Novartis Posted September 23, 2026

Senior Study Start-Up Clinical Research Associate (SSU CRA)

Santo Amaro, Brazil FULL_TIME
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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

#LI-HybridLocation: São Paulo, BrazilRelocation Support: This role is based in São Paulo, Brazil. Novartis is unable to offer relocation support: please only apply if accessible.As a Senior Study Start-Up Clinical Research Associate (SSU CRA), you will play a critical role in bringing innovative medicines closer to patients by accelerating the successful start-up of clinical trials across Brazil. This is an opportunity to be at the forefront of clinical research, building trusted partnerships with investigators and study sites while ensuring studies are activated efficiently, compliantly, and on schedule. Working within a collaborative global environment, you will combine scientific expertise, strategic thinking, and relationship-building skills to overcome challenges, drive site readiness, and help deliver life-changing treatments to patients around the world.

Key ResponsibilitiesLead site selection activities and confirm site suitability for assigned clinical studies.Drive study start-up activities from site allocation through site activation and green light.Build strong relationships with investigators, research sites, and external partners.Prepare, collect, and maintain high-quality regulatory and site documentation.Support ethics committee and health authority submissions within agreed timelines.Ensure inspection-ready trial master file documentation and regulatory compliance.Partner with cross-functional teams to resolve issues and accelerate study start-up activities.Essential RequirementsBachelor’s degree in a scientific, healthcare, or related discipline.Minimum three years of clinical study start-up or relevant clinical research experience. Strong knowledge of clinical trial regulations, Good Clinical Practice, and regulatory requirements.Experience managing study start-up activities, submissions, and site activation processes. Excellent relationship-building, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills. Fluent written and spoken English and local language proficiency as required.Why Novartis: Our purpose is to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives and our vision is to become the most valued and trusted medicines company in the world. How can we achieve this? With our people. It is our associates that drive us each day to reach our ambitions. Be a part of this mission and join us! Learn more here: https://www.novartis.com/about/strategy/people-and-cultureYou’ll receive: Competitive salary, annual bonus, life insurance, home office policy (home office 2x a week), retirement and wellbeing plans, flexible working arrangements, birthday day-off, parental leave, subsidized dining facilities, health insurance, employee recognition platform, Gympass, employee resource groups and virtual self-development tools. If you want to learn more about our benefits, you can access the Novartis Life Handbook: https://www.novartis.com/careers/benefits-rewardsCommitment to Diversity and Inclusion: Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams' representative of the patients and communities we serve.Join our Novartis Network: If this role is not suitable to your experience or career goals but you wish to stay connected to hear more about Novartis and our career opportunities, join the Novartis Careers: https://www.novartis.com/careers

Job details

Seniority
Senior
Function
Clinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Santo Amaro, Brazil
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Clinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 12 comparable Senior Clinical Research roles across 4 biopharma companies.

12Comparable roles tracked
12Currently active
4Companies hiring similar roles
10Countries represented

Salary context

1 of 12 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Only peer reporting · Senior Clinical Research Associate · AbbVie $96,500/yr – $183,500/yr
Peer group range $140,000 – $140,000 (median $140,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 12 comparable roles

China3
Taiwan1
South Korea1
Mexico1
United States1
Hungary1

+ 4 more countries

Seniority mix

12 of 12 peers have a known seniority level

Senior12

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 12 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.

45%similar
Roche Beijing, Beijing, China's Mainland Senior
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
AbbVie Senior
Same function Same seniority

Open in 5 locations

Bucharest, RomaniaSeoul, South KoreaGuangzhou, ChinaTaipei, TaiwanBudapest, Hungary
45%similar
AbbVie Shanghai, Shanghai Senior
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
AbbVie Maidenhead, England Senior
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Novartis Shanghai (Shanghai), China Senior
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Novo Nordisk Bogota, Colombia Senior
Same function Same seniority

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

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.

45%
Sr. Clinical Research Lead
Roche · Beijing, Beijing, China's Mainland · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Senior Clinical Research Associate
AbbVie · Guangzhou, Guangdong Province · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Global Clinical Operations- (Senior) CRA
Novartis · Shanghai (Shanghai), China · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
CRA Sr (Bogota, Cundinamarca, CO)
Novo Nordisk · Bogota, Colombia · Senior
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.