MSL lead - Renal

The Renal MSL Lead provides strategic, scientific and people leadership to the Renal Medical Science Liaison team in China, ensuring high-quality, compliant and evidence-based scientific engagement with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and Medical Experts (MEs).The role translates the China Renal Medical Strategy into impactful field medical execution, builds a high-performing and insight-driven MSL team, and strengthens Novartis’ scientific leadership and external partnerships in renal diseases.The MSL Lead will play a critical role in enabling the evolving Renal portfolio, supporting evidence-based clinical decision-making and facilitating the translation of emerging science and evolving treatment paradigms into clinical practice.

Major Accountabilities1. Field Medical Strategy & ExecutionTranslate the China Renal Medical Strategy into a clear and actionable field medical strategy and execution plan.Lead prioritization of Medical Experts, institutions, scientific topics and engagement objectives based on medical strategy and unmet needs.Ensure high-quality execution of MSL activities with clear scientific objectives, appropriate stakeholder segmentation and measurable medical impact.Continuously optimize field medical deployment based on evolving disease landscapes, new evidence, external insights and portfolio priorities.Partner closely with the Renal Medical team to ensure field execution remains aligned with the overall Medical strategy.2. Scientific LeadershipMaintain deep and up-to-date knowledge of renal diseases, with particular focus on glomerular diseases and IgA nephropathy, as well as relevant emerging science and treatment paradigms.Provide scientific leadership and coaching to ensure MSLs can conduct credible, peer-to-peer scientific exchange with leading nephrologists and other relevant stakeholders.Drive consistent understanding and communication of scientific narratives across the MSL team.Support MSL readiness for major data readouts, congresses, guideline updates, launches and other key medical milestones.Enable MSLs to translate complex scientific evidence into clinically meaningful scientific dialogue.3. Medical Expert Engagement & Scientific PartnershipBuild and continuously strengthen trusted scientific partnerships with national and regional Medical Experts and key academic institutions.Ensure MSL engagement is based on clearly defined scientific objectives and relevant unmet medical/scientific needs.Enable high-quality scientific exchange around disease understanding, evolving evidence, clinical practice and treatment paradigms.Support appropriate scientific collaboration with professional societies, academic institutions and investigator networks in partnership with the broader Medical team.Strengthen scientific engagement with key renal centers and support expansion into priority institutions and geographies according to Medical strategy.4. Insight Generation & TranslationBuild a strong, systematic and actionable medical insight generation capability across the MSL team.Coach MSLs to move beyond information collection toward identification of meaningful scientific and clinical insights.Synthesize field insights across regions to identify emerging unmet needs, evidence gaps, barriers to clinical practice and opportunities for Medical action.Partner with the Medical team to translate actionable insights into adjustments in medical strategy, evidence generation, scientific communication and educational initiatives.Establish effective feedback loops so that field-generated insights inform strategy and subsequent actions are communicated back to the field.5. People Leadership & Capability BuildingLead, coach and develop a high-performing Renal MSL team with strong scientific credibility, strategic thinking and execution excellence.Set clear expectations, objectives and development priorities for individual MSLs and the overall team.Conduct ongoing coaching and field accompaniment to strengthen scientific engagement, insight generation and strategic account planning capabilities.Identify talent and create meaningful development opportunities, supporting career progression within Field Medical and broader Medical functions.Build a collaborative, inclusive and accountable team culture.Lead onboarding and capability development for new MSLs as the team and portfolio evolve.6. Evidence Generation & Medical EducationIdentify evidence gaps and research opportunities through systematic field insights and external scientific engagement.Support local evidence-generation initiatives by connecting relevant investigators, scientific questions and unmet evidence needs with the Medical team.Facilitate high-quality scientific exchange around emerging local and global evidence.Contribute to medical education initiatives that address meaningful scientific and clinical practice gaps.Support guideline/consensus implementation and other evidence-to-practice initiatives where aligned with Medical strategy.7. Cross-functional Medical LeadershipServe as a key Field Medical partner within the Renal Medical team.Bring external scientific perspectives and field insights into internal strategic discussions and decision-making.Maintain appropriate Medical independence and ensure scientific integrity in all cross-functional interactions.Contribute to launch readiness, access-related scientific needs and lifecycle medical strategy from a Field Medical perspective.8. Governance & ComplianceEnsure all MSL activities and scientific engagements are conducted in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, industry codes and Novartis policies.Ensure high standards of scientific accuracy, documentation and operational excellence across the team.Foster a culture in which scientific integrity and patient benefit guide decision-making.EducationAdvanced degree in medicine, pharmacy, life sciences or another relevant scientific discipline.MD, PharmD or PhD preferred.ExperienceStrong experience in Medical Affairs and/or Field Medical roles within the pharmaceutical industry.Demonstrated experience in scientific engagement with senior Medical Experts and academic stakeholders.Previous people leadership, team leadership or significant coaching experience strongly preferred.Experience in nephrology, immunology, or CRM related areas preferred.Experience supporting launches, evidence generation and/or major Medical transformation initiatives would be an advantage.Key CompetenciesScientific & Clinical AcumenAbility to understand and communicate complex renal science and clinical evidence.Strategic ThinkingAbility to connect Medical strategy with field priorities and make thoughtful resource prioritization decisions.People LeadershipAbility to coach, develop and inspire a geographically distributed Field Medical team.External Stakeholder LeadershipAbility to build credible peer-level scientific relationships with senior Medical Experts.Insight ExcellenceAbility to distinguish observations from true insights and translate insights into strategic Medical action.Execution ExcellenceAbility to convert strategy into prioritized, high-quality field execution.Collaboration & InfluenceAbility to influence across Medical and cross-functional teams without compromising scientific independence.Learning Agility & Change LeadershipAbility to lead the team through rapidly evolving scientific evidence, new launches and changing clinical practice.