Novartis Posted November 3, 2026

Site Engineering Head

Durham, United States 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

Location: Durham, North CarolinaHelp shape the engineering future of our Durham site. As Site Engineering Head, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for the site's Engineering organization, including Novartis Gene Therapies, our ADP and LMO expansions and all clinical operations. You will ensure our facilities, utilities, equipment, and infrastructure are reliable, compliant, and ready to support both today's operations and future growth. You will lead and develop a broad engineering organization, guide long-term site and capital strategies, and partner across the business to strengthen safety, quality, operational performance, and asset lifecycle management. As a member of the Site Leadership Team, you will have the opportunity to influence major investment decisions, advance new technologies, and build the engineering capabilities needed to enable production, testing, product launches, and continued site growth.#LI-Onsite

Key Responsibilities·    Lead the Durham Site Engineering organization, building capabilities and developing talent to meet current and future business needs.·    Develop and execute the site engineering strategy, aligning infrastructure, utilities, equipment, and technology with business priorities.·    Ensure reliable, compliant operation and lifecycle management of site facilities, utilities, equipment, maintenance, and calibration programs.·    Direct site capital planning and engineering investments, ensuring effective prioritization, execution, governance, and resource allocation.·    Support the identification and implementation of new technologies, equipment, AI and robotics.·    Partner across functions to advance safety, quality, operational performance, asset reliability, and continuous improvement.·    Provide engineering leadership for production, testing, product launches, technical services, and evolving site requirements.·    Strengthen external partnerships and vendor performance while ensuring engineering activities meet applicable quality and compliance expectations.Essential Requirements·    Degree in engineering or equivalent.·    15 years of engineering experience, including experience in investment projects and maintenance.·    Broad leadership experience, including successful project management on major investment projects and/or a large maintenance organization.·    Excellent project management skills, including contract management, project appraisal, and financial knowledge.·    In-depth knowledge of chemical and/or pharmaceutical processes and equipment, broad interdisciplinary knowledge, and strong HSE and GxP/QA knowledge.·    Excellent communication skills across executive and technical audiences.   The salary for this position is expected to range between $176,400 and $327,600 per year. The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors. Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards. US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.To learn more about the culture, rewards and benefits we offer our people click here.

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Durham, United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 3374 comparable Manufacturing & CMC roles across 173 biopharma companies.

3374Comparable roles tracked
3074Currently active
173Companies hiring similar roles
61Countries represented

Salary context

792 of 3374 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 $176,400/yr – $327,600/yr
Lowest disclosed · Operator – Plant Utilities · Lilly $13/hr – $28/hr (≈ $26,998–$58,302/yr)
Highest disclosed · Head of Analytical Development · ModernaTX, Inc. $272,200/yr – $490,100/yr
Peer group range $42,650 – $381,150 (median $128,367)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 3374 comparable roles

United States1531
Germany216
India155
France145
Ireland130
China121

+ 55 more countries

Seniority mix

1484 of 3374 peers have a known seniority level

Senior403
Manager351
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc198
Associate142
Principal126
Director106
Associate Director104
Senior Director47
Executive/VP7

Therapeutic area mix

21 of 3374 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease13
Rare Disease3
Oncology2
Dermatology & Aesthetics1
Respiratory1
Immunology1

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
40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same country
40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate
Same function Same country
40%similar
Merck West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America Principal
Same function Same country
40%similar
Merck West Point, Pennsylvania, United States Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same country
40%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

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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, Global Regulatory Affairs – Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC), Platform Innovation – Synthetic Peptides and Oligonucleotides
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Associate Principal Scientist/Engineer, Medical Device and Combination Products, Analytical
Merck · West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Senior Scientist II - Biologics Drug Product Development
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Senior Scientist I - Peptide Analytical Chemistry
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · 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.