Transactions, and Alliance Management)  Enables the China C&BD associatesto be key members of the China local office and the global C&BD teamThe China C&BD Head will also ensure cohesion across the C&BD functions and associates present in China, and will be an intricate advisor and partner to the Global Head of C&BD as well as members of the C&BD LT on all BD&L or M&A projects to assist with resolving issues during due diligences and negotiationsThe China C&BD Head will also work closely with the Global Head of C&BD and Global Head of S&E to evaluate the rationale and operational requirements (with the possible assistance of external advisors) to consider the establishment of a venture effort in ChinaWith S&G and other functionsClosely works together with Novartis Senior Leaders within S&G and throughout the organization to align regional commercial interests with broader enterprise prioritiesAttracts, educates, and develops talent and fosters collaboration within the broader global S&E team, C&BD sub-teams, and the wider NVS organization in close alignment with the Global C&BD Head Acts as the main C&BD point of contact to the Global Head of C&BD and has relationships with the local China office leadership teamBuilds enterprise relationships with key internal stakeholders across the organizationOn processes and governanceHelps to strengthen the front-end of the BD process to ensure the China S&E team has a fully comprehensive understanding of the ever-evolving landscape of opportunities and efficiently screens inbound opportunities, ensures documenting of all incoming opportunities and all review outcomesCreates a new structured, systematic approach to landscaping opportunities in China and implements/orchestrates the new processCollaborates closely with Global Head of S&E to bring Regional/China deals to appropriate governance (i.e. ECN-Deal Committee); and also with TA S&E Heads on Global or ex-China deals, as well as the China NPP Strategy team, and relevant TALsAccountable for establishing functional excellence & continued improvement to significantly enhance the value of the opportunity pipeline and prioritize the portfolio in accordance with scientific merit and strategic priorities  Drive development and alignment of standards, processes, and tools across the Enterprise.  To the external worldRepresents Novartis as local C&BD Site Head to the external world in ChinaIs the point of contact for all new business opportunities that come to Novartis in China  and works closely with the Global S&E team and C&BD teamsHas a very detailed knowledge of the industry and competitive landscapes in China region including biotech, as well as mid and large cap pipelines,Is deeply entrenched in and connected with the China ecosystem ranging biotechs, VCs, PE, IBs and other investors and has the leadership capabilities to navigate the C-suite of biotechs and senior executives in mid and large cap pharmaEnsures appropriate representation of NVS at major conferences in ChinaContribute to ‘rebranding’ NVS as the partner of choice and increases visibility and attractiveness of NVS as partner in China

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
BD&L & Strategic Planning
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Shanghai (Shanghai), China
Employment type
Regular

How this role compares

Computed from every other active BD&L & Strategic Planning role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 74 comparable BD&L & Strategic Planning roles across 26 biopharma companies.

74Comparable roles tracked
69Currently active
26Companies hiring similar roles
19Countries represented

Salary context

13 of 74 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.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Manager, Corporate Strategy · Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) $114,800/yr – $187,400/yr
Peer group range $151,100 – $355,000 (median $252,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 74 comparable roles

United States20
China17
China's Mainland8
Switzerland6
United Kingdom5
Ireland2

+ 13 more countries

Seniority mix

51 of 74 peers have a known seniority level

Director20
Manager14
Executive/VP6
Associate Director5
Senior Director2
Associate2
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc1
Senior1

Therapeutic area mix

11 of 74 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology5
Immunology4
Vaccines & Infectious Disease2

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.

40%similar
Gilead Sciences Shanghai Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. Shanghai, China Director
Same function Same country
40%similar
Gilead Sciences Shanghai Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. Shanghai, China Executive/VP
Same function Same country
40%similar
Pfizer Investment Co., Ltd. China Shanghai, China
Same function Same country
40%similar
Pfizer Investment Co., Ltd. China Shanghai, China Manager
Same function Same country
40%similar
Pfizer Investment Co., Ltd. China Shanghai, China Manager
Same function Same country
40%similar
Pfizer Investment Co., Ltd. China Shanghai, China
Same function Same country

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.

40%
Director, Corporate Development
Gilead Sciences Shanghai Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. · Shanghai, China · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Pfizer--(Senior)Strategy Manager-Shanghai
Pfizer Investment Co., Ltd. China · Shanghai, China · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Senior Director & Asia Pacific Regional Lead, External R&D
Shenzhen Sanofi Biological Products Co., Ltd. · Beijing, China · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Associate Director Due Diligence China
Novartis · Shanghai (Shanghai), China · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 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.